James Borrego had a few things in particular he wanted to see on Wednesday night.
Following a rough overtime loss to Boston on Monday and leading into their first Southeast Division game of the season, the Charlotte Hornets coach couldn’t stomach another substandard effort in his favorite aspect of the game.
“We’ve got to execute better down the stretch,” Borrego said. “To me the issue was the defensive end. We’ve got to be better defensively for 48 minutes. We didn’t bring our best defensively. Tonight, I expect our best defensively. Great effort, one-on-one pride. We got beat off the bounce too much. Weak side was not as involved as much as I’d like it to be.
“For us it starts on the defensive end.”
The edict was heeded.
The Hornets forced eight turnovers in the final quarter alone and suffocated Orlando 120-111 at Amway Center in Orlando on Wednesday night.
Here are three things we learned in the Hornets’ victory in Orlando:
BENCH COMES THROUGH
Following a sluggish start to open the game, Borrego apparently didn’t like the energy on the floor and how things were looking and he went four deep into his bench.
The reserves didn’t let him down.
Led by Cody Martin’s fourth double-digit effort in five games and Jalen McDaniels’ sneaky good production, the Hornets’ reserves totaled 25 points in the first half alone. Martin snared a career-high four steals.
Nick Richards turned in some solid minutes for the second consecutive outing, taking advantage of the quality minutes available due to PJ Washington missing his second straight game with knee soreness.
Richards has steadily improved over the past few months dating back to summer league action in Las Vegas, and the second year-big was good against Orlando with four points and three rebounds in eight minutes.
LAMELO’S FOUL TROUBLE
There is a fine line between digging in defensively and being over-aggressive. LaMelo Ball is still trying to figure out how to walk that difficult balancing act.
Ball collected a pair of early fouls and didn’t get into any kind of good rhythm. He has picked up at least three fouls in every game this season and that wasn’t any different against the Magic. And it’s forced him to take a seat on the bench on occasion. He fouled out against Boston and was powerless to do anything in the closing moments of a frustrating overtime.
Averaging 1.7 steals per game entering, he has proven he can be extremely effective anticipating the passing lanes and using his length to create deflections and engineer fastbreaks. That is when the Hornets are at their best, and it’s important he doesn’t pick up any cheap fouls.
NO HACK-A-PLUMLEE THIS TIME
Wanting Mason Plumlee to prove he can consistently hit his free throws in crunch time, Celtics coach Ime Udoka directed his players to intentionally whack him.
Plumlee made just 1 of 4 attempts, one of the many factors that didn’t go in the Hornets’ favor in those precious fourth-quarter moments. Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley’s strategy wasn’t the same and Plumlee never found himself at the line against the Magic.
Borrego doesn’t seem worried.
“I think it just comes down to his confidence,” Borrego said. “Getting up there and shoot the ball. I trust him. We let him shoot the ball there. So it’s just step up to the line and knock them down. It’s nothing more, nothing less than that.”
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