What we learned in the Charlotte Hornets’ blowout home loss to Memphis Grizzlies
Dressed in street clothes, Danny Green approached Steve Clifford at halfcourt midway through the third quarter, raising his right arm to place around the torso of the Charlotte Hornets coach.
Green, the Memphis swingman, struck up a brief conversation with Clifford and probably offered a few words of encouragement given the way the Hornets were being dismantled by the Grizzlies. Memphis toyed with Charlotte, never feeling threatened or losing its firm grip.
When the final horn sounded inside Spectrum Center, signaling a 131-107 defeat for the overmatched Hornets and putting the last touches on a disappointing four-game homestand, the bulk of the sellout crowd seemed indifferent. Any boos were drowned out by the cheers reserved for South Carolina native Ja Morant as he bounced off the floor after another smooth, seemingly effortless performance.
That’s what it’s come to for the Hornets (10-29) as they continue their downward spiral into oblivion. Other than wondering if they’ll get through the game unscathed with injuries, there’s not much suspense these days.
As the season slips away, a rah-rah speech isn’t going to cut it. The Hornets need more than that.
“The thing about the NBA is — and I totally agree with this – it’s never about what you say to your team,” Clifford said. “You either have the right kind of guys or don’t. And I think that our guys will bounce back. They’ve been good at that. Dealing with failure is a part of team sports — at every level.
“It’s just hard. It seems like every time we start to play better (like) on the West Coast trip or (against) Oklahoma City, we lose someone. So, it’s definitely hard and I think what you have to try to do as a coach is you have to evaluate all of it and figure out why.”
Here are some key takeaways from the Hornets’ 15th loss in their past 19 outings:
No ‘D’ in defense
Those defensive improvements remain nonexistent for the Hornets.
Memphis (24-13) carved up the Hornets with relative ease, dissecting them in the paint to the tune of 64 points — 50 through three quarters. Charlotte allowed 76 points in the first half, which is two shy of the most it has yielded this season.
Giving up 40 in the first quarter set a bad tone the Hornets couldn’t overcome.
“I don’t think our defense was great,” Clifford said. “But I think that the bigger problem was turnovers.”
Eight miscues in the first half led to 11 Memphis points and a 10-2 edge in the fast-break department. Overcoming even those modest numbers proved to be too difficult given the Hornets’ small margin of error.
“I think transition buckets hurt us a lot,” LaMelo Ball said.
Cody being eased in
Cody Martin was a step slow and definitely not up to game speed just yet. He misfired on his initial four attempts and had a left-handed dunk blocked right at the rim., finishing with four points on 2-of-7 shooting and four rebounds.
Defensively, he drew the toughest assignment, matching up with Morant. But even he couldn’t corral the Grizzlies’ superstar, who racked up 23 points and eight assists.
In between stints, Martin rode a stationary bike situated in the tunnel near the Hornets’ bench under the supervision of Adam Linens, the team’s strength and conditioning coach. It was his way of staying loose and keeping his left leg from tightening up after being sidelined for so long.
Getting into actual playing shape is the next step for Martin, and it’s something he couldn’t do in the preseason since he dealt with left knee tendinopathy and was on the floor for only one game. The process of knocking off the rust won’t happen overnight after missing 37 games following a 56-second stint in the Oct. 19 season opener in San Antonio.
“It’s frustrating, especially because in a perfect situation everybody would like to come back exactly where you left off,” Martin said. “But that’s just part of the process, just being able to get my physical rhythm and mental rhythm back. I haven’t really played with my teammates in a while, considering it’s been back all the way to training camp.
“So, building that chemistry up with them, especially since they’ve built chemistry with each other while I’ve been out … I’m just trying to get back in the flow and find my rhythm. It’s going to come back, it’s going to come around. That’s part of the process and my teammates are doing a good job on instilling confidence as well as our staff, and I’m just going to continue to play and get better.”
Just don’t expect Martin to get into a comfort zone for a while.
“It’s going to take a couple games,” Clifford said. “Our plan was obviously that Gordon (Hayward) and Kelly (Oubre) would be here, too, but we need to be more balanced, and those two guys are two of our better perimeter defenders to guard primary scorers. It also makes it easier on Terry (Rozier) and Gordon, who have had a lot of responsibility on offense, plus guarding primary scorers. That’s hard to do. That was the plan and now it’ll be a little bit different.”
LaMelo streaking
There’s not much to get excited about with the Hornets. Following Ball’s offensive exploits and keeping tabs on his progress is about the only thing that’s putting bodies in the seats right about now.
Ball ranks as the Hornets’ leading scorer, and he added to that mark with another double-double, tossing in 23 points and distributing 12 assists. He’s the youngest player in NBA history to post at least 20 points and connect on two 3-pointers at minimum in 13 consecutive games after extending his streak against the Grizzlies.
He matched Glen Rice’s team record for the longest such stretch in franchise history.
Ball also became the fourth-youngest player in NBA history to record 1,000 career assists, trailing behind LeBron James, Stephon Marbury and Trae Young.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 9:53 PM.
