CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three days removed from their takedown of the NBA’s top team record-wise, it was back to business for the Charlotte Hornets against one of the league’s upper echelon.
Not Milwaukee. Not Brooklyn. Not Miami.
This was the surprising Washington WIzards, the team that sat atop the Eastern Conference standings and the very one the Hornets are chasing in the Southeast Division. But coach James Borrego insisted it didn’t make much of a difference.
“My goal here is we’re not looking at our opponent, raising our level to where our opponent’s at,” Borrego said before tipoff. “Consistency is what we’re about. That’s the challenge here, that’s the growth mindset, is that we’re building from game to game, and when we have our moments where we step back, the next one we step forward. This next game we’re building off the Golden State game, not going back, it’s about moving forward.
“In the end, the most consistent teams in this league are the ones that will be standing at the end or at least deeper down the road. It’s just a mindset of consistency. That’s the goal here.”
They’re getting there. Slowly. Fueled by a brilliant offensive second-half charge led by Miles Bridges, Terry Rozier and Kelly Oubre, the Hornets knocked off Washington 97-87 at Spectrum Center on Wednesday night.
Rozier scored a team high 19 points for the Hornets, while Bridges added 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Oubre scored 14.
Here are three things we learned in the Hornets’ fourth consecutive victory:
Off LaMelo still effective
When his shot isn’t there, LaMelo Ball (11 points, 4-of-18 shooting) is getting pretty good at ensuring he impacts the game in other ways.
Similar to how things went down against New York to begin this four-game homestand, the night he snatched a career-best 17 rebounds, Ball had his imprints on the outcome despite an off night offensively. He dished a career-high-tying 14 assists to go with six rebounds and played under control, efficiently running the show.
Welcome back, Kelly
Maybe Oubre was inspired by Sunday’s baffling second-half ejection. Or it could have been because he was facing his old team, even doing a few secret handshakes with some of the staff on the court prior to the start of the second half.
Whatever it was, the Hornets will take it.
A huge catalyst in the third quarter when they went on that game-changing run, Oubre scored nine of his 14 points and energized the crowd with his 3-pointers, blowing kisses to them with every make. The Hornets were lethargic, didn’t have any sort of rhythm and appeared out of sorts a bit until Oubre helped steady things and reverse their offensive struggles.
Inside woes
Was that Daniel Gafford or Wes Unseld?
Hyperbole aside, the Hornets’ problems controlling things on the interior was a problem yet again. This time it was Gafford (20 points, nine rebounds) feasting on the Hornets’ big men, and he had already posted a season-high 17 points through two quarters, making all eight attempts from the paint to go with seven rebounds.
Gafford’s dominance and an inability to keep Tarboro, N.C., native Montrezl Harrell (15 points, nine rebounds), who had nine points and four rebounds by halftime, essentially propelled Washington to an overall 38-30 edge in points in the paint in the first half.
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