Hornets fall to Celtics. What we learned in Charlotte’s preseason-opening loss in Boston
.JPG "Charlotte Hornets’ Kelly Oubre Jr., left, tries to drive past Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, center right, in the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)")
Although he was decked out in orange sweatpants with an orange sweatshirt and bright glasses matching all the brilliant color, Terry Rozier wasn’t exactly feeling like a ray of sunshine Sunday afternoon.
But the Charlotte Hornets guard also isn’t about to sound any alarms, and there’s a reason why. Well, make that a couple of them.
“I definitely don’t want to be the first one, or be in guys’ ears talking about, ‘It’s preseason, it’s preseason,’ ” Rozier said after the Hornets’ 134-93 loss to Boston at TD Garden. “It’s definitely (not) a way we want to play. But hats go off to the Boston Celtics. A great organization, they play the right way every possession and that’s what we are trying to get to. So it’s a good test, first preseason game to play them.”
Rozer’s sentiments were similar to his teammates’ line of thinking. This was just the beginning and the Hornets aren’t about to get overly philosophical in dissecting their first performance under coach Steve Clifford.
“It was a great test for us,” Kelly Oubre said. “We’re obviously not ready where we kind of envision ourselves and want to be. So that’s No. 1. No. 2, we can’t be too hard on ourselves because this team just played in the Finals less than three or four months ago. So they know what their identity is, and we are still trying to find ours.”
There’s plenty of corrections to make and several areas to tighten up prior to their preseason home opener against Indiana on Wednesday. It’s back to practice for the Hornets, who’ve had some grueling sessions in their first week of training camp.
“I was way more tired practicing than today,” Rozier said. “It was crazy. But it’s good for us, getting the reps, getting everybody comfortable, learning how to play with one another. I feel like that’s the best way you are going to get together is playing. And that’s what we’ve been doing every day.
“We are going to keep going to the drawing board and just getting better.”
Here are three takeaways from the Hornets’ preseason opener:
Defense remains a work in progress
It was a concern a season ago, partially leading to the dismissal of coach James Borrego in the offseason. And the problem arose yet again against Boston.
The Hornets didn’t come close to getting it done defensively against the Celtics. Failed rotations happened far too often and not running back quickly enough in transition was a real killer. And the 3-point defense wasn’t good at all.
Boston sank 14-of-29 attempts from 3-point range in the first half, and outscored the Hornets 15-9 overall in second-chance points.
“To me, the one thing you’ve got to do in this league is you’ve got to control the ball, which has always been an issue,” Clifford said. “But with a team like them — five out, so much skill on the floor — it’s harder. And you’ve got to be able to control cutters. They were cutting freely, driving the ball freely. And a lot of that goes back to transition defense.
“Because we are not back, we are not set, we are not ready to defend and we are playing catch-up possession after possession. Those are things that can be fixed pretty easily.”
If they don’t, it’s going to be a very long season. The Hornets can’t rely on simply trying to outscore their opponents. That strategy is not a winning one.
“We were doing good at first, but then we started to give transition threes away in the second quarter and they just blew it away after that,” Rozier said. “We’ve just got to pay attention to details, watch film and clean things up.”
Hayward a late addition to injury report
Gordon Hayward’s preseason began the same way his regular season ended: with him sitting out in street clothes.
Along with Cody Martin (left knee tendinopathy), Hayward was held out due to a left knee contusion he suffered during practice on the second day of training camp last week. Hayward apparently didn’t seem thrilled with the staff’s decision to not let him suit up and voiced his displeasure.
“He wants to play,” Clifford said. “He’s actually a little upset about it, but it doesn’t make any sense to me and it doesn’t make any sense to (team medical director) Joe (Sharpe). So we talked a lot last night. He hasn’t been able to participate fully in practice for the last three days. He’s been doing a lot because he doesn’t want to sit.
“He was hoping to play tonight, but watching him yesterday, he’s not making progress because he’s practicing. It makes sense (just) doing treatment today, (Monday) will be our first day off. That’ll give him a better chance to be closer to 100% for Tuesday. So he didn’t agree with that, But to me it makes more sense. We want to be healthy and have made as much progress as we can by the time training camp ends. So having a guy of his caliber — not limping — but definitely not close to 100% doesn’t make sense.”
Hayward’s health is among things that will have a significant impact on the Hornets’ success this season. He hasn’t come anywhere close to logging a full season since 2018-19 when he was with the Celtics.
In his two seasons with the Hornets, Hayward has appeared in just 93 of their 156 games. So, they want to do everything they can to ensure he’s available for all 82 games in 2022-23.
“Absolutely,” Clifford said. “Probably, maybe he shouldn’t have been practicing every day. But, again, he badly wanted to be out there and it’s just not the smartest thing to do.”
PJ Washington got starting nod
One of the biggest question marks the Hornets face is replacing the production they were used to getting from Miles Bridges.
But with Bridges still unsigned and his future unclear as he awaits his initial hearing in a Los Angeles court to face a felony domestic violence charge, someone had to slide into the starting power forward slot. And that distinction went to PJ Washington.
Washington couldn’t get it going offensively, though. He struggled with his shot, misfiring on his initial six attempts before throwing down a third-quarter dunk for his lone make. He was also uncharacteristically cold beyond the arc with an 0-for-4 showing.
“Shots weren’t falling,” Washington said. “That’s all.”
Washington isn’t the only one whose touch was off. The Hornets shot 34.7% from the floor, sinking just 35 of 101 attempts, and just four of the players in the top 10 of their rotation connected on at least half of what they hoisted up.
“It’s way different from practice,” Washington said. “You can look at the box score and (see) everybody was rusty. So, we are just trying to come out next game and do a little bit better and keep making strides from there.”
