More Coverage: Game Gallery | James Borrego Postgame | Miles Bridges Postgame | Cody Martin Postgame
A victory on Saturday night in Atlanta would have given the Charlotte Hornets their longest winning streak in over five years. They’ll have to wait a little longer now to try and reach that mark again following a hard-fought 115-105 loss to the Hawks.
Charlotte kept pace with the hosts until early in the second quarter, when a 16-0 run opened up a 43-26 Atlanta lead with 6:20 left in the opening half. The visitors eventually regrouped in bursts, but the Hawks responded every time, later getting three-point daggers from Kevin Huerter and Cam Reddish to extinguish the former’s late comeback attempt.
“I thought our guys battled,” said Hornets Head Coach James Borrego after the defeat, the squad’s first in its last six outings. “These guys (Atlanta) haven’t played in three days, we’re on a back-to-back. We kept fighting, cut it to four there and never gave in. Proud of their fight, their resiliency. I thought this was a character game for them. We didn’t give in and we could have given in much earlier.”
Miles Bridges finished with a career-high 35 points and 10 rebounds, marking the first 35-10 game by a Hornet player since March 23, 2019 (Kemba Walker). LaMelo Ball notched his third career triple-double (15 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists), while Clint Capela (20 points and 15 rebounds) and Trae Young (19 points and nine assists) led the way for Atlanta.
Added Borrego, “[Miles and LaMelo] are fearless. They continue to put pressure out there. They never give in. They’re constantly fighting to give us a chance to win games. I’m proud of their effort. They really willed us to get back into that game. Both guys are playing at a high level and I expect other guys to join them on Monday.”
Charlotte won the battle on the boards, 52-45, which featured a huge 21-8 advantage in offensive rebounding. A lot of the team’s shortcomings on the offensive end simply boiled down to not making shots, despite a significant amount of them being considered quality looks.
“I liked a lot of the shots,” Borrego stated. “I don’t have all 40 [three-point attempts] in front of me right now, but I’ll go back, chart those 40 and see. I think a lot of those were uncontested threes. Why they didn’t fall tonight? I don’t know. Just sometimes they fall your way, but I love the effort. We won the possession game, the board, the turnover game tonight. We gave ourselves a chance to win. We just need a few more shots to go in.”
Saturday’s loss was the beginning of an eight-game stretch for the Hornets in which they’ll play all but one contest away from the friendly confines of Spectrum Center. They’ll next head north to take on the Wizards on Monday, Nov. 22 starting at 7 PM ET in Washington, DC.