What Steve Clifford said after Hornets fall in New Orleans, extend losing streak
This has reached absurd levels.
Just when it seems like it’s impossible for the Charlotte Hornets to add to the litany of injuries that have choked away the bulk of their season, along comes Wednesday night.
Already extremely shorthanded — Brandon Miller was unavailable for the second straight game and Bryce McGowens sat out with a strained left hip flexor — the injury bug keeps gnawing at the Hornets.
On this night it was Nick Richards, the reserve center currently starting in place of a banged up Mark Williams. Richards sprained his right ankle in the Hornets’ 132-112 loss to New Orleans at Smoothie King Center.
In a rarity for Charlotte, Richards’ injury didn’t knock him out for the entire night.
But the same couldn’t be said for Eric Collins. Hornets fans tuning into the Bally Sports Southeast broadcast didn’t hear the longtime TV voice uttering his usual catchphrases to liven up another dull night.
An illness forced Collins to miss his first game since arriving in Charlotte in 2015, creating another wacky moment in a banged-up season for the Hornets. Collins’ absence was met with glum reaction on social media, leaving more than a few viewers downtrodden — matching how many feel about the Hornets’ chances to end the NBA’s longest playoff drought.
Here’s what the struggling Hornets (8-30) had to say after extending their losing streak to six games, falling for the 17th time in their last 18 outings:
On what happened after trailing by five points at halftime
“In the third quarter, I think it was their offensive rebounding,” coach Steve Clifford said, “and their 3-point shooting which, was a problem the whole game.”
On how they can get more out of others besides main three scorers
“Preach defense to all of them,” Clifford said. “No matter how good you are offensively, if we are going to play well, everybody’s got to defend. That’s every team. Within everybody’s role on every team, everybody has to defend.”
On how LaMelo Ball has looked in his return
“I think he’ll play better and better,” Clifford said. “He missed a bunch of games. So, we don’t practice a lot anymore, so he didn’t do a lot of five-on-five. But we need to run, we need to get up and down the floor more, and obviously he’s as good as it gets leading the break. So, I think the more he plays, and he gets his rhythm back, we’ll play faster.”
On LaMelo Ball’s conditioning
“I think his conditioning is good,” Clifford said. “He did everything that you can do. It’s just more so his rhythm. He missed close to six weeks and that’s a long time to go without playing five-on-five. We don’t practice as much anymore, so he kind of did a lot of two-on-two, three-on-three. So, that takes a little time, too.”
