Charlotte’s Defense Gets Blasted by Rockets’ 21 3-Pointers, 27 PTS Allowed Off Turnovers
Falling behind at the start of games has been an early-season problem for the Charlotte Hornets, and one that reared its ugly head again in Wednesday night’s 128-119 road loss to the Houston Rockets.
PJ Washington was the brightest offensive spot for the Hornets in their third straight defeat, finishing with a game-high-tying 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting, which included a near-perfect 5-of-6 clip from 3-point range. Terry Rozier added another 21 points on 10-of-21 shooting, giving himself four consecutive 20-point showings to begin the season.
A 25-9 first quarter-closing-run helped put Houston ahead by 18 halfway through the second, before Charlotte returned serve with a 23-7 stretch to enter the break down by only three. The Rockets immediately fired back with a 16-5 spurt to open the third and soon took an eight-point advantage into the fourth. The deficit would get trimmed to five with 2:41 to go, but the Hornets conceded points on their final six defensive possessions to seal the loss.
Late flurry aside, the Hornets got absolutely crushed by Houston’s 21-of-37 3-point barrage (56.8%) and committed 16 turnovers – seven in the first quarter – for 27 total points going the other way. They did use their size advantage to win the glass, 44-38, but constantly lost track of the Rockets on defense all night long, both in the halfcourt and transition.
“The turnovers hurt us,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford afterwards. “The thing that obviously stands out is the readiness to start the game and in the third quarter. We’re down double digits early again. We shot 50 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point on the road and lost. That’s crazy. Our defense was awful. From our pick-and-roll coverages to just mistakes, stuff we worked on for two days and they made us pay. In this league, you can’t pick and choose when you’re going to do coverages, not do coverages, do your job, not do your job.”
LaMelo Ball continued to shake off some rust throughout the opening three quarters (six points on 2-of-8 shooting, four assists, three turnovers), finally finding a spark in the fourth (13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, 2-of-2 from 3-point range, zero turnovers). It’s easy to forget how much time Ball’s missed over the past year, but hopefully, this little surge was a good sign of things to come. Added Clifford, “He played a little better. He’s getting there. Mark [Williams] is the same way. They’re just not there yet.”
All five Houston starters scored at least 17 points: Jalen Green (23), Fred VanVleet (22, 5-of-10 from 3-point range), Dillon Brooks (20), Alperen Şengün (19) and Jabari Smith Jr. (17). Six different Rockets players all hit multiple 3-pointers, helping the team notched its first victory of the season under new Head Coach Ime Udoka.
The Hornets will have a couple days off before another road game against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, Nov. 4 starting at 7 PM ET. Catch all the action on Bally Sports Southeast and WFNZ 92.7 FM.