Hornets Lose to Warriors for Their Second Straight Loss

Miles Bridges had a game high 32 points, but it could not hide a subpar final two quarters of play by the Charlotte Hornets. They were blown out by the Golden State Warriors 114-92 Wednesday night.

The opening quarter looked very amateurish by both teams. It seemed like every other pass was deflected. There were a lot of turnovers. Baskets that should have been made were not. As the quarter progressed, the Hornets took better care of the basketball and they took advantage of field goal attempts. At the end of the first quarter, the Hornets led by five, 26-21.

Going into the second quarter, the Warriors and Hornets exchanged baskets and the game was tied at 29. Miles Bridges took the game over, scoring 10 points in a little over a minute, to give the Hornets the lead. Then Jordan Poole caught fire, connecting on four 3-pointers to take the lead back for the Warriors. The game evened out, with the Warriors taking a one point lead into the half, 53-52.

Bridges and Poole started the second half right where they left off, keeping the game close, but neither team separating themselves. The offense for both teams went silent, especially the Hornets. They went over nine minutes without a basket from the field, while getting just three points from free throws and two of those were technical fouls. In that time frame, the Hornets missed 12 shots in a row and had six turnovers.

PJ Washington finally connected on a 3-point shot with under a minute left in the quarter. The Hornets defended well enough to keep themselves within striking distance, but they still trailed by thirteen going into the final quarter, 80-67.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, PJ Washington was fouled and hit one of two free throws. The Hornets retrieved the offensive rebound and scored. A couple of shots from downtown pulled the Hornets within seven points and forced head coach Steve Kerr to use one of the Warriors’ timeouts.

The Hornets’ Gordon Hayward hit some difficult shots to trim the Warriors lead down to six. A couple of missed assignments on defense allowed the Warriors to extend their lead to double figures. From there, everything went up in smoke for the Hornets. They had some poor possessions on offense, where individual players wanted to do everything themselves and got careless on the defensive end, which made the game noncompetitive at the end.

Jordan Poole had a season high 31 points, shot 11-for-21 from the field and hit a career high seven 3-pointers for the Warriors. Gary Payton II scored 14 points to go along with three steals. He had been let go by the Warriors after the final game of the preseason, only to rejoin the organization four days later to earn the final roster spot. Stephen Curry shook off a cold start from the field, finishing with a near triple-double, with 15 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.

Miles Bridges scored 21 of his 32 points in the first half and finished with five 3-pointers. Gordon Hayward had a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds. LaMelo Ball had 14 points, eight assists and five rebounds, but shot just 5 for 14 from the field and went 0-6 from the 3-point line. The rest of the team combined to shoot 14-of-53 from the field (26.4%) and 3-of-4 from three (12.5%). Charlotte’s PJ Washington left the game with a hyperextended elbow after he was hooked by Otto Porter going up for a rebound.

The Warriors host the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night. The Hornets continue on their West Coast road trip and face the Sacramento Kings on Friday.