Without LaMelo Ball, the Hornets are downright offensive. And not in a good way
Score one for the tanking crowd. It’s about the only thing that went in the net for the Charlotte Hornets in Brooklyn.
Everyone knew it was going to be a struggle, understanding the engine got yanked out of an already sputtering offense. Once the Hornets lost their leading scorer and star point guard to a fractured ankle, there was no question they were in deep trouble.
Still, without LaMelo Ball’s services, the Hornets have been downright offensive and took it to a whole new level of futility in New York on Sunday night. They were flat-out awful while sleepwalking in a 102-86 loss to Brooklyn at the Barclays Center, beginning a three-game road trip with easily one of their worst outings of their brutal season.
In two of their three games minus Ball so far, the Hornets (20-46) have topped triple digits in scoring only once and are posting 94.3 points per game. That’s 17 points off their season average, which already ranked among the four worst in the league prior to being pasted by the Nets.
“We’re limited to a certain degree,” coach Steve Clifford said. “And we just were not patient enough. We’re going to have to play to second side of the floor offensively more than we were willing to do tonight. Our offensive energy wasn’t good.
“But it all starts with just the right mindset. You don’t play good on offense if you don’t have good readiness either and that was the biggest part.”
A mixture of questionable decision-making, ill-advised shot attempts, too much individual play and a lack of defensive intensity has been a nasty cocktail for the Hornets during the past week sans the presence of their best player. It was a recipe for disaster against the Nets, who were reeling in their own right but looked nothing like a team in distress in pounding the Hornets.
Here’s how atrocious the Hornets were: the 41 points they totaled in the first half was their lowest output of the season and the fewest surrendered by Brooklyn in the first half all season. They even concluded the third quarter on a 15-2 run, yet trailed still by 24 points at the outset of the fourth.
“Obviously, LaMelo is a generational player, so it’s hard missing a guy like that,” said PJ Washington, who returned after missing the previous four games with a right foot sprain. “So, we’ve got to try to find ways to get everybody involved. Pass, move and cut better offensively.”
Yes, the struggle is real.
“We’re not going to be 125 many nights now,” Clifford said. “That’s a different world. Offense is going to be hard here. We’re going to win by playing a lot harder than we did (also on Friday night), being a lot more physical and not making so many mistakes. You’ve got to know who you are. We’ve got to be winning 112-108, like that. The 130 (points total) or 41 in a quarter, that’s not happening again.”
Those days are long gone. Like landing premium gas for under $3. Or purchasing a carton of eggs without doing a double take at the price register.
Finding offense is a chore for the Hornets, and there are only a few ways to alleviate the issue.
“You’ve got to get more stops and get more possessions,” Kelly Oubre said. “Doing the dirty work, limit the offensive team to just one shot. We’ve got to just take care of the rebounding battle every night and give ourselves an offensive chance by getting more possessions. Getting more stops.”
In other words, show some resolve despite their obviously frustrating circumstances.
“For the most part, these guys have handled an incredible amount of bad luck and adversity all year,” Clifford said. “And we’ve played really hard. Our effort and our energy have been the best thing that we’ve done. Tonight, that was not the case. Wednesday night, we are going to play a really good (New York Knicks) team who’s on a roll, and we are going to need everybody’s best.
“But the energy and effort haven’t been an issue all year. It’s something you always worry about as a coach, but that’s what we’ve been good at.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2023 at 9:32 PM.
