The post-Nick Richards era is off to a good start for the Charlotte Hornets.
Hours before their Wednesday tip-off against the Utah Jazz, news that they were sending Richards to the Phoenix Suns broke out. That meant going into their meeting with the Jazz with one less rotation piece.
Still, the contest probably shouldn't have been that hard for the visiting Hornets because Utah was missing three starters and key reserves. As it turned out, Charlotte almost lost to the host.
Hornets' bench unit went invisible in Utah
It looked like the Hornets had the game in the bag early on Wednesday, running to an 18-7 lead. But during the dead ball after LaMelo Ball's 3-pointer with 7:07 remaining in the first quarter that gave his team that margin, the Jazz started making a couple of substitutions. Nearly five minutes later, they completed a 19-2 run. Charlotte then trailed 33-26 at the end of the opening period.
It wasn't until the fourth quarter that the squad was able to retake the lead. The Hornets also outscored the opponents 37-25 in that stanza to record two wins in their previous three matches.
Ball led the way on offense with 27 points and nine assists and learned to trust his teammates instead of taking matters into his own hands. Williams put up a career-high 31 points and grabbed 13 boards, while Miles Bridges and Brandon Miller provided much-needed scoring support, pouring in 25 and 20, respectively.
The other players, particularly the bench unit, were abysmal on offense, which has been a recurring theme for Charlotte this season. If it weren't for Cody Martin catching fire from deep in the fourth, hitting a trio of 3-pointers, the bench wouldn't have totaled 11 markers.
In contrast, Utah's second unit was a big reason they almost defeated the Hornets. Even little-known players had stirring performances. For instance, Brice Sensabaugh, who finished with 19 points, scored 12 in his first 10 minutes of action. Moreover, by the end of the third quarter, every Jazz reserve who had played had matched or exceeded the combined score of Charlotte's bench.
If the trend of the Hornets not getting enough help from an atrocious second unit continues, it's difficult to expect them to start winning more games. Not even the Richards deal can likely change that because the player it received, Josh Okogie, is far from an elite offensive phenom.
Hopefully, the front office has some more moves up its sleeve, which include acquiring reinforcement for the reserves. Otherwise, the coaching staff might have to consider shaking up the starting lineup, such as moving Bridges to the bench in favor of Okogie, to supply the second unit with more scoring juice.