Through these initial eight days of the season, there has been one constant for the Charlotte Hornets: suitcases.
Suitcases are an essential part of their equipment thanks to a road-heavy schedule, one that continued with their matchup with New York on Wednesday night. The Hornets had won both of their previous games away from home in convincing fashion and their date with the Knicks at Madison Square Garden was their latest chance to see exactly what they could do without LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier and Cody Martin.
Despite being undermanned yet again, they actually erased a double-digit second-half deficit and actually had an opportunity to keep their road record unblemished. But Gordon Hayward missed a 5-foot floater at the end of regulation, forcing overtime, and the Hornets squandered a late five-point, fourth-quarter edge and succumbed to New York 134-131.
PJ Washington’s potential-game tying 3-pointer with 5.5 seconds left in overtime was deemed a 2-pointer after the officials ruled via video review that his right foot was on the 3-point line — albeit barely — and the Knicks sealed it with a pair of RJ Barrett free throws.
Here’s what we learned in the Hornets’ second loss of the season:
Hayward leads the way
Who knows where the Hornets would be without Hayward’s early season production. Although he missed that potential game-winner at the end of the fourth quarter, he poured in 21 points to go with 8 assists and 4 rebounds in 39 minutes.
Hayward had a huge hand in the Hornets hanging around in the third quarter. He netted 12 points in a row in the quarter, posting his first double-digit scoring quarter of the season. The veteran totaled 16 quarters with 10 or more points a season ago.
Overall, he accounted for 88.2% of the team’s points — 12 points, one assist, three points created from assists — through the first 7:41 of the third.
Another slow start
Playing from behind early has been a common theme for the Hornets in their previous two games and that didn’t change against the Knicks.
The Hornets dipped into a hole as large as 10 points in the first quarter and were forced to claw back into it. Defensively, they didn’t dig in good enough and allowed the Knicks to hit 9-of-14 shots inside the paint in the first quarter alone, yielding 18 of New York’s 32 points on the interior.
Continuing to play catchup, especially while down three key rotation players, is not a recipe for success.
Maledon a find
When the Hornets shifted things on the tail end of their roster just prior to the start of the season, signing Theo Maledon to a two-way deal certainly didn’t create any seismic rumblings.
But it has turned out to be a productive under-the-radar move.
Maledon has stepped in as the backup point guard in their past two games and been more than serviceable with the Hornets in need of someone to give them solid backup minutes. Dennis Smith Jr. moving into the starting lineup with Ball and Rozier injured leaves a void in the reserve point guard role and Maledon was effective for the second straight game.
The 21-year-old, who played his first two seasons with Oklahoma City, nailed his initial 3-pointer against the Knicks and produced 15 points and three assists. He also drew a nice charge on Jalen Brunson near the tail end of the first half.
