Hornets Get Buried By Pelicans’ Historic 3-Point Performance

Victories continue to be scarce for the Charlotte Hornets and they closed out a winless three-game road trip by falling to the New Orleans Pelicans, 132-112, on Wednesday night.

LaMelo Ball had his best showing since returning from a 20-game absence late last week, finishing with a game-high 29 points on 8-of-19 shooting, five rebounds and a team-high seven assists. Terry Rozier was right behind him with 25 points and seven 3-pointers, moving him into a tie with Glen Rice for third place on the franchise’s all-time 20-point game leaderboard (160).

Though shots thankfully began falling for the Hornets following a few fruitless outings, the Pelicans were even hotter in the first half and rolled into the break leading, 66-61. New Orleans’ tallied 43 first-quarter points on 69.6% shooting (9-of-12 from 3-point range) in the process, the second-highest quarterly total by any Charlotte opponent this season. The Pelicans kept draining shot after shot in the second half, amassing a franchise-record 25 3-pointers on a 53.2% efficiency. Charlotte simply faded further and further back to a 17^th loss in 18 games.

“In the third quarter, I think [the difference] was New Orleans’ offensive rebounding and 3-point shooting, which was a problem the whole game,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford following the loss, referencing the six offensive boards the Pelicans had in the third frame. 

Miles Bridges (19) and Nick Richards (10) were the only other Charlotte players to score in double figures, with the latter adding 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the year. As a team, the Hornets sank 19-of-45 3-point attempts (42.2%), after shooting under 30% from deep each of the past two games. Depth remained a major issue though; the Hornets bench totaled only 21 bench points, while the Pelicans’ reserves had 56 points and 12 3-pointers.  

Richards sprained his right ankle late in the second quarter but was able to return in the second half. Mark Williams, Gordon Hayward, and Brandon Miller remained out, while Frank Ntilikina made his Hornets regular season debut, nearly three months after suffering a non-displaced left tibia fracture in the team’s preseason finale back in October.

Brandon Ingram clocked team-high totals for New Orleans in points (28), rebounds (10), assists (10) and 3-pointers (career-high-tying seven) to seal his third NBA triple-double, two of which have now come against the Hornets. CJ McCollum (22) and rookie reserve Jordan Hawkins (21) both had reached 20+ points, as well, helping New Orleans claim its fourth straight head-to-head win over Charlotte. The Pelicans’ 25 3-point field goals also matched the highest single-game total by any NBA team this season, per Basketball Reference.

The Hornets will begin on all-home back-to-back by facing the San Antonio Spurs for the second time in eight days on Friday, Jan. 19 beginning at 7 PM ET. Catch all the action on Bally Sports Southeast and WFNZ 92.7 FM.