Fresh off their successful four-game homestand, a Saturday night trip to square off against a Southeast Division rival was in order for the Charlotte Hornets.
Coach James Borrego insisted this one wasn’t any different than the rest, even if it did represent their first entanglement with Atlanta, the reigning division champs.
“I don’t necessarily look at these as division games,” Borrego said. “These are all guys we are competing with. This Eastern Conference is loaded. So there is no off nights. The Hawks are a very good team. They’re next in line. That’s all we focus on.
“Atlanta is a very good team. Every game is an important game. So we value every game and that’s the goal here, is the guys understand the value and importance of every possession, every game. That’s really the mentality right now.”
Looks like they still have a bit of work to do.
Unable to match Atlanta’s pace and firepower, the Hornets succumbed to the Hawks, 115-105, at State Farm Arena and had their season-best five-game win streak snapped.
Here are three things we learned in the Hornets’ loss:
Miles back on, other starters off
After a rough outing a night earlier against Indiana, Miles Bridges rediscovered his touch and poured in a career-high 35 points. Problem was he was essentially the only real one in the Hornets’ starting five who had it.
Bridges paced the Hornets and served as the main offensive weapon, nailing 15 of 27 attempts. The four others, meanwhile, combined to go 16 for 45 and didn’t truly show any signs until late in the fourth quarter.
Three-point struggles
The Hornets’ stroke behind the 3-point line just wasn’t there. When they look back on this one, that will surely be something they lament.
They hoisted 38 attempts and knocked down just 10 of them. Kelly Oubre struggled the most, misfiring on all seven attempts.
Too many breakdowns
Throughout their winning streak, an increased attention to detail defensively greatly benefited the Hornets. They have dug in more on that end of the floor, faring much better than they had at the beginning of the season when they spent a hefty portion of it ranked dead last in defensive rating.
But against the Hawks, they had issues keeping their man in front of them, especially on the perimeter. The breakdowns allowed Atlanta to alternate between inside buckets and wide-open attempts behind the 3-point line. The Hawks had 60 points in the first half and were one point shy of breaking 90 before the start of the fourth quarter.
“Containment of the ball is No. 1,” Borrego said, “that their pride of one-on-one defense is important for us. And we’ve got to have that pride about us that we are not going to get beat one-on-one. And the Hawks present a lot of problems there. They’ve got a number of guys that like to drive the ball and get downhill.
“At the end of the day our defense will be effective or not based on if we can contain the ball. That’s tonight and every night. Can we keep the ball out of the paint? We’ve shown progress in that area. Not just the man on the ball but when the ball does get downhill do we react accordingly and put out some fires. But it does start on the ball. That’s where our defense starts is containment of the ball.”
