Hornets blow a 19-point lead to Spurs on a slew of third-quarter turnovers
The Charlotte Hornets blew a 19-point lead in San Antonio Saturday, and they have no one to blame but themselves for that second-half collapse.
Charlotte turnovers continuously led to Spurs transition baskets. A 70-51 lead became a 114-90 road loss, the Hornets’ tenth in the last 11 games. They’re now 16-33 overall.
Ten observations:
▪ Former Bobcats coach Larry Brown used to say there is nothing more self-destructive in basketball than live-ball turnovers. Losing the ball is one thing, but the Hornets kept giving it up at mid-court, often directly into the hands of Spurs point guard Patty Mills to start the fast break.
▪ Miles Bridges has had a rough season at times, with stepped-up responsibility to guard the opposing team’s top scorer most games. He had back-to-back games of 20 or more points on this road trip, finishing with 25 points (and 4-of-8 from 3-point range) Saturday after a 23-point game Thursday in Washington.
▪ Spurs coach Gregg Popovich sat star LaMarcus Aldridge early in the third quarter, shaking up his lineup and igniting the comeback.
▪ Good all-around game by Hornets center Cody Zeller — 14 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high eight assists.
▪ The Hornets led by as much as 16 points in the first half and the biggest factor was ball-movement: Twenty-one of the Hornets’ 25 baskets were assisted. The Hornets entered this game third in the NBA in percentage of assisted baskets at 64.3%.
▪ Point guard Devonte Graham had seven first-half assists. But his five turnovers in this game were costly.
▪ That first-half pace was particularly fast, and Hornets coach James Borrego used only eight players.
▪ Rookie power forward P.J. Washington was scratched from this game just before tip-off with an ankle sprain he suffered against the Wizards Thursday. The Hornets listed Washington as probable to play earlier in the evening, so he obviously had a setback right before tip-off.
▪ With Washington out, veteran Marvin Williams got his first start of the season. Williams has been the only veteran of significant experience to stay in the Hornets’ rotation of late, with Nicolas Batum, Bismack Biyombo and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist all sitting.
▪ Kind of a statement on second-round rookie Cody Martin’s development that he was the first substitute off the bench for Charlotte Saturday.
This story was originally published February 1, 2020 at 11:14 PM.
