The Charlotte Hornets cruised to an easy victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, 121-98 on Friday.
The Hornets dominated inside early on and made it a point to be aggressive. They gave up too many easy baskets on the defensive end though and the Thunder came within 1, 13-12 on a Josh Giddey basket. It did not take long for the Hornets to find their rhythm and they went on a 14-0 run, with PJ Washington contributing three, three-pointers. The Hornets did a good job of forcing the Thunder into tough shots and disrupted their offensive flow. The Hornets closed the period on a 24-8 run, leading by 17 points, 37-20.
Charlotte started the second quarter much like the first, going on a brief run and pushing their lead to 46-27 on Washington’s fourth long ball of the game. The Hornets maintained a 20 point threshold despite LaMelo Ball being in foul trouble, collecting his third, with 5:47 left in the quarter.
One of the only downers of the night was the loss of Jalen McDaniels during that run. He inadvertently stepped on a foot during a drive to the basket and turned his ankle. He miraculously flipped the ball into the basket as he was going down. He left the game at the 6:01 mark and needed assistance getting back to the locker room. He did not return due to an apparent leg injury. The Hornets took a 17 point lead into the half, 69-52.
The Hornets had a third quarter to forget. The team had defensive breakdowns and did not play efficient offensive basketball. The ball movement was not crisp and most of their possessions were cut short with over dribbling and ended with bad shots.
With the Hornets ‘bricking’, the Thunder were on the comeback trail, slicing the lead to single digits, 82-73, on Jeremiah Robinson-Earl’s three-pointer with 4:06 to play in the quarter.
A Hornets timeout helped to restore order. The first possession was in the hands of Terry Rozier for the first 18 seconds of the shot clock, but then the ball found Washington for his sixth, three-pointer of the contest. Miles Bridges also had a three-pointer. The Hornets played with more intensity from that point on and combined with poor Thunder shooting, added some more cushion to their lead. Charlotte led by 18, 93-75 at the end of the third.
The Hornets stepped on the Thunders throat early in the fourth quarter. A Bridges shot from beyond the arc and a Rozier four-point play on back to back possessions, put the Hornets up by 24 and all but ended the game.
Both teams emptied their benches, which gave rookie James Bouknight his first significant minutes in the last several weeks. Bridges scored 10 points in the quarter, while the Hornets pulled away. JT Thor and Kai Jones also received minutes.
“We want our home court to be how the Warriors were, how the Thunder were in their prime,” Bridges said. “We want people to be scared when they come in here. In order for us to do that, we’ve just got to continue to win, continue to dominate teams.”
Rozier had a team-high 24 points, with five boards and nine dimes for the Hornets. Bridges had a double-double, with 22 points and 14 rebounds. He also had four assists. PJ Washington added 20 points, and six rebounds off the bench. Gordon Hayward had 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Ball had a great floor game with 10 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a game-high 29 points, but only scored four in the second half for OKC. He had five boards and six assists. Giddy scored 21 points with nine rebounds and three helpers. Robinson-Earl had a double-double, with 12 points, 11 rebounds and had two assists.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault sees similarities between young point guards on both sides of Friday’s matchup.
Gilgeous-Alexander leads Oklahoma City with 22.5 points per game. Ball, last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year, is second in scoring for Charlotte (19.9) and leads in assists (7.7).
“Ball’s got a great pace to him for a young player,” Daigneault said. “He’s got an advanced pass mentality, he’s a good, dynamic, young guard in the NBA. And we’ve got a guy that’s going to move very far in his track.”
The Thunder go on the road to face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday. The Hornets host the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.
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