The Charlotte Hornets lost a crucial game to the Chicago Bulls Thursday night, 120-99. The Hornets had a difficult time stopping Nikola Vucevic and a Bulls team that was back to full strength with Zach LaVine making his return to the lineup.
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Charlotte started the game sluggish. They had trouble on both ends of the court. The Hornets allowed the Bulls to establish themselves early in the game, jumping out to a double figure lead, 20-9. The Hornets went on a small run to cut the lead down to ten, 34-24, going into the second quarter.
Charlotte played inspired defense in the second quarter and their offense started to come to life. P.J. Washington and Terry Rozier sparked the offense in the quarter. They each had 12 points going into the half, which led the Hornets scoring. LaMelo Ball was cold throughout the first half, not scoring a single field goal and ending the half 0-6.
The Hornets came unglued on the defensive end at the start of the third quarter. The Bulls shredded them with their ball movement. Along with their poor defense, the Hornets could not hit a shot. They got man-handled on the boards. This has been an issue all season long and the Bulls were able to take advantage of it. Even when the Hornets got defensive stops, the Bulls crashed the boards and got offensive rebounds, which led to second chance opportunities.
Vucevic was able to control the game from the perimeter, where he hit five of seven 3-point shots and was 12 of 24 from the field. He ended the game with a strong double-double, 29 points and 14 rebounds for Chicago.
Even though the game was already decided, the Hornets did not give up in the fourth quarter. They had some energy, which helped them get some fast break points.
P.J Washington led the Hornets with 24 points and had six 3-pointers. Malik Monk contributed 20 points off the bench. LaMelo Ball had an off night with only 4 points and was 1-10 from the field. Seven players from the Bulls were in double figures, so it was a balanced attack.
With this loss, Charlotte drops to 32-34 on the season, 2 games below .500. They play the second of a back-to-back Friday night against the Orlando Magic.
