Hornets Highlights vs Celtics - 10/2/22
Oubre Leads Way With 17 PTS, Charlotte Can’t Take Advantage of Takeaways
Preseason openers are always going to produce a mixed bag of results – some good, some not-so-good and a lot in between. The Charlotte Hornets’ 134-93 road loss in Boston on Sunday afternoon was your quintessential preseason opener.
Kelly Oubre Jr. finished with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go along with three steals for Charlotte, which was without both Gordon Hayward (left knee contusion) and Cody Martin (left knee tendinopathy). LaMelo Ball (14 points) and Terry Rozier (11 points) also scored in double figures, but shot a combined 9-of-32 from the field (28.1%; 3-of-14 from 3-point).
Knotted at 22-22 with 2:40 left in the opening frame, Boston uncorked a 20-4 run over a five-minute span of play to open up a 16-point lead early in the second quarter. Charlotte would eventually surrender 39 points in each of the middle two frames and never really re-found it’s despite the encouraging start.
The Hornets finished shooting 35% from the field and connected on only 5-of-33 3-point attempts (15.2%). Led by Jaylen Brown (24 points) and Jayson Tatum (16 points), Boston shot 57.1% and drained 22-of-47 from behind the arc (46.8%), 14 of which came in the opening half.
“We had a good week,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford afterwards. “We’ve scrimmaged a ton, we haven’t done a lot of details, which obviously showed in the way we played. We have to be more organized against a team like that switching. Moving the defense, moving the ball quicker.”
He added, “For a team like ours, we have to keep getting better. You have to be able to lose in this league and make progress. You’ve got to be able to win in it and make progress. It’s an exhibition game. They were tired, we were tired. They played a lot better than we did. You learn from it and move on.”
Perhaps the biggest positive in this game for Charlotte was its ability to force turnovers, as Boston committed a hefty 25 giveaways, with 17 of them coming in the first two quarters. The Hornets managed to score 21 points off these extra possessions, although accumulated just 13 assists on 35 total made baskets.
Next up for the Hornets will be their preseason home opener against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, Oct. 5 beginning at 7 PM ET at Spectrum Center.
Hornets vs Celtics Gallery ‑ 10/2/22
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