Hornets Unable to Recover From Slow Start in Loss to Nets

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Hornets couldn't get back to .500 on Tuesday night after falling to the Brooklyn Nets, 132-121.

Charlotte needed to get out to a good start in order to have a chance to hang around with the likes of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Unfortunately, the exact opposite happened. From the very beginning, everything was off. The defense was out of sync mainly due to a lack of communication on switches/rotations. That led to several easy looks from three and at the rim for the Nets. Andre Drummond had 13 points and six boards at the half as the Hornets had no answer for him.

The biggest storyline of the first 24 minutes was Charlotte's inability to knock down threes going just 3/17. When this team has struggled from the arc, they have a tendency to dig themselves a deep hole which is what happened Tuesday night. I mean, heck, you know things aren't going well when Super Hugo missed back-to-back dunks off the trampoline during the media timeout.

Part of the Hornets' offensive issues stemmed from throwing the ball around way too much. They turned it over nine times in the first half alone and had a couple of possessions where they threw it away on consecutive trips up the floor. Brooklyn took full advantage of Charlotte's carelessness and their lack of energy. Seemingly every 50/50 ball was going to the Nets on both ends of the floor. At the half, the Nets had a comfortable 69-43 lead. Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 20 points on 6/7 shooting (4/5 3 FG).

A few minutes into the third quarter, the Hornets offense finally woke up and started knocking down some shots. LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier combined for 26 points in the quarter to help slice into the Nets lead. By the end of the third, the Hornets got the game to within 16, 100-84.

Kelly Oubre Jr. provided a defensive spark for the Hornets coming away with a couple of steals which led to fastbreak buckets. Charlotte cut the lead to 12-13 multiple times throughout the quarter, but every time the Nets answered with a three to push it right back out to 15-16. Kyrie Irving (50 points) hit big shot after big shot, never allowing the Hornets to truly climb back into the game.

The Hornets will return to action tomorrow night inside Spectrum Center as they welcome in the visiting Boston Celtics. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST.

BOX SCORE

BKN: 34-34-31-32-132

CHA: 20-23-41-35-121

1st

BKN 13/23 FG | 4/8 3 FG | 11 REB | 16 PIP | 2 TOs

CHA 8/18 FG | 2/8 3 FG | 8 REB | 10 PIP | 5 TOs

2nd

BKN 25/45 FG | 9/19 3 FG | 22 REB | 30 PIP | 4 TOs

CHA 17/39 FG | 3/17 3 FG | 17 REB | 26 PIP | 9 TOs

3rd

BKN 36/66 FG | 14/28 3 FG | 30 REB | 38 PIP | 9 TOs

CHA 31/64 FG | 10/30 3 FG | 28 REB | 38 PIP | 11 TOs

4th

BKN 46/82 FG | 18/35 3 FG | 38 REB | 46 PIP | 16 TOs

CHA 45/92 FG | 13/41 3 FG | 41 REB | 60 PIP | 15 TOs

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