ATLANTA — A lengthy injury list that never seems to shrink has undoubtedly victimized the Charlotte Hornets this season, making it difficult to sustain success.
But that’s not the only reason for the Hornets’ struggles.
“What we haven’t gotten to regardless of who’s playing — and definitely the injuries are part of it, is we haven’t come up with a way to play yet so we play well consistently,” coach Steve Clifford said.
They may be finding a blueprint, albeit slowly.
Without the services of star point guard LaMelo Ball on a night they finally welcomed Gordon Hayward back into the lineup, the Hornets used a huge second-half charge to earn a 122-118 victory over Atlanta at State Farm Arena on Saturday night.
Here are some key takeaways from the Hornets’ second straight win:
Scared straight
Terry Rozier basically put the Hornets on the back of his 6-foot-1 frame.
Rozier fueled the Hornets with 32 points and drained a season-best seven 3-pointers. Twice in the final six minutes, he nailed a big shot to give them the lead.
He posted 17 points in the third, matching his season-high for most in a quarter, and the five 3-pointers he swished tied the second-most 3-pointers by a Hornets in a quarter since 1996-97.
Free points nearly costly
When the Hornets re-watch the footage of this one, they’ll surely lament their lack of composure and poise at the tail end of the second quarter when they made a trademark, head-scratching play leading to frustration boiling over.
PJ Washington inexplicably fouled Trae Young on a desperation heave a few steps inside the halfcourt line just as time expired, and Young was given three free throws after replay confirmed the call. Clifford was incensed about something while Young was shooting his second free throw and got slapped with a technical foul.
Young sank all four free throws with 0.4 seconds remaining to pad Atlanta’s lead. Rather than trailing by a dozen points at the intermission, the Hornets instead found themselves in a 16-point hole.
Gordon a ‘2’
Although Hayward was in the starting unit, technically he didn’t get slotted into his usual spot.
Without Ball’s services, Clifford elected to move Rozier over to point guard with the game’s opening unit and slid Hayward in at shooting guard.
The thinking revolved around Clifford wanting Hayward to help initiate the Hornets’ offense since they were missing playmaking ability in Ball’s absence. It’s a delicate act for Clifford, given Hayward couldn’t ramp up to a full workload in his first game back.
“Melo plays big minutes, Gordon can’t do that yet,” Clifford said. “Terry can’t play more than he’s playing. … It gives us the best balance of subbing. You’ve got to try to do the whole 48 minutes so it’s best for us to do Terry, Gordon, PJ, Mason (Plumlee). And that way it makes it easier to keep at least one primary ball-handler on the floor and best chance at offensive and defensive balance.”
