Steve Clifford kept his postgame thoughts succinct, ensuring there was no misunderstanding.
After the Charlotte Hornets dropped another decision, this time losing to Washington 106-102 at Capital One Arena on Sunday night, the coach made it clear he wasn’t pleased with his team’s lack of grit and suggested the time is now to change the narrative.
“The biggest thing is we’ve got to play tougher,” Clifford said. “We’ve got to be more physical. And it can’t be just like when we feel good (or) they’re tired, we’re tired. We’ve got to rebound. We’ve got to have block-out attitude. It cost us a game in Cleveland. We missed a block out. We make one block out, we win that game. Same thing tonight. We start getting tougher, we start playing with some physicality, we’ll start to win.”
Until then, nothing changes for the Hornets (4-14). Even if they get healthier, as has been the case during the past three days.
“That’s it,” Clifford said. “Enough talking about it. It was a major problem last year. It’s a major problem still and it’s not something you have to work on. It’s somebody go get the ball. It’s as simple as that.”
Here’s are some takeaways from the Hornets’ third straight loss and 13th in their past 15 games:
Frustrating fourth
Allowing 18 points in the third quarter, which represented the second-lowest amount they’ve yielded this season, put the Hornets in a good position to end their losing streak and collect their fourth road win.
But their defense and shooting stroke betrayed them early in the fourth and they paid for it.
A 13-2 run by Washington turned things in the Wizards’ favor, and Washington’s end-of-game charge was aided by the Hornets’ inept shooting. Charlotte connected on just 24% of its attempts until the last minutes of the final quarter.
Terry Rozier had a rough outing, misfiring on 10 of 12 attempts and going 0 for 5 from 3-point range. It’s hard for the Hornets to have a good chance to pull out a victory if he doesn’t have a good shooting display, especially with LaMelo Ball injured and Gordon Hayward still trying to work into form in just his second game following his return from injury.
“I think the first three minutes of the fourth quarter were the game,” Clifford said. “They’re playing without Brad Beal, playing with (Kristaps) Porzingis on the floor and I think they were up right away. So, to me that was the biggest part of the game, the very beginning.”
Smith returns
One game after welcoming Hayward back, it was Dennis Smith Jr.’s turn to suit up again. Smith returned from a four-game absence after sitting out with a sprained left ankle sustained Nov. 10 in Miami and was solid.
Coming off the bench for the first time since the Hornets’ home opener against New Orleans, Smith was effective backing up Rozier, posting six points and three assists. He had made 11 consecutive starts
Smith is contributing 10.2 points, 6.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game, numbers that are up across the board compared to his career averages.
“Dennis Smith was our best player tonight,” Clifford said. “The whole game every time he was in the game, he got tired because he hadn’t played, but he was our best player.”
Bench happenings
A sluggish start got neutralized thanks to some solid contributions from Charlotte’s reserves.
Led by sixth man Jalen McDaniels and Smith, the Hornets’ nonstarters outscored the 20-8 in the first half, propelling them to a 29-14 advantage over Washington in bench points. Nick Richards also was effective inside, causing havoc on the offensive glass and hauling in nearly as many (three) rebounds as Washington (four) collected in the first half alone. He posted his fourth double-double of his career, which have all come this season.
Kai Jones also made the most of his meaningful court time for the second consecutive game, perhaps elbowing his way into the rotation. The second-year big man logged four minutes and had a strong putback in the lane over three Wizards for his lone field goal. Jones is considered more of a backup center than a power forward, which has him behind Mason Plumlee and Richards in the pecking order. But he got subbed in for PJ Washington midway through the fourth quarter, throwing down a filthy reserve fastbreak dunk.
