The Hornets week started off in quite the pitiful way. Last week we saw a 69 point performance from the Hornets, but this week was even worse. 66 points was all they got in after falling to the Jazz 94-66. This game was absolutely pitiful, to say the least.
While the Jazz are not recognized as an opponent that the Hornets should have much trouble with, they truly struggled. For some reason, the Hornets seem to play much better against teams that they shouldn’t beat.
The game offensively was quite embarrassing, as they only broke 20 points in just a single quarter. Really, it looked like college basketball, as far as the score, and the amount of missed shots. They shot just 32.7% from the field. Only two players total got in the double digits. Lance Stephenson, somewhat surprisingly, had a decent game.
On the other hand, the Jazz had four players that reached double digit points, a huge reason they were able to dominate this game. Rodney Hood had 24 points, and Gordon Hayward had 18. Overall, it was a great game for the Jazz, and a terrible one for the Hornets. As the Hornets are on the verge of making the playoffs, games like this are incredibly important for making the playoffs. Unfortunately, this one is behind them, but they need to take advantage of “easier” games like this in the future.
The next game seemed like a tough one for the Hornets. On the road, they had to head to the Staples Center to face the Los Angeles Clippers, a tough game for Charlotte. It was strange, after the Jazz game, we would have expected this game to look pretty ugly as well. That was not completely the case at all.
It’s really strange, the Hornets seem to play their best team games against teams that are tough to go up against. While they don’t always win them, they often show lots of resilience going up against them. This night was much better than the Jazz game. They had six players in double digits.
Mo Williams had 18 points, Al Jefferson had a huge night with 21, and Kemba Walker showed he is coming back to full strength with 15 points. Although the team played much better here, it still wasn’t a match for the Clippers. Their big games from Chris Paul, Blake Griffin (who is returning form injury), and DeAndre Jordan powered them through this game to come up with a win. Jordan had a big night on the boards, getting 14 rebounds.
The Clippers really had momentum from the get-go, scoring a lot in the first quarter, and working well together, as 83% of those first quarter points were assisted.
The Hornets have struggled with mediocre teams, for some odd reason this season. This next matchup with the Sacramento Kings was definitely not one Hornets fans would like to relive. Big performances from both Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson were not enough to power the team through a bigger performance from Rudy Gay.
Walker and Henderson both had over 15 points, but Rudy Gay totaled in at a whopping 33. This loss was a big one, as any is nowadays for Charlotte. They need to win games, if they want to claim one of the final spots in the playoffs.
As Walker put it, being the leader that he is, he said, “we can’t put our heads down.” They truly can’t. This is no time for the Hornets to dwell on every loss. Moving on is a must, as they look to power through the rest of their remaining games. This was an ugly one, but a game that should be overlooked quickly.
Lastly, the Hornets were ending the week by visiting Mo Williams’ old home. He showed up big time, dropping 24 points and 4 assists in a Hornets win. This was a huge win for the Hornets, and an important one, after their recent losing streak.
As Mo Williams put it, “it was a game we needed to win.” They’ve got only a few games left, and winning as many of them as they can to get in to the playoffs is important.
The Timberwolves hung in for most of the game, and had some great point distribution, but were unable to close the game. The Hornets outscored the Wolves in the third and fourth quarter, which was huge. The Hornets haven’t been great at closing games this season, so it was good to see them finally be able to heat up as the game goes on.
This game was huge, as it put the Hornets back in the eighth seed, and they’re now on track to make the playoffs again, for now.
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