Hornets’ poor shooting ends in ugly loss to Hawks; Washington sprains ankle
The Charlotte Hornets learned Sunday how thoroughly they depend on their backcourt for scoring, getting thumped by the Atlanta Hawks 122-107 at Spectrum Center.
Guards Devonte Graham and Terry Rozier combined to make just seven of 30 shots for the Hornets, who fell to 9-16. Graham and Rozier combined for 20 points, about 17 below their joint average.
The Hawks got 30 points and nine assists from Trae Young in improving to 6-17.
Miles Bridges and P.J. Washington scored 20 each for the Hornets. Washington left the game in the fourth quarter with a right ankle sprain.
Good buzz
The rookie Washington showed right away this season that he’s a crafty scorer. Sunday is a good example: He generated 13 trips to the foul line. Often, forcing a team to foul is one of the last steps in a rookie’s evolution.
Bee stings
As Graham and Rozier play more together, defenses will be greater focused on Charlotte’s backcourt and the scouting will catch flaws. Those two made just five of their first 19 shots Sunday. There won’t be many games where the Hornets can stay competitive under that circumstance, but they were playing the Hawks.
Building blocks
The Hornets were seeing significant progress from Malik Monk for a span of eight games in November, but he’s struggled of late. Sunday it was foul trouble, when he picked up four in 12 minutes.
Beyond the numbers
Hornets coach James Borrego said twice lately there would be playing-time consequences for performance. Late last month, his quote was no Hornets player has a “God-given right” to minutes. Sunday, veteran Nic Batum didn’t play, after playing 25 and 33 minutes in the prior two games. Batum’s minutes went to veteran Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who hadn’t played in 10 games, and Dwayne Bacon.
