Hornets Cruise wins Washington on Kids Day | Charlotte Hornets
Just like that, Hornet’s head coach James Borrego knew his team had to play in his Sunday matinee against Washington at the Spectrum Center, and Charlotte delivered.
With Novant Health’s 1:00 p.m. Kids Day tip, Coach JB didn’t worry about the early start, pointing out that regardless of a 7:00 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. start: “You have to bring your juice – bring your energy ! “
The Hornets did just that, jumping an early double-digit 27-15 lead over the Wizards and never looking back on their way to a 119-97 win. Terry Rozier led with 26 points, including 5-of-9 from afar, while Gordon Hayward followed with 25 of his own.
LaMelo Ball added 19 points and started the injured Devonte ‘Graham (left groin). Cody Zeller added 16 points and Miles Bridges recorded his double-double with 14 rebounds and 11 points. Bradley Beal approached Washington with 31 points.
After falling 7-0 against the Wizards early in the game, the Hornets were able to find that juice in the game of veteran Big Man Cody Zeller, who broke off his own 9-2 run at the start of the competition to tie the game Score 9-9. Two possessions later, the Hornets would take a 14:11 lead from a three-pointer from Gordon Hayward, triggering a 16: 4 Hornets run that built their first double-digit lead of the competition. From that point on, Charlotte would no longer lag behind and expand his lead to 29 points on the way to victory.
While the Wizard made a push towards the end of the first quarter to close the gap at 34-31, the Hornets broke the game wide open in the second quarter, defeating Washington at 35-21, putting the game out of reach. Charlotte did it on defense in the second quarter, holding the Wizards 25.9 percent firing (7 of 27) and 20.0 percent from a distance (2 of 10), keeping Washington, 21-16, behind Left and three blocked Wizards, shoots and steals two steals to force four sales in Washington in the second quarter alone.
Led by 12 points from Ball and 10 more from Rozier in the quarter, the Hornets also maintained offensive pressure, connecting 44.8 percent of their shots as the lead rose to 69-52 at half time. The Wizards weren’t going to end up in single digits in the second half as Charlotte drove to victory.
Charlotte dominated offensively, beating Washington 42.4 to 32.8 percent from the field, 41.7 to 22.5 percent from a distance and 76.9 to 71.4 percent from the competition’s charity strip. The Hornets also controlled the boards, pulling down an NBA season high of 68 rebounds, which matched the 12/20/91 franchise high against Houston.
The Hornets end their homestand with four games on Monday when they face the Houston Rockets presented by Upper Deck. The game starts at 7 p.m. in the Spectrum Center. Be sure to check out FOX Sports Southeast or listen to WFNZ.
