Hornets give up 12-point lead, fall to Jazz despite Terry Rozier’s 29 points
The Utah Jazz stifled the Charlotte Hornets’ offense in the fourth quarter, making up the last of a 12-point deficit to pull out a 114-107 victory at Spectrum Center on Saturday.
The Hornets scored 21 points in the final period on 6-of-20 shooting, after generating 64 points and shooting 58 percent in the first half.
Hornets guard Terry Rozier followed up a career-high 35 points Wednesday in Cleveland with 29 Saturday. Ex-Celtic Rozier plays his first regular-season game in Boston on Sunday as a visitor.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 26 for the Jazz, which improved to 18-11. The Hornets are 13-19. Jazz center Rudy Gobert finished with 17 points and 19 rebounds.
Jazz coach Quin Snyder received his second technical foul and was ejected in the second half.
Nice buzz
Being more conscious of quality of shot attempt has been an emphasis for the Hornets this season. The first half Saturday was what coach James Borrego wants: 60 of the 64 points were scored in the lane, from 3-point range or at the foul line. That means they are taking minimal 2-point jump shots, which are the least efficient shots.
Bee stings
The first-quarter rebounding was 12-4 in the Jazz’s favor. Gobert had a double-double in that quarter, with 11 points and 10 rebounds. It emphasized that the Hornets have to look at bringing in a young center for the future.
Building blocks
Borrego has so much trust at this point in second-round rookie Cody Martin. He was the first reserve off the bench Saturday, and he responded with 11 first-half points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field. Between Devonte Graham and Martin, general manager Mitch Kupchak has been dramatically more productive in the second round than his predecessor, Rich Cho.
Beyond the numbers
Borrego switched up his starters, going with Nic Batum at small forward. Batum hadn’t played in five games after aggravating his left-hand injury against the Washington Wizards. Moving Batum into the starters meant shifting Miles Bridges from small forward to power forward. Bridges’ minutes shrank his previous two games, and Borrego had said he needs to see better defense from the second-year forward. Bridges had two first-half steals.
This story was originally published December 21, 2019 at 7:30 PM.
