Charlotte Hornets Struggle Mightily in Blowout Loss to San Antonio
By John Griebel
The Charlotte Hornets struggled mightily in their blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs as their road trip has gotten off to a slow start.
Despite a strong first half, the Charlotte Hornets fell to the San Antonio Spurs, 102-85. The team was without Nicolas Batum and it finally caught up with them in the second half as Davis Bertans and the home team broke the game wide open. While Kemba Walker tried to will his side to a win, the Spurs’ defense held Steve Clifford’s side to only 85 total points.
Belinelli is Still Rusty
In his third game back from an ankle injury, Marco Belinelli finally played his normal amount of minutes. While the full workload is encouraging, Belinelli isn’t quite back to form yet as he shot just 2-10 from the floor. Marco returning to form is surprisingly important for the Hornets to maintain their position as a top-four team in the Eastern Conference.
Big Man Depth is an Issue
Cody Zeller only missed three games, but it felt like an eternity. Even with his return to the lineup tonight, the Hornets bigs struggled as a whole. Frank Kaminsky continues to be a drain on the team’s success.
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His abysmal shooting combined with a failure to realize his shooting potential result in a net rating of -38.9. Despite my inexplicable love for his weird dribble-drive game, Frank’s minutes continue to tank the Hornets chances for success.
Roy Hibbert continues to fail to do the one thing Charlotte signed him to do; protect the rim. The Hornets posted a defensive rating of 112 with him on the court Saturday night. Spencer Hawes earned another DNP-CD.
NBA Scheduling Still Needs Work
The Hornets were on their third game in four nights, after hard-fought battles against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Detroit Pistons. Charlotte even took a three-point lead into the half but ran out of gas down the stretch.
Every team is going to have schedule losses, so the Hornets aren’t special, but it would be great if this kind of thing doesn’t happen in the future. Luckily for us, this has been a point of emphasis for the NBA in recent years, and the new CBA promises to help remedy the issue.
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The Charlotte Hornets will travel to Houston on Tuesday to take on James Harden and the surging Houston Rockets. It will be a tough task for the team to stop one of the most prolific offenses in the league this season. Not to mention that James Harden is one of the best players in the NBA and he is playing at an MVP level.