Hornets win their ninth in a row over the Pistons; big night for P.J. Washington
Detroit’s Langston Galloway missed a long 3-pointer and the Charlotte Hornets survived with a 110-107 road victory over the Pistons Friday night.
Hornets rookie P.J. Washington finished with a team-high 26 points, and Terry Rozier added 23. The Hornets improved to 8-12 with their ninth consecutive victory over the 6-13 Pistons.
Bismack Biyombo, making his second consecutive start at center, blocked Pistons star Andre Drummond at the rim in the final minute. The change of possession in Charlotte’s favor ended with Washington hitting two free throws for a three-point lead with 47 seconds left.
Drummond committed a turnover on the Pistons’ ensuing possession, but Devonte Graham missed a driving layup and Detroit regained possession with 8.9 seconds left.
Nice buzz
When the new basketball regime — general manager Mitch Kupchak and coach James Borrego — arrived in the spring of 2018, they wanted better 3-point shooting. It doesn’t happen every game, but the Hornets making 11-of-19 3s in the first half is big. The Graham-Rozier backcourt has the best chance to create spacing with long-range shooting of any Hornets guard combination in a while.
Bee stings
It says too much about how fragile the Hornets’ defense is that they could shoot this well without every creating much of a lead. The Pistons are so physically imposing inside with Drummond and Blake Griffin. Particularly with center Cody Zeller again out with a hip bruise, there wasn’t much to counter that.
Building blocks
The Hornets sent second-round pick Cody Martin on a G-League assignment Friday for the first time this season. The Hornets have a guideline that if a young guy isn’t playing much, he’s better off playing 25 to 30 minutes for the Greensboro Swarm than sitting on parent club’s bench.
Martin’s minutes receded when Nic Batum returned from a fractured finger. After playing 20 or more minutes regularly, Martin totaled 27 in the seven games prior to the G-League assignment.
Beyond the numbers
Circumstance — Zeller injured and Martin going to the Swarm — would have seemingly opened minutes for center Willy Hernangomez and guard-forward Dwayne Bacon, but neither got into the rotation in the first half.
Biyombo has beaten out Hernangomez for backup center, despite Hernangomez being the younger option. Bacon hasn’t reestablished himself since dropping out of the starting lineup after 10 games.
