Hornets Show Progress in Preseason Loss to Pacers

The final score may not necessarily reflect it, but the Charlotte Hornets put together some encouraging stretches at times during their 122-97 preseason-home-opening loss to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night at Spectrum Center.

Terry Rozier led the hosts with a game-high 18 points, with PJ Washington (13), LaMelo Ball (12) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (11) all scoring in double figures as well. Oubre added nine rebounds to narrowly miss out on a double-double, as too, did Mason Plumlee (8 points, 9 rebounds).

Indiana took advantage of some early Charlotte transition defense miscues and offensive inefficiencies to build up a 23-point lead midway through the second quarter. The Hornets eventually found their footing early in the third, but the Pacers closed out the frame on a 20-4 run to eliminate any chance of a late comeback for the purple and teal.

“As much as anything, we have to get more organized,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford afterwards. “Starting with our offensive transition and obviously, our defensive transition, which is our biggest problem. Those are things you can fix in one day. We had a six-or-seven minute stretch in the third quarter where I thought that we played better. Right now, we just give away so many possessions. Against any team in this league, that’s the name of the game.”

Charlotte struggled to shoot efficiently from the floor all night, going just 34% from the field, 21% from behind the arc (9-of-43) and 61% at the free-throw line (22-of-36). That cold shooting was compounded by Indiana scoring a whopping 72 points in the paint on 71% shooting (36-of-51).

But there were some steps forward, though. After allowing the Celtics to sink 22 3-pointers three days ago, the Hornets held the Pacers to a mere 6-of-30 clip in this one (20%). The hometown squad also recorded 20 assists in this outing – had 13 the last time out in Boston – and lost the rebounding battle to Indiana by only four (53-49).

“There’s a lot of buy-in from the players in what coach is getting us to do,” stated Plumlee. “He’s come in with some points of emphasis from his standpoint. There’s a great effort from the team to adapt to that… We’re going to be fine. We’ve had great practices. If we didn’t have great practices, I’d have a different answer, but we’re fine.”

Three Indiana players scored in double figures off the bench: Newcomer Aaron Nesmith (16 points), rookie Bennedict Mathurin (15 points) and second-year center Isaiah Jackson (13 points). Starters Myles Turner and Chris Duarte each added 12 points in the victory.

Next up for the Hornets will be a road trip to Greensboro, NC to face the Boston Celtics for the second time in five days on Friday, Oct. 7 beginning at 7:30 PM ET.