The Charlotte Hornets were outmuscled in their first loss of the season to the Detroit Pistons, 111-99. There were a lot of fouls called for both teams, 52 total to be exact, but they seemed to disrupt the flow of the Hornets more often than not.

Stopping fast break opportunities, bad loose ball calls, nothing really went the Hornets' way against the Pistons. Outside of the foul calls, they got dominated on the glass 52-41. The physicality of the game ultimately got the better of the Hornets.

LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward felt the Pistons physicality

LaMelo Ball, Hornets, throwback, uniform, jersey

“Pretty much they came and hit first,” LaMelo Ball said. ” It seemed like when we tried to get physical back, we were getting called. It pretty much didn’t go our way. …We were trying. Every time you get physical it’s a call and their way it’s no call, so that’s a tough one. …It’ll throw you off when you see somebody pushing you in the back over there and it’s no call, then you come down here and you do the same thing and it’s a foul. It’s tough to play like that, but you take it and learn from it and come to the next game and be ready.”

Ball had a solid game with 20 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. He stayed aggressive throughout the course of the game and managed to sink a career-high 10 made free throws, but he only shot 4-17 from the field with 4 turnovers. There were times they even picked him up full court to try and rile him up a bit. Ball isn't the only one who felt that they got out muscled on the floor.

“I think they’re a physical team. You’ve got to give them credit for that,” Gordon Hayward added. “They played hard, they played physical. I felt like we competed. I thought we played hard as well. The turnovers were another issue for us tonight. Halfcourt defense we were pretty solid, but it was too many rebounds for them. We’ve got to keep (Alec Burks) off the line – 11-for-12. It’s one we can learn from, for sure.”

The root of the Hornets' problems

Gordon Hayward hit the two key issues right on the head. Jalen Duren had a game high 17 rebounds for his second straight double-double. He had six offensive boards and helped the Pistons beat the Hornets 16 to seven in second chance points. Steve Clifford mentioned that his centers, Mark Williams and Nick Richards, only had five rebounds combined.

Rough all around loss with a physical team. Fortunately for Charlotte, they have two days off in between games to ice up and get back at it on October 30th for a matchup with the Brooklyn Nets.