The Charlotte Hornets made 19 threes but could not defend well enough to keep up with the Thunder and lost, 141-106.
The Summary
The Thunder have shut down everyone they’ve faced all season long. A Hornets team resting a couple of their best offensive players had exactly zero chance of success from the outset. They were completely stifled in the first quarter and quickly fell into a massive hole. They put up 14 first quarter points and trailed by 20 after 12 minutes of basketball.
The second quarter started much the same as the first, but the visitors found something a couple minutes in. They made five of their first six 3-point attempts of the period. The 3-point barrage briefly threatened to make the Hornets competitive. The Thunder eventually leveled off, so the Hornets were only able to scrape three points off their deficit.
After an abnormally quiet first half due in part to foul trouble, Miles Bridges came out of the halftime locker room early to try to find his rhythm. That translated to the floor, where he matched his first half total with five points in the Hornets’ first two possessions of the second half. A second Bridges three and another one from DaQuan Jeffries pulled the Hornets within 10 and forced a Thunder timeout. That’s where the wheels really fell off. In a blink, the Thunder went on a mega-run. By the next time the Hornets scored a point, they trailed by 28 points. Seth Curry hit a high arcing finger roll at the third quarter buzzer to cut it to 27.
I feel like I’ve said this a lot this season. The entire fourth quarter was academic. Neither team played super inspired defense and the Thunder gradually added to their lead as the fourth quarter ticked away.
The Good
It wasn’t nearly enough, but it’s nice to see the Hornets had another good 3-point shooting game in them. It was kind of quiet given how much they trailed the entire game, but the Hornets made 19-of-41 3-point attempts. It at least makes the games palatable to watch when shots are going in.
Moussa Diabate was active and had a few nice moments. He had a cool dunk off the wrong foot where he caught a pass at the 3-point line and dribbled in for a soaring dunk. He had another bucket in the fourth where he pump faked at the 3-point line, dribbled in to draw contact, then flipped in a turnaround hook shot. His game keeps growing.
Seth Curry continues to have these under the radar solid games. He just knows how to put the ball in the basket, and it makes these double digit games off the bench look so effortless. He hit basically one of every shot type possible as part of his 11 point outing.
Miles Bridges did a good job of getting on track after his first half got derailed by foul trouble.
For the second straight game, every available Hornet scored a point.
The Bad
The Hornets are far from the only team to have this problem, but they absolutely could not contain the Thunder off the dribble. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren each made several easy looks off the dribble with little resistance. Most of the rest of the team were hitting comfortable spot up jumpers like it was warmups. Not a defensive performance Charles Lee will be proud of.
With how bad the Hornets lost, it feels like there should be more in this section, but I really can’t think of anything. Not much stood out as egregiously bad. The Thunder are really good and the Hornets are cool with losing. This went as expected.
What’s Next
The Hornets fly back East to take on the Heat in Miami on Sunday.