It’s too early to draw definitive conclusions, especially given how the Charlotte Hornets entered Wednesday’s game in Chicago still without three key players in their rotation.
But the early inconsistencies that had already crept in were enough to give coach Steve Clifford a bit of a pause leading into their matchup with the Bulls.
“Our effort for the most part has been good,” Clifford said. “Our purpose comes and goes. What’s the one thing you would want to improve right away? I know everybody would think I would say defense. (But) it’s how we run the floor.
“When we run the floor good and we have options ahead of the ball, we are really hard to guard, even without Terry (Rozier), Melo (LaMelo Ball) and Cody (Martin). All of that. And when we don’t and when we’ve got guys straying and doing more of what they want to do off the ball and we don’t have good spacing, we are not having good possessions. And if we can do that … we’ll play well more consistently.”
Looks like they’ve still got a ways to go.
Playing more like they were on the team on a back-to-back instead of their opponent, the Hornets were run out of the United Center by the Bulls and dropped a 106-88 decision.
Here’s what we learned in the Hornets’ second straight loss:
HAYWARD INJURED
Gordon Hayward’s injury luck lasted for about three weeks.
Hayward sat out the second half with left shoulder soreness and was replaced by Jalen McDaniels, delivering another blow to a team already besieged with an assortment of ailments. It immediately conjured up visions of the previous two years of Hayward’s tenure with the team.
He missed 21 of their final 22 games a season ago and wasn’t available for a good portion of the preseason last month after suffering a left knee contusion during the first few days of training camp.
In all, Hayward has appeared in just 100 of 163 games since he signed with the Hornets.
BENCH MOBBED
Chicago’s reserves got the best of the Hornets’ non-starters and that was a huge factor.
Goran Dragic and Javonte Green shredded Charlotte and combined for 31 of the Bulls’ points off the bench, propelling them to a whopping 48-28 advantage in that category.
Green came into the game averaging 5.1 points and was shooting 20% from 3-point territory. But he played flawless against the Hornets, canning all seven shots. That includes a 3-for-3 effort beyond the arc.
So much for that top-ranked 3-point defense.
One of the Hornets’ strengths through the season’s first half-dozen plus games centered around their ability to contain teams on the perimeter. They entered the evening leading the league in limiting the opposition to 35.5%. But the Bulls had little trouble dissecting the Hornets from 3-point range.
Chicago hit seven of its first nine attempts beyond the arc and at one point sank 9 of 10, riding the hot shooting from deep to an 11-point edge in the first half.
