Quick takeaways from the Charlotte Hornets 16-point loss to the Houston Rockets
The Charlotte Hornets lost their first home game against the Houston Rockets Friday night, 109-93, dropping below .500 with a 2-3 record on the season.
The Charlotte Hornets suffered their worst loss of the season as they allowed the Houston Rockets to rain threes on them. This was the Queen City team’s first home loss of the year after winning their first two. But even in a 16-point loss, there are some positives and negatives to take away from the Hornets performance.
Positives
Lamb’s Shooting
Over the last two games, Jeremy Lamb has shot the ball extremely efficiently. He is 12-22 from the field (54.5%) and 6-10 from three-point range (60%). Can Lamb consistently shoot the ball this well? Consistency is the one thing holding Lamb back from reaching his full potential.
Dwight’s Continues to Dominate on the Glass
Dwight Howard has now grabbed at least 15 rebounds in each game to start the season. He has also snatched down seven offensive rebounds twice over that span.
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Low Turnovers
The Hornets averaged over 16 turnovers a game before they played the Rockets, but Charlotte had only nine last night.
Defending without fouling
Through Houston’s first five games they averaged 23.4 free throw attempts a game. The Hornets’s held them to just 13 attempts, 6 below their previous lowest on the season.
Negatives
Need Playmaker
The Hornet’s are without their best passer, Nicolas Batum. Charlotte’s starting and backup point guards (Kemba Walker and Malik Monk) are score-first players. The Hornet’s where 11th in the league last season in assists per game (23.1) and have fallen to 27th (16.8) without Batum.
Gave up too many Threes
Charlotte gave up a franchise record of 57 three-point attempts to the Rockets as they connected on 22 of those 57 (38.6%). Defending the three-point line was a point of emphasis coming into the season as they were one of the worst in that category last season.
Free Throw Struggles
Dwight Howard had another very poor night from the line. He missed 10 free throws and connected on just 5 (33.3%). That’s the second time in five games he has missed at least nine free throws.
Poor Bench Scoring
Following a huge bench scoring effort of 49 points against the Nuggets during Charlottes’s last game, the Hornet’s bench only managed to put up 21 points on 7 of 30 from the field (23.3%) and 3 of 16 from deep (18.7%).
Charlotte and Houston will play their second and final game against the Rockets this season on December 13th. The Hornet’s will look to bounce back from this loss on Sunday, October 29th, as they take on the red-hot Orlando Magic.