Hornets uninspiring in 127-99 preseason loss to Celtics
The Charlotte Hornets had a chance to end their preseason schedule on a good note in a matchup with the Boston Celtics. Unfortunately, that chance went the way of the Dodo rather quickly, as Boston built up a big lead that they would not give up.
Unlike Charlotte’s other preseason contests, the Hornets’ starting lineup was not able to finish on the positive end of the plus/minus metric. Four of five Charlotte starters (P.J. Washington, Gordon Hayward, Mark Williams, and Terry Rozier) tied for the “best” performance on the night at -17, while LaMelo Ball’s -22 was the worst of the starting group.
Ball (16), Rozier (14), and Hayward (11) were the only Hornets’ starters to score in double-digits on the night, but as their plus/minus can show, that did not mean much when they were on the court. This was a group that was outclassed from start to finish and got a really good preview of what things could be like when they match up in the regular season.
The truly worrying aspect of the loss is they were simply unable to connect from three-point range enough. As a team, the Hornets made four of 28 attempts in the contest. While the starting lineup was slightly better than the team’s overall performance (3-15 vs 1-13), 20% is not a whole lot better than 14.3% in the grand scheme of things.
Granted, this was just a preseason game, but the Hornets were not necessarily the most inspiring group to take the floor ahead of the regular season. Charlotte is a team that has a ton of promise and could be a team that surprises a lot of people if things go right. The only issue is that they continue to be a team that struggles from three-point range, and it is difficult to win games consistently if they are unable to put up at least an average mark in this area. It should not take long to find out if Charlotte has done enough to make a noticeable step forward and if they are going to be leaning toward competing or tanking by midseason.
