The Charlotte Hornets lost their season-opener in Cleveland and their starting center, too.
The Hornets fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 121-114, on the road Wednesday, their first regular-season game since mid-March. Center Cody Zeller left the court in the second half and was diagnosed with a fractured left hand.
The Hornets trailed by 21 in the first half. Terry Rozier — who is from is from suburban Cleveland — scored 42 points, making 10 3-pointers.
In his regular-season debut with the Hornets, small forward Gordon Hayward totaled 28 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
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Five observations from Wednesday’s game:
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LAMELO BALL’S LEARNING CURVE
Rookie LaMelo Ball, the third overall pick in this year’s NBA draft, was limited to 16 minutes when the game was still in doubt. He was active defensively with two steals, but he missed all five shots and had three turnovers with his three assists.
The Cavaliers crowded him with multiple defenders to cut off some passing lanes and dared him to finish in traffic. That’s a learning experience for the gifted playmaker.
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HORNETS’ MAJOR WEAKNESS UNADDRESSED
Charlotte finished last season with the worst defensive-rebounding percentage in the NBA. That was a huge weakness that narrowed their margin for error every game. The Hornets really did nothing in the offseason to address that, other than acquire two big men in the second round who likely won’t play this season.
It was obvious from the first-half statistics Wednesday that results were as bad as ever: The Hornets were out-rebounded by the Cavaliers 25-15, and Cleveland led by 21 at halftime. The Cavs played without big man Kevin Love (calf injury) who has consistently been a double-figure rebounder.
Drafting Ball, a point guard, third overall made sense, and using massive salary-cap room to acquire small forward Gordon Hayward addressed an area of need. But the Hornets not addressing the rebounding problem was surprising, and certainly costly Wednesday.
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GORDON HAYWARD’S DIAGNOSTIC SKILLS
Beyond his wide skill set and 6-foot-7 height, the attraction of Hayward was his experienced decision-making with the ball on the NBA’s fourth-youngest team. His first half might not have been showy, but his seven points and four assists — and 3-of-6 shooting — were strong illustrations of his ability to size up when to shoot and when to pass efficiently.
Hayward takes a lot of mid-range shots, which are out of vogue in an analytic-driven push in the NBA toward 3s and drives to the rim. But Hayward is so efficient making those shots that coach James Borrego understands you have to let him zig even when the league is zagging.
Hayward is playing with a fracture at the base of his right pinkie finger. He didn’t show signs of that impairing his play Wednesday.
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LONG ROTATION FOR HORNETS
The Hornets have better depth this season. They are also trying to overcome a truncated preseason following nine months of inactivity from not being part of the NBA restart last season.
Borrego said he’s open, at least initially this season, with playing 10, which is the outer limit of an NBA rotation. Look for him to pare that back over time to eight or nine. Of the players who got minutes in the four preseason games, shooting guard Malik Monk was the one who didn’t play in the first half against Cleveland, as fellow wing players Cody Martin and Jalen McDaniels were in the rotation.
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TERRY ROZIER’S ADAPTABILITY
Two things the Hornets know now about Rozier they didn’t before signing him in the summer of 2019: He’s adaptive to whatever is asked of him, and he’s a much better catch-and-shoot guy than he demonstrated with the Boston Celtics.
Rozier continues to start at one of the guard spots. He could go to the second unit at some time this season to get Ball in with the starters. Last season, he shifted from point guard to shooting guard when Borrego decided to move Devonte Graham into the starters.
Rozier said in the preseason that it’s not his place to dictate how he’s used, it’s his job to adjust to what his team needs. That’s just how he has conducted himself as a Hornet.
