Gordon Hayward returned. How he looked and what we learned in the Hornets’ loss to Atlanta
Before pulling out of town for a potentially season-defining six-game road trip out west, the curtain on the Charlotte Hornets’ reunion tour raised once again at the Spectrum Center.
Two nights after the team welcomed LaMelo Ball back from injury, it was Gordon Hayward’s turn to return to the lineup after an extensive absence. Hayward had missed the previous nine games nursing a fractured left shoulder blade, the latest ailment in a maddening series of aches and pains that have sidelined him during his tenure with the Hornets.
His presence should’ve been a boost, serving as a pick-me-up of sorts for a reeling team in danger of watching its season spiral out of control. Instead, the Hornets found themselves in a cavernous hole they couldn’t escape in a 125-106 loss to Atlanta on Friday night.
“Yeah it’s tough, but look, nobody feels bad for you in this league,” Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. “There’s a score, there’s a record. You have to own it and you have to get ready to play the next game. We actually played so much better tonight than we did the other night. And those two guys (Ball and Hayward) make a big difference. We’ll get the other couple guys back in this next week or so, but at least tonight there were things to build on.”
Getting slapped with a delay of game warning prior to tipoff against a depleted team was the first sign this wasn’t going to be the Hornets’ night. Frustration abounded and bubbled over enough for Kelly Oubre, Ball and Clifford to each get hit with technical fouls, giving the shorthanded Hawks opportunities to pad a lead they enjoyed for the bulk of the evening despite not having Clint Capela, John Collins and Dejounte Murray.
So rather than having something good to feel about before hopping on their chartered flight and heading to Denver, the Hornets remain in a deep funk that shows no signs of ending anytime soon. They extended their losing streak to seven games, cementing their current status as the keepers of the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
“Yeah, we’ve got to try to figure it out here,” Hayward said. “It certainly won’t get any easier. It’s the NBA. Everybody’s really good, but we’ve got to figure it out. I think it’s got to start on the defensive end for us. Every night’s not going to be good on the offensive side, especially when you go on the road. So we’ve got to give ourselves a chance and that starts on the defensive end.”
Here are some key takeaways from the Hornets’ 19th loss in their past 23 games:
Defense optional early
Remember the diatribe unleashed by Clifford following Charlotte’s loss to Detroit on Wednesday, when he didn’t take questions and spoke for one minute, 41 seconds? It certainly seemed like the Hornets didn’t keep the pointed words in their memory banks for the first half against the Hawks.
Atlanta took full advantage of the Hornets’ porous defense, canning 62.5% of its shots in the first half. The Hawks, who sank seven straight shots at one point, actually got hotter in the second quarter after knocking down 60% in the first quarter. They had no answers for Trae Young and Bogdan Bogdanovic, who combined for 59 of the Hawks’ points.
“I thought our defense was a lot better,” Clifford said. “The fouling just crushed us. Young was terrific and Bogdanovic was great. When those two guys play like that, I don’t care who they’re playing against, they’re going to be in the game. We were much more purposeful.”
Perhaps, but the Hornets also had trouble keeping up with Atlanta in transition with the Hawks netting 14 points off of five turnovers in the first quarter alone. Although they tightened things up defensively in the second half, the futile effort through the game’s opening 24 minutes was a crusher.
“A lot of fouling, early fouling,” Ball said. “So they were in the bonus the whole game, just getting easy points. All those easy fouls and them getting to the free throw line.”
Hayward rusty
Similar to Ball upon his return, Hayward displayed plenty of rust.
He was aggressive in driving to the bucket, making a concerted effort to get there on two of his first four attempts. He misfired on his initial three shots and a couple of them – including one from 3-point range – came up short.
“For me personally, I’ve got to be better,” Hayward said. “I think tonight was a good step just finally getting back out on the court, trying to get some rhythm, especially offensively. But it’s one I can build on.”
In totaling nine points, five assists and three rebounds while making 3 of 9 attempts in 29 minutes, Hayward wasn’t exactly a huge difference-maker. But that shouldn’t have been expected for someone who hadn’t played since Nov. 11.
“It’s always great having a good player like that who can shoot, play defense,” Ball said. “So yeah it was great having Gordon back.”
No PJ
The Hornets were close to having their starting lineup whole for the first time all season. But that changed not long before the opening toss was hurled in the air.
PJ Washington was a last-minute addition to the injury report and missed the game for personal reasons, forcing Clifford to switch things up. Clifford figured it was a no-brainer to insert Jalen McDaniels into Washington’s spot to give them a little length.
“Jalen’s played well at the ‘4,’” Clifford said. “He’s played there a lot and we’re four out. We have struggled some playing bigger at the ‘4’ with not as much skill. There’s just not as much room out there for the other guys than when Jalen’s out there.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 9:39 PM.
