Zach LaVine was magnificent, but the Hornets deserve the blame for their meltdown
If you were in Spectrum Center on Saturday, you saw an epic performance by Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine.
And an epic meltdown by the Charlotte Hornets.
LaVine became just the third player in NBA history to make 13 or more 3-pointers in a game. That would have been a feat, but it wouldn’t have decided the game had the Hornets not been so accommodating.
They blew a five-point lead in the last 8 seconds to somehow lose 116-115. Charlotte’s Devonte Graham lost the ball to Bulls rookie Coby White with three seconds left, setting up LaVine for the last of those 3s: The game-winner with 0:00.8 left.
LaVine was superb in scoring a career-high 49 points, to the extent Hornets forward Marvin Williams compared him to retired Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade. Remember Wade matching Kemba Walker shot-for-shot in a 2016 playoff series? Wade’s 10-point fourth quarter — including two 3-pointers — in Game 6 forced a Game 7, when the Heat clobbered the Hornets.
LaVine’s performance didn’t have remotely the same stakes — neither the Bulls nor the Hornets should make the playoffs — but he was amazing down the stretch: 27 fourth-quarter points, including 7-of-9 shooting from 3.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen” a game quite like this, said Williams, in his 14th NBA season. “They literally made everything they shot in the last couple of minutes and we were playing good defense.
“Zach takes a step across half-court and shoots one off the glass! He’s shooting fade-away 3s on contested shots. The last time I feel like I’ve seen that was in the playoffs against D-Wade.”
Turnovers and open shots
Saturday’s game didn’t compare to a closeout game in the playoffs, but it’s going to leave a bruise and it needs to leave a message: That offense alone can’t get this young team home. The Hornets scored 41 fourth-quarter points, but they allowed 47 to lose.
The Hornets’ pattern of committing turnovers and giving up easy baskets have been linked since the preseason. After Bulls guard Tomas Satoransky made a 3 to cut the deficit to two with eight seconds left, the Hornets had no remaining timeouts. Graham got the in-bounds pass under the basket and was swarmed by Bulls defenders. White, a former North Carolina star, scraped the ball loose.
“I was a little soft with the ball, I guess,” said Graham, the Hornets’ top player this season. “They took it from me and Zach shot a 3.”
That was one of four Hornets turnovers in the fourth quarter, resulting in seven Chicago points. By being poor rebounders and prone to turnovers (20 on Saturday), the Hornets almost always finish a game with fewer possessions than their opponents. This team has neither the talent nor the experience to overcome that most nights, hence the constant double-digit deficits and 6-11 record.
Never a complete game
In his post-game comments, Hornets coach James Borrego reminded that he’s yet to see a consistent performance from this group over an entire 48-minute game.
Borrego was not being a perfectionist: He didn’t mean a game without flaws. He meant a reliable level of focus and intensity in all four quarters.
Borrego and the front office knew going into this season that patience had to be observed: If you’re going to play so many young guys, mistakes are inevitable and a win-loss record isn’t the best measure of whether progress is made.
However, teams must be held accountable; the Hornets lost this game just as much as LaVine won it. He never should have been standing there in the last second with the ball and an open look at the rim.
“This is life,” Borrego said. “You’ve got to deal with it.”
More importantly, they have to learn from it.
This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
