Charlotte Hornets secure clutch opening night win over Chicago Bulls
With not a lot of hope for this upcoming season, fans witnessed the Charlotte Hornets come out with an electrifying victory on opening night over the Chicago Bulls.
With as much as the Charlotte Hornets lost this offseason, nobody expected the team’s young players to come out and play as well as they did on Wednesday night. On opening night of the 2019-20 season for the Hornets, the team was able to defeat the Chicago Bulls 126-125.
Many Charlotte fans did not have a lot of hope for the Hornets this season, but the team proved fans otherwise with their clutch victory over Chicago. This game featured a team record being broken, and three young players scoring over twenty points.
The highlight of this game has to be the play of Hornets’ rookie lottery-pick PJ Washington. In his first NBA game, Washington racked up 27 points, while also making seven three-pointers.
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Washington broke the Hornets’ previous record for points scored by a rookie in their debut game; this record was previously held by Emeka Okafor, who scored 19 points. Washington also broke the NBA’s record for most made three-pointers in a rookie’s debut.
Another player who played exceptionally well for the Hornets was Devonte Graham. In the first game of his sophomore season, Graham scored 23 points off the bench while going 6 of 7 from beyond the arc.
His clutch play helped Charlotte seal the victory for the Hornets, as he spent more time playing at the end of the game than Terry Rozier. Graham saw 27 minutes off the bench due to his electrifying play.
Graham was just one of two players who had a fantastic night coming off the bench. Marvin Williams came off the bench for the first time since 2014-15 season, and he racked up 17 points and made five three-pointers.
While everyone was having a three-point party, the Hornets ended up breaking the NBA’s opening night team three-point record by making 23 three-pointers. The Hornets finished the game shooting 52% from beyond the arc.
Dwayne Bacon was the last player to score over twenty points for Charlotte. He had a poor shooting night, shooting 8-21 from the field, but he managed to make a clutch three with 1:11 left in the game; this would give the Hornets a 123-119 lead over the Bulls.
Cody Zeller also had a nice opening night, as he managed to get the team’s only double-double. Zeller finished the game with 15 points and 12 rebounds; this is his first double-double since the team’s March 7th, 2019 loss to the Miami Heat last season.
The Hornets finished this game by not allowing any other back-up centers to come in. At many times, the team played Washington and Williams in the frontcourt. The lack of height in the frontcourt is what ultimately led to Lauri Markkanen scoring 35 points.
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With this victory, the Hornets are set to play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night. If the Hornets wish to start the season 2-0, they will need their young players to come out shooting like they did tonight.