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The Charlotte Hornets fell to the Portland Trail Blazers, 125-116 on Friday night. The Hornets came out flat in the first half on both sides of the ball. They gave up 81 points at halftime and pretty much set themselves up for an uphill battle for the rest of the game. Unfortunately for the Hornets, Damian Lillard found his rhythm again, dropping a season-high 43 points after struggling to find his shot all season long. As anyone can imagine, James Borrego was not pleased with his team's first-half performance.
“I was just looking for the spirit of competitiveness. Which I'm not sure we started the game with. I felt it in San Antonio, but I didn't feel it overall tonight. I'm just looking for guys to compete.”
Against the Spurs in their last game, they found themselves with a lead as large as 29 points. Gordon Hayward had his best night of the season as well, with 41 points. on Friday, he only had six points. The Hornets struggled to cash in easy buckets around the rim and didn't get out in transition as much as they are used to. Instead, Portland ran the table and never looked back.
The Blazers also hit 16 first-half threes as well, so it was really rough night for the Hornets. On the bright side, they finally have their full roster again. LaMelo Ball put up a team-high 25 points in his first game since December 2nd against the Milwaukee Bucks.
After the game, Ball reflected on the hardest part of quarantine:
“Honestly just sitting around. Can’t do nothing. Energy real low, head and everything tired and messed up. It was great to come back. Sitting out not touching a ball is horrible, coming back touching the ball, blessing.”
Just imagine a 20-year-old being forced to stay at home for two weeks and watching his friends play basketball every other day. It might be comparable to being thrown in jail for Ball. You love to see that fire coming from your young star. Not to mention, he is still optimistic for his Hornets to find their groove again and win some more games.
“We'll be straight. It's just basketball.”
He has such a way with words, doesn't he?
Anyway, Miles Bridges, took the alternate route and ripped into the team a little more than his point guard.
“If we come out lackadaisical, anybody can beat us, you know? They just lost 10 out of their last 11, you can't come out and play like that against anybody. Especially when they have a player like Dame. We can't wait till we get down by 25 or 30 to start playing with pride. We waited too late.”
Clearly, Bridges was upset about his team's effort. He wasn't done venting his emotions after that statement either. He zeroed on his team's defensive efforts.
“No one's getting mad at getting scored on. We're just worried about the offense right now. I feel like if we put our main focus on defense, our offense will come.”
Straight facts from the Hornets forward. Offense sells tickets, but defense is what's needed to actually compete and win games in this league. Bridges has every right to be upset about this game, but he can't dwell on it too long. They have to deal with the Phoenix Suns their next time out. The Suns have the second-best record in the league and also feature another superstar point guard in Chris Paul. Hopefully, the Hornets can find a way to get a dub in the desert.
