For one night, at least, the Atlanta Hawks resembled the team that made an unexpected run to the Eastern Conference final last post-season.
For the second consecutive year, the Charlotte Hornets season ended in an embarrassing blowout loss in the play-in tournament. They lost to the Hawks, 132-103, on Wednesday. The season is over for the Hornets, who were overwhelmed in the 9-10 play-in game for the second year in a row and haven’t made the playoffs since 2016.Still, coach James Borrego called it another step forward for a rebuilding team.
“A lot of good things have happened for this franchise based on where we’re at today compared to where we were two or three years ago,” he said.
LaMelo Ball started the scoring with a lucky bounce on a long three-pointer. The Hawks took an early lead as big man Clint Capela controlled the paint on both ends of the floor and caused coach Borrego to call a timeout.
The Hornets suffered through a cold snap, missing six consecutive shots, as Atlanta went on an 11-0 surge, snapped by a dunk from Montrezl Harrell off a pass from Cody Martin. Charlotte struggled mightily to defend the Hawks outside shooters. They gave up 32 frost quarter points. The Hornets shot only 35% from the field and compounded that with five turnovers. They trailed by nine at the end of one, 32-23.
The Hornets were carried on the offensive end by PJ Washington and the reserves, while the big three, Ball, Miles Bridges and Terry Rozier struggled to find their rhythm. That trio began the contest an anemic 2-of-18 from the field before Bridges stopped the bleeding by tipping in a Martin miss. Ball and Rozier converted a couple of baskets, as the Hornets pulled to within six, going into what should have been the final play of the half.
Ball drove into the paint with too much time remaining on the clock, giving the Hawks one more opportunity to score, which they took advantage of. At the half, the Hornets trailed by eight, 60-52. Washington’s 13 point half, kept the Hornets afloat.
Charlotte had some momentum in the final minutes of the half, then the third quarter happened. DeAndre Hunter and Trae Young were red hot, the Hornets could not secure a rebound and the rest of the Hawks did whatever they wanted. The Hornets offense became stagnant, could not create open looks and they showed their youth. Atlanta outscored Charlotte by 18 (42-24) during that 12-minute barrage, hitting 16-of-24 shots and led 102-76 heading into the final stanza.
Bridges lost his composure halfway through the fourth quarter. He complained and became very demonstrative toward the official about a goal tending call. He was quickly assessed two technical fouls and was ejected from the game. As he left the court, a fan heckled him and he responded by throwing his mouth piece and it appeared to strike an innocent female bystander. Bridges went on social media looking to make amends.
“Somebody get me in contact with the young lady,” he said. “That’s unacceptable.” Bridges said he’ll accept whatever punishment he gets from the league. “I was upset about a call, a couple of calls really,” he said. “I let my temper get the best of me. It was definitely the wrong thing to do.”
The Hornets fell behind by an insurmountable margin and watched their season come to a close once gain.
Ball had a game-high 26 points. He had five rebounds, eight assists and one steal. Rozier scored 21 points, with four rebounds and three assists. Washington added 17 points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal and two rejections. Bridges finished with 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and one steal.
Young had a double-double and a team-high 24 points. He also had three rebounds, 11 assists, one steal and one block. Hunter scored 22 points, with seven boards and two dimes. Danilo Gallinari added 18 points, three rebounds and two assists. Capela finished with a double-double, scoring 15 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, two steals and three blocks.
“We’re definitely confident right now,” Hunter said. “But we’ve got a lot more work to do. We’re not satisfied yet.”
The Hawks travel to Cleveland to face Darius Garland and the Cavaliers on Friday.
