Terry Rozier drops 30 points against Knicks as Hornets end 8-game losing streak
The Charlotte Hornets found a team that much more flawed than themselves. The losing streak is over.
The Hornets held the New York Knicks to 42 second-half points for a 97-92 victory at Spectrum Center on Tuesday. That ended an eight-game losing streak that started after the Hornets’ best victory of the season — beating the Mavericks in Dallas on Jan. 4.
Terry Rozier finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets. The Knicks got 24 points from Julius Randle and 23 from Marcus Morris.
Hornets coach James Borrego guessed right on a challenge of a foul against Devonte Graham in the fourth quarter. Replay not only reversed the call against Graham (a shooting foul on a made 3-pointer), but Morris was charged with an offensive foul.
The Hornets improved to 16-31. The Knicks fell to 13-35.
Nice Buzz
Center Willy Hernangomez played so little in the first half of the season that he looked like a write-off. Tuesday, he had his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Unreliable defense in the post has been the flaw that limits Hernangomez. But he’s a good rebounder in traffic and has a knack for scoring in the post. Borrego gave Hernangomez some minutes on the West Coast trip, and he’s been sapping time from Bismack Biyombo ever since.
Bee Stings
It was predictable the Hornets would have some residual jet-lag after flying to Paris and back last week for the game against the Milwaukee Bucks. They couldn’t have looked more flat in the first quarter, missing 11 of their first 13 shots from 3-point range.
Making it worse, starting point guard Graham was so sick the Hornets announced a half-hour before tip-off that Graham would miss his first game of the season. Then, Graham was able to bounce enough to play, but clearly wasn’t right, missing five of his first six shots.
Building Blocks
Borrego’s rotations are quite fluid this season, so it’s risky to make too much of who does and doesn’t play in a given game. However, it’s interesting that three of the four Hornets with seven or more NBA seasons — Nic Batum, Biyombo and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist — didn’t get in Tuesday.
Could that foreshadow Borrego leaning more heavily toward young guys in playing-time decisions as the season progresses? There will be a lot of games in March and April when the Hornets are far out of any playoff race.
Beyond the Numbers
The Hornets chose not to use a roster spot this season on a third point guard. That’s no big deal for a team in rebuild mode, but it nearly became a short-term problem due to Graham’s illness. Neither of the point guards, Graham and Terry Rozier, has missed a game this season, but sooner or later it’s inevitable one will.
Who would be the fill-in backup at the spot? Batum and Cody Martin are decent facilitators and Malik Monk has skills in the pick-and-roll, but there is no one obvious candidate.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 9:36 PM.
