Charlotte Hornets suffer costly loss, 113-98, to the Wizards

About that Charlotte Hornets winning out thing; scratch it.

The Hornets were sloppy with the ball and gave the lottery-bound Washington Wizards easy routes to the rim. That added up to a 113-98 Charlotte loss at the Verizon Center, a setback that will go far toward reducing the Hornets’ chances of home-court advantage in the playoffs.

The Hornets made up a 14-point first-half deficit to lead briefly in the third quarter, but could never seize control, despite playing in the bonus for the last 7 1/2 minutes of this game.

The Hornets are 46-34 and play at the Boston Celtics Monday night. The regular-season finale is Wednesday at home against the Orlando Magic.

The Wizards, recently eliminated from playoff contention, improved to 39-41.

Three who mattered

Marcin Gortat: The Wizards center made 10 of his first 11 shots in assembling a 21 and 13points-rebounds double-double.

Marvin Williams: He was big in the third-quarter span when the Hornets briefly took back the lead.

Ramon Sessions: Was solid as the Wizards’ fill-in starter at point guard with 15 points and 11 assists.

Observations

▪  Hornets coach Steve Clifford said pre-game that Sunday’s noon start should serve as good practice for the unpredictable tip-off times the team could see during the playoffs.

▪  Something potentially encouraging about Monday’s matchup with the Boston Celtics; the Hornets are 11-4 this season in the second game of back-to-back sets. And obviously with Sunday’s noon start, the Hornets got to Boston far earlier than they would have normally following a game.

▪  The Hornets’ interior defense was terrible in the first half, giving up 30 Wizards points in the lane.

▪  The Hornets committed 10 first-half turnovers. They average an NBA-best 12.5 per game.

▪  Wizards guard Bradley Beal left the game in the second half with a sore pelvis.

Worth mentioning

▪  Wizards point guard John Wall sat out Sunday’s game with a sore right knee.

▪  Hornets small forward Jeremy Lamb was active Sunday after missing the Nets game with a toe strain.

▪  Troy Daniels was ahead of Lamb in Sunday’s rotation.

They said it

“I think this is hopefully a good learning experience. You know playoffs start and you’re going to have different routines; it could be nine at night or noon and you have to be ready to play at different times.” – Clifford on Sunday’s noon tip-off.

“I’ve been saying this for two weeks, we haven’t played a fully good game.” – Clifford.

“We didn’t really set a tone early-on. They were able to get a lot of things in transition, in the half-court, spreading us out and getting in the paint.” – Hornets forward Frank Kaminsky.

Report card

D OFFENSE: The guards couldn’t generate much and the turnovers were costly.

F DEFENSE: There was little or no impediment to various Wizards getting to the rim all afternoon.

D COACHING: This game had major stakes and the Hornets just didn’t look ready in a rare noon tip-off.

This story was originally published April 10, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Charlotte Hornets suffer costly loss, 113-98, to the Wizards."