Hornets Rout Raptors

Coming out of the break, the Charlotte Hornets cruised to a victory over the Toronto Raptors, 125-93, on Friday.
The Hornets came out ready to go after their nine day layoff from the NBA All Star break.

“We needed it,” Hornets coach James Borrego said about the break. “We could have used it a few weeks before that, but that’s OK. … What can you do differently to shoot the ball better? You rest your legs — that’s really the bottom line.”

Charlotte played well offensively and had precise ball movement. Defensively, they forced turnovers on the Raptors first two possessions of the game. The Hornets jumped out to a 14-2 lead, holding Toronto to 1-of-10 from the field.

Despite good play in the early going, the Hornets had turnover problems of their own, with six in the first period. Meanwhile they stymied the Raptors to only 19 points and they forced eight giveaways. The Hornets had a nine point lead at the end of the quarter, 28-19.

Raptors All-Star point guard Fred VanVleet, knocked down their first two shots from beyond the arc to start the second quarter, but the Hornets responded quickly with an offensive onslaught. They scored 17 points in the first 3:43 of the quarter, as they got out on the fast break off Raptors turnovers and misses, which included a 10-0 spurt in the span of 77 seconds. PJ Washington was an important part of the run, with two shots from downtown and he also deposited a dunk off a steal.

The Raptors tried to get back in the contest with a mini-run spurred by rookie Scottie Barnes, but the Hornets were just too potent offensively for the Raptors to contain. The Hornets scored 42 points in the quarter and went to the locker room up 23 points, 70-47.

The second half started off choppy, but the Hornets made up for that quickly. Center Mason Plumlee used a behind-the-back dribble to elude his man and drive down the lane for a two handed dunk. Plumlee had a huge one handed dunk off a lob from LaMelo Ball. It was part of a 21-0 Hornets surge that put them up by 41. The jumpers were falling, the ball was moving and the defense was stifling. At the end of the third quarter, the Hornets had a commanding lead, 97-61.

The Raptors trapped the Hornets with a full court press to start the final stanza. It took Charlotte some time to figure it out, but eventually they were able to. They struggled to keep the Raptors off the charity strike and the glass. It seemed like they took their foot off the gas, which is human nature when you have a 36 point advantage.

The Hornets created enough offense to counter act their subpar defensive play. Terry Rozier and Miles Bridges did a tandem dunk that was better than anything that was done in the 2022 AT&T Slam Dunk contest, to put the game on ice.

The Hornets dominated the Raptors in rebounding, 52-36 and scored 18 points off 17 Toronto turnovers.

“It’s about staying focus and disciplined — regardless of who the opponent it,” Borrego said. “I feel like this group is locked in right now. What is behind us is behind us.”

Rozier scored 23 points, with four rebounds and nine assists for the Hornets. Kelly Oubre Jr. also scored 23 points, off the bench, with four boards, one dime and two steals. Montrezl Harrell had a double-double with 20 point, 10 rebounds and three assists. Ball did a little bit of everything with 13 points, five boards, six assists and one steal.

Barnes had a career-high 28 points for the Raptors. He also had five rebounds, one assist and two steals. Gary Trent Jr. scored 12 points, with four boards, one dime and one steal. Precious Achiuwa had nine points, five boards and two steals.

“The only thing we can say is to hopefully get a little conditioning and get a little rust off from the break and we can bounce back tomorrow and get our guys going here tomorrow,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “I know we will play better tomorrow.”

The Raptors travel to Atlanta to play Tre Young and the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday on the second night of a back-to-back. The Hornets host Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons Sunday.