CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Hornets rookie LaMelo Ball scored a career-high 34 points, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Jazz in a 138-121 Utah victory at Spectrum Center.
Ball made 14 of 27 shots from the field and added eight assists and four rebounds. Gordon Hayward added 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
The Jazz, with the NBA’s best record at 18-5, got 31 points from Bojan Bogdanovic and 30 from Donovan Mitchell.
The Hornets lost their second in a row, falling to 10-13.
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The Hornets lost starting guard Devonte Graham in the second quarter to a left groin strain. Hornets coach James Borrego called a timeout, with Graham kneeling on the court in obvious pain.
While Graham was able to walk off the court without assistance, he went straight to the training room in need of treatment. He tried jogging around at halftime, then immediately returned to the training room and was declared out.
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Miles Bridges missed his first five shots, including a layup and two wide-open 3-pointers. Bridges has thrived in his current off-the-bench power forward role, after being the starting small forward last season, but Friday was rough.
He finished with two points on 1-of-7 shooting.
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Rather than choose between starting Ball and Terry Rozier, Hornets coach James Borrego started them both, along with Graham, in a three-guard lineup. It was the sixth different Charlotte starting group this season.
That shift made Gordon Hayward the power forward and returned Bridges to the second unit after a start Wednesday vs. the Philadelphia 76ers. The Hornets are hurting for power forwards, as P.J. Washington missed his second game in a row with a sprained right foot.
Rozier missed the prior two games with a sprained right ankle suffered in the victory Saturday over the Milwaukee Bucks. Rozier said after morning shootaround he’d be fine with coming off the bench Friday, if that’s what Borrego wanted.
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Washington did some shooting drills pre-game, and Borrego said he was progressing after injuring his right foot in the second half of Monday’s victory in Miami. However, Borrego wouldn’t speculate pre-game about whether Washington was close to returning. The Hornets next play a day game Sunday at home against the Washington Wizards.
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Rozier wonders if it’s a good thing to bring together the NBA’s top players to play an All-Star Game in March in Atlanta, as the league and players association are planning.
“I feel like it’s the last thing we need to be worrying about right now,” Rozier said after morning shootaround.
“It’s not the right time to really discuss that. I feel like we still have a lot of other things (in the pandemic) we need to overcome and work on, with all these new mask (protocols) and other stuff. I feel like we just need to take it one step at a time before we worry about an All-Star Game.”
Several NBA players, most prominently Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, have expressed misgivings about bringing stars to Atlanta in March, during what was expected to be a five-day break from games.
“I have zero energy and zero excitement about an All-Star Game this season.” James told media Thursday night. “I don’t even understand why we’re having an All-Star Game.”
