Coming into Friday night’s matchup against the Chicago Bulls, the Charlotte Hornets were hoping that their extended time off was an ample amount of time to shake off some rust, but unfortunately, that was not the case.
There was also a lot of excitement coming into the game as Cody Zeller was back in the lineup. Hornets’ fans wanted to see him get more playing time, but with the significance of his injury, playing limited minutes was to be expected.
One of the main takeaways from the loss was the poor three-point shooting performance. The Charlotte Hornets only hit 21% (7/32) of their three-point shots, while the Bulls 34% (15/43) of their three-pointers. Another thing that really hurt the Hornets was that there were not enough points coming off of the bench.
Gordon Hayward led the team in points, scoring 34 points and going 60% (12/20) from the field, including 33.3% (2/6) from three. He also went 8 for 10 from the charity stripe and recorded 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
One bright spot for the Hornets in their game was the impressive play of Devonte’ Graham. He was second on the team in scoring, getting 24 points on 9 of 18 (50%) from the field, and 40% (4/10) from the three-point line. This was a good site to see for Charlotte fans, who have been wanting to see more from Graham. It’s always good to see a team leader have a good game after having a multi-game slump.
PJ Washington had a decent night; he was third on the team in scoring with 16 points. Washington went 50% (7/14) from the field and hit both of his free-throws. Terry Rozier had a rough night, scoring only 10 points on 33.3% (4/12) from the field, including a measly 16.7% (1/6) from beyond the arc. While he did not perform that well, Rozier had another impressive dunk.
Smile for your Kodak poster moment 📸💥🤯#AllFly | @T_Rozzay3 pic.twitter.com/6vStFOxckz
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) January 23, 2021
LaMelo Ball scored only 7 points on 42.9% (3/7) of his shots from the field. Ball hit his lone free-throw and he missed both of the three-pointers that he attempted. Bismack Biyombo and Caleb Martin both scored 6 points, and Miles Bridges only scored 2 points, which were scored off of two free-throws. In his return, Zeller scored 5 points in 10 minutes of play. He went 2 for 4 from the field and he hit 1 of 2 from the free-throw line.
The Hornets have now dropped their fourth straight, dropping to 6 wins and 9 losses overall. The team will head down to Orlando on Sunday to take on their inner-division foe, the Orlando Magic.
Charlotte Hornets: Controversial “No-Call” Leads To Third Straight Loss
The Charlotte Hornets were hoping to get back to their winning ways on Saturday night against the Raptors. Unfortunately, this was not the case.