The Charlotte Hornets went scoreless for the last several possessions of the game as they choked it away to the previously winless New Orleans Pelicans.
The summary
The first half was enough to give you whiplash. The Hornets jumped out to a quick lead with some hot shooting and a strong start by Kon Knueppel. It looked like they were going to cruise to another win over a bad team like they’ve done against the other weak teams on their schedule so far. That changed in a hurry once the lineups started breaking for the bench guys. The Pelicans caught fire from deep and the Hornets seemed to get flustered. The offense bogged down and the Pelicans were able to get out and run on the Hornets’ porous transition defense. There was an 18 point swing in favor between the middle of the first quarter and the middle of the second. The Hornets clawed back a little bit before the break but still trailed after two quarters.
The momentum the Hornets built late in the first half continued into the second. They took the lead back and were able to maintain it through most of the third and fourth quarters. It all fell apart late though. The Hornets offense fell into a slog and quite literally stopped scoring. They had as many turnovers as made field goals in the fourth quarter (8) and didn’t score a point after the 3:41 of the final frame. A Jose Alvardo step back three gave the Pelicans a late lead, and Try Murphy extended it with a pair of free throws. Miles Bridges rushed a bad 3-point attempt trying to tie the game. It missed, and the Pelicans secured the rebound and the rim.
The Good
Kon Knueppel is a stud. He had his first career double double, and his 12 rebounds were well earned. He wasn’t just cleaning up uncontested long rebounds. He scrapped for those boards. He went 4-of-6 on shots inside the arc, which is always something I’ll be paying attention to given the question marks around that part of his game coming into the league.
I do have some concerns that Ryan Kalkbrenner’s defense isn’t quite as good as his box score counting stats, but he had another great night of filling up those box score stats. He added another four blocks and has been one of the most prolific shot blockers in the league so far this season.
The Bad
The fourth quarter offense was brutal. Miles Bridges had a particularly noteworthy stretch of bad decisions. He had two turnovers with bad passes in transition that led to uncontested layups for the Pelicans. He followed one of those with a 3-point attempt with a hand in his face about six seconds into the shot clock. You want to keep your foot on the gas pedal to put the game away, but there’s no excuse for a veteran of Bridges’ caliber to commit that series of blunders in that short a timespan, especially against a bad team.
Tre Mann had a good game on the whole, but he and Bridges were the primary culprits in the offense falling apart late. The two of them pretty much just took turns playing iso ball and either turning the ball over (Mann) or taking bad shots (Bridges). Sexton and Knueppel were largely iced out of the offense until the two were put in a pick-and-pop after a late Hornets timeout.
What’s Next
The Hornets get a couple of days off before their first NBA Cup game against the Heat on Friday.