What the Charlotte Hornets said after a bitter loss to the Washington Wizards
Even with the Eastern Conference’s worst team in the building Wednesday night, concerns abounded for Steve Clifford.
The Charlotte Hornets coach anticipated Washington’s pace could be a problem and pose a stiff challenge. In a variety of ways. And it worried him.
“We’ve been terrible at getting back,” Clifford said. “Our defense can get a lot better quickly if we do two things — if we start getting our defense set, which we’ve been really poor at so far and they’ll take full advantage of. And then stop fouling.
“You can have good possession after good possession, and we showed guys two (during film session on Tuesday) multiple efforts, everybody doing what they’re supposed to do. Then, there’s a drive and we slap down. Again, there’s no worse play you can make in the NBA defensively than foul somebody and put them at the line. It’s not close. You’ve got to be able to defend without fouling, and right now, we’re really bad at that.”
Spoiler alert: the Hornets haven’t been good at much through these first two weeks, and they didn’t give the sparse crowd of 14,267 a whole lot to get excited about in their 132-116 loss to the Wizards at Spectrum Center. So, what’s to blame for the Hornets’ fifth loss in their last six games?
“Preparation,” LaMelo Ball said. “I feel like we didn’t come out ready. I felt we should’ve won and we just didn’t come out ready.”
As far as early-season disappointments go, this one goes to the top of the list — despite Charlotte (2-5) missing Terry Rozier for the second straight game. Washington (2-5) had been struggling mightily and didn’t appear all that interested at the outset.
“Tonight was tough,” Gordon Hayward said. “Our defense has been the problem. What’d they put up, like 130? It definitely doesn’t get any easier. No matter who you’re playing, this is the NBA and everybody can go and everybody can score.
“It was too many straight-line drives, not enough help, and then you’re scrambling and that’s tough. We’ve got to be able to keep guys in front of us and keep them out of the paint.”
It goes back to the same issue that keeps resurfacing — a systematic failure to match up whenever the opposition goes with a smaller lineup.
“Oh, the defense,” Clifford said. “And to be honest with you, if you break it down game by game, it’s what they did tonight. We have struggled when teams have gone five-out. That’s what hurt us in the Brooklyn game. Detroit was different. Detroit, they pounded us and they just outworked us inside.
“But both Indiana is five-out all the time and the stretches where Dallas was five-out we struggled, too. So, that’s the biggest problem.”
LaMelo Ball a bright spot
At least the Hornets had something to grasp onto and extract from their latest disappointing defeat: Ball is heating up and rediscovering his rhythm.
Ball’s season-high 34 points against Washington tied for the third-best mark in his career. He’s totaled 64 points in his last two games, which equals the most he’s scored in any two-game span of his career.
“I’ve been feeling better playing,” Ball said. “I’m just going to say I always feel like myself no matter what. When I am hurt, or not hurt, I’m always going to be Melo.”
Ball’s teammates are pleased to see him breaking out of his offensive funk.
“I’m not surprised, man,” Rozier said. “We live in a world where everybody is just overhyped and everybody just overreacts. Especially lately. People might have been talking crazy, but we all know what he can do, we all know how special he is. So, it’s no surprise and I think he found it now, so it’s really over with.”
Ball logged 36 minutes, hovering right where the staff wants him at the moment, and it comes on the heels of his season-high 39 minutes against Dallas. It bears monitoring because the last thing they want to do is wear him down early in the season.
“We can’t play ‘Melo like that, that many minutes,” Clifford said. “He was rolling (in Dallas). It was a chance to win and it would’ve been a great weekend, so we just went with it. But we’re not going to do that. He can’t play those minutes every night right now.”
Clifford added: “Right now, without Terry it’s hard.”
Terry Rozier: No timetable for return
In uncharted territory, yet still hip to the injury issues that crop up without warning, Rozier is annoyed he’s sidelined again and can’t suit up for the Hornets.
That doesn’t mean he’s not going to be smart about his current circumstances, though.
“Yeah, I look at this (stuff) like war and it just sucks that I can’t be out there,” Rozier after the Hornets’ shootaround. “But the younger me, I’m much older now so I know that you’ve got to take your time and you’ve got to make sure I’m comfortable and I’m ready. And not nobody else.
“So, I’ll be alright, and I know when that time comes I’ll be ready to play again.”
Rozier sat out for the second straight game after sustaining a left groin pull late in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s win in Indiana, and he’s also out for Friday’s game against the Wizards in Washington, which will be Charlotte’s first taste of the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament.
There’s no definitive timetable for Rozier’s return. While he’s had his share of ailments over his eight-plus seasons, including several ankle sprains, this is a new one for him. He kept rewinding the footage of the seemingly innocent sequence, when he attempted to dribble past Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith and stopped immediately, grabbing himself in pain.
“It was just going downhill,” Rozier said, “I think just trying to do an in-and-out. I’ve watched the play a lot of times and I think I just dragged my foot, and it kind of tweaked in the groin area. So, it kind of strained it and that’s what happened.
“But I’ve never had an injury like that before, so that’s why I kind of reacted like that. But I’ll be fine.”
With Rozier and his team-leading 22 points per game missing, it’s pushed rookie Brandon Miller into the Hornets’ starting unit alongside Ball. Miller posted seven points against Dallas and didn’t shoot the ball well in his debut as a starter leading into his 13-point outing against Washington.
Through the season’s initial six games, Miller ranked near the top in most of the notable categories for first-year players, including points, rebounds, assists and minutes per game.
“He’s doing good,” Rozier said. “He’s just getting his feet wet. He’s one of those guys that just gets better day-by-day, like really huge too. So, I’m happy to see his growth ... I think we all are. I’m happy he’s in that position to start.”
Which, in turn, is giving Miller more time than previously anticipated to jell with Ball.
“It’s going to be good to give a team different looks and stuff like that,” Rozier said. “So, I think they complement each other very well. They both can play with anybody, so I think it’s going to be good to see that.
“This league is all about opportunities, whether you start early or whatever. ... He deserves it and I love to see what he’s going to do with it. And I’m pretty much (sure) it will be some great things ... it’s just huge. But this is what it’s all about — opportunity and you running with it.”
That will be the plan for the Hornets until Rozier is back on the court. In the meantime, he’s zeroed in on treatment and rehab.
“Just rest and putting my trust in the training staff,” Rozier said. “They’ve been doing a great job. I’ve been getting better day by day. I really don’t have (a) timeframe, but I’m just putting my trust in them and knowing that I will be better.”
