The Hornets were playing with house money on Tuesday night after having already established one of their best road trips of the year. But much of that goodwill was undone with a humbling and embarrassing 123-85 loss to the Bucks.
Frankly, the game wasn’t even as close as the lopsided score would indicate. The Hornets scored just 16 points in the entire first quarter, getting their score doubled 32-16. If you thought things couldn’t get worse, you were wrong as the Hornets mustered a measly 10 points in the second quarter.
League-wide low for a half
The 26 total first-half points were the smallest amount scored by any team this season. in a half. 26 also matches the fewest points scored by the Bucks in any quarter. Somehow, things got even worse from there, as the Hornets lost the third quarter by 15 points, facing a deficit that snowballed to 49 at one point.
For all the hype about the Hornets’ defense recently, that all went out the window. They allowed the Bucks to shoot 52% from the field and 40% from three. They also allowed 50 points in the paint and got outrebounded 51-37.
The offense obviously wasn’t much better, shooting just 37% from the field and turning the ball over 13 turnovers. Tre Mann was the lone bright spot for Charlotte as he held up well on defense and scored 16 points on 6/12 shooting and hit two 3s.
Miles Bridges had 17 points and Brandon Miller had 14, but the two shot a combined 12-29 from the field and 4-16 from three-point range. Davis Bertans returned from his two-game absence and hit 4-8 threes off the bench. He still has not attempted a two-point shot since joining the team.
To make matters worse, the Bucks stars had to exert very little energy as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lillard played just 24 minutes each. The two teams will face off again on Thursday night and the Bucks should be well rested - not that they’ll need it.
The loss drops the Hornets to 15-43 on the season, now 5-2 with the new players since the trade deadline acquisitions. They finish up this four-game post-all-star break road trip 2-2, still solid overall, but it’s hard to keep up the enthusiasm after this latest dismal performance.