Familiar feeling: Charlotte Hornets fall at home to cellar-dwelling Washington Wizards
Two nights after taking the league’s reigning MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets down to the wire, the Charlotte Hornets continued a season-long trend of playing to the level of their opponent in a 124-114 loss to the Washington Wizards on Monday at Spectrum Center.
Miles Bridges’ first career triple-double and Nick Smith Jr.’s career-best 24 points kept the Hornets close late in the action, trimming what was a 26-point Wizards advantage to just five points in the game’s penultimate quarter, but it wasn’t enough to win in a clash of draft lottery hopefuls.
Bridges: We’ve got to play with a lot more pride
With Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, followed by Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs traveling to Spectrum Center this week, Bridges knows Charlotte must move on from this loss in a hurry.
“We just can’t wait until teams to hit us in the mouth first. We’ve got to play with a lot more pride. We’ve got nothing to lose,” Bridges said. “You know you’ve got another game, so we’ve got to let go of this loss. We’ve got Giannis coming on, so if I’m still dwelling on this game, he’s going to come in and bust our ass in the next game. That’s just the NBA. We’ve got to have the next play mentality.”
With injuries continuing to pile up, it’s a balance of frustration and patience for the Hornets.
“It’s frustrating knowing you could have guys that can put the ball in the hole (on the court),” Bridges said of the injuries. “But I’m happy for the young guys, happy they’re getting the chance to play. I’m competitive and I like to win, and we’re just learning as a whole to win, but I love these young guys and I’m happy they’re getting this experience too.”
Smith has been a prime beneficiary of the missing pieces in the backcourt, averaging 17 points per game over his past three games, including an efficient 24 points (56.3%) in Monday night’s loss.
From stints with the swarm in the G-League to start the season to leading the team in scoring, Smith is just one example of the youth movement on coach Charles Lee’s roster. Consistency both in the lineup and on the court has been the Hornets’ biggest issue, but there’s still time for Charlotte to improve its roster with Thursday’s NBA trade deadline looming.
NBA trade deadline drama
The NBA’s trade deadline is just days away and the Hornets are known to be taking calls and “listening to everything.”
With the Western Conference shake up following Luka Doncic’s trade from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers, it seems nearly anything is on the table in the trade market. Hornets basketball operations chief Jeff Peterson has confirmed that Charlotte is all-ears.
“We’ve received calls on multiple of our players,” Peterson told the media following the Nick Richards trade in mid-January. “I think at this point, look, we are going to listen to everything. We are not going to do anything to compromise the future, but we are going to do what’s best for the organization that we see going forward in order to be sustainable going forward.”
Charlotte has been active in the trade market since Peterson took charge 11 months ago, and decisions loom with Thursday’s 3 p.m. deadline — but the Hornets’ front office and head coach are in lockstep, according to Lee.
“That’s an ongoing conversation that we’ll continue to have and evaluate for our team,” Lee said about adding talent to the roster.