Hornets Routed by Clippers

The Charlotte Hornets, still missing some key players, took a tough loss on the chin to the Los Angeles Clippers, 115-90, in Sunday’s matinee game.

Charlotte, once again, was without the services of Gordon Hayward, (health and safety protocols), Kelly Oubre Jr. and Jalen McDaniels, both out with ankle sprains. Coach James Borrego stated before the game that there was a chance that both McDaniels and Oubre would be back Wednesday.

The Clippers came into the game with the 8th ranked defense and have come back from 25 points down, three times this month, with coach Tyronn Lue getting his players to be a tough team to beat.

“They are a really good defense and offensively, we just wouldn’t drive, we couldn’t make shots, we made poor decisions,” Borrego said. “They sped us up and are a really good defense, so we have to give them credit. We hung in there as long as we could and we struggled at the end of the third and the end of the fourth.”

The Hornets got off to an anemic start offensively, with Miles Bridges’ drives to the basket being the only source of early points. Their defense kept them afloat. LaMelo Ball was a first quarter boost of energy, with good pace and breaking down the Clippers defense. He finished the first period with nine points and three assists. The Hornets led by the slimmest of margins, 25-24, going into the second quarter.

The second quarter consisted of bad shot selections by Charlotte. Terry Rozier struggled to find his rhythm, and the bench unit, comprised of Ish Smith, James Bouknight, Cody Martin and, PJ Washington, along with Bridges, put the Hornets in a 10 point hole.

Washington was able to connect on two shots from downtown and a nice alley-oop layup. Clippers rookie, 2nd round pick Brandon Boston Jr. answered with a reverse dunk. Going into the locker room, the Hornets were down by four, 51-47.

The second half started with more of the same, slow paced and disjointed, with both teams going back and forth taking the lead. The Clippers went on a 10-0 spurt, with two minutes left in the third quarter. The Hornets did not have an answer and at the end of the quarter were down by 8, 84-76.

The Clippers kept the pressure on defensively starting the final frame and extended their lead to 20, behind Justise Winslow, who did his damage on both ends of the court and Boston Jr. who finished 7 of 13 from the floor. Coach Borrego waved the white flag as the Clippers lead swelled to 22, emptying his bench with about three minutes to play. The final score was 115-90. It was the Clippers third largest margin of victory this season.

The Clippers held the Hornets to 32.7% shooting for the game, while shooting 52.4% from the field themselves.

Jackson scored 19 points, had four rebounds and five assists for the Clippers. Boston Jr. also had 19 points, with five boards and two dimes. Morris added 16 points, three rebounds and one assist. Luke Kennard had a double-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

“Definitely it feels good to have a lead (most of) the time and not get down by 20,” Boston said.

Ball had a game high 23 points, with six rebounds and 10 assists for the Hornets. Bridges contributed 18 points and nine rebounds. Mason Plumlee scored 10 points, had 10 rebounds and four assists. Rozier also scored 10 points, had five rebounds and three assists.

Ball said the Hornets were “lackadaisical.” “We pretty much just have to get some stops.”

The Clippers will play the second of a back to back, facing the Indiana Pacers on Monday. The Hornets travel to Boston to take on the Celtics on Wednesday.