Charlotte Hornets: 3 Quick notes in loss to Boston

The Charlotte Hornets were handed their first loss of the season, losing to the Boston Celtics in overtime, 140-129. LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges each led the team with 25 points but it was not enough to finish Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Both teams entered this game coming off a Sunday night win and wanted to keep things rolling. The Hornets were red hot at 3-0 — for the first time in franchise history — and coming off of a big-time victory against the star-studded Brooklyn Nets.

Boston started the season off 0-2 but took down the Houston Rockets on Sunday night and succeeded at getting to 2-2 Monday night in Charlotte. Despite taking the loss, the Hornets should keep their heads held high after a fantastic start to the season and going blow for blow with two of the league’s best stars in Tatum and Brown.

Here are three quick notes from the Monday night loss to Boston.

Charlotte Hornets quick notes: LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges is one of the league’s best young duos.

Ball and Bridges have become one of the NBA’s most exciting young duos. Ball’s flashy passes paired with Bridges’ emphatic dunks have made the Hornets a must-watch team for this reason alone. See below.

Both players have transcended their games to the next level this season. On the season, Ball is now averaging 22.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game while Bridges is averaging 25.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game.

Those are big-time numbers from the Hornets’ young stars and the Charlotte staff will be hoping they can keep this up for the remainder of the season. Tonight Charlotte faced Tatum and Brown who combined for 71 points. I think Ball and Bridges have that same type of potential.

Charlotte Hornets quick notes: The team needs more from Gordon Hayward

The man making the most money on the team has been very shaky to start the season. At his best, Gordon Hayward can be Charlotte’s best player and a go-to guy when the Hornets need a bucket late and he hasn’t been that to start the season.

In each game, Hayward has struggled to get going. Against Indiana and Cleveland, he was able to come alive to finish strong but against Brooklyn and Boston, he never quite got into a groove. Charlotte really could have used his mid-range scoring ability tonight as they struggled to get into the flow of the offense once overtime started.

Hopefully, Hayward can get going as it looks like the Hornets will surely find themselves in more big games like tonight throughout the season.

Charlotte Hornets quick notes: This could have been a big night for PJ Washington

PJ Washington has had a shaky start to the season, having not scored in double-digits in all three of his appearances. He missed this game with a knee injury and I can’t help but feel like Charlotte really could have used him out there.

With Mason Plumlee and Nick Richards providing some inconsistent minutes, Charlotte tried to go small-ball with Bridges manning the five position, but it didn’t work out too well on the defensive end of the floor. This would have been the perfect game for Washington to eat up the bulk of the center minutes as Boston isn’t too loaded at the center position.

Hopefully, Washington can recover quickly from this injury and get back to form to help our this Charlotte team.