Charlotte Hornets lose to Sacramento Kings, 109-106

Charlotte Hornets lost to Sacramento Kings 109 to 106 Saturday. It’s the Hornets fourth straight lost and the Kings third win in their last four games. Cody Zeller missed his third straight game due to bruised quadriceps, Hornets are 1-10 when Cody Zeller doesn’t play. Anthony Tolliver and Willie Cauley-Stein both had big first half’s off the bench for the Kings to help give the Kings a 52-44 lead at halftime. Coach Clifford picked up his eighth technical foul in the second quarter after arguing with the refs over a charge called. The game got interesting with less than with a minute to go when DeMarcus Cousins scored a go-ahead basket with 14 seconds left on a driving layup from the right side of the lane. Hornets had a chance to take the lead in the closing seconds of the game when Kemba Walker passed it to a wide-open Frank Kaminsky at the top of the key, but he airballed with one seconds remaining. Cousins grabbed the rebound and was fouled and made one free-throw to help secure the win for the Kings.

            The MVP for this game for the Hornets would be Kemba Walker who scored 26 points and had 7 assists. It’s his 34^th game where he scored at least 20 points this seasons. Kemba also moved into third place in franchise history in field goals made (2,586), passing Gerald Wallace. He just behind the greats Dell Curry and Larry Johnson. The leading scorers for the Hornets were Nicolas Batum with 19 points 7 rebounds 7 assists, Marvin Williams with 14 points and Spencer Hawes with 12 points 7 rebounds. The Kings outscored Hornets 48-38 in the paint while Cousins grabbed 7 of the Kings 8 offensive rebounds. The Hornets had 25 personal fouls in this game, which is a lot of fouls for the Hornets, who usually doesn’t foul that much. The Hornets are paying Nic Batum $120 million to make plays, but over the last eight games he has turn the ball over 31 times, including 4 games with at least 5 turnovers. Batum has always had trouble not turning the ball over but that’s terrible and needs to stop trying to make the fancy play and just make the play that gets the Hornets points, not the turnover. The Kings leading scorers were DeMarcus Cousins with 35 points 18 rebounds, Darren Collison with 17 points, Anthony Tolliver with 14 points 7 rebounds and Willie Cauley-Stein with 13 points. Charlotte Hornets (23-25) head west for a three-game road trip starting Tuesday at Portland.

Charlotte Hornets lost to the New York Knicks, 110-107

A day after Kemba Walker was named to the All-Star game the Charlotte Hornets lost to the New York Knicks 110 to 107. It’s the Hornets third straight lost and are now 0-7 on the road in January and have lost 11 of their last 13 road games. Cody Zeller missed his second straight game with a bruised quadriceps, the Hornets are 1-9 this season in games that Cody Zeller does not play in. Kristaps Porzingis came out on fire, quickly scoring 10 points but had to seat most of the game due to foul trouble. Knicks lead for most of the first half, Kemba did go on a personal 7-0 run to end the second quarter and cut the Knicks lead to 54-51 at halftime, Kemba Walker scored 16 points in the first half. Charlotte would come out of halftime on fire scoring 36 points in the third quarter and take an 87-82 lead going into the fourth quarter. Then the Hornets went 6 minutes without scoring which allowed the Knicks to come back with help from former Hornet Courtney Lee who scored 9 straight points late in the fourth to give the Knicks the lead back and then with 13 seconds left Carmelo Anthony hit a jumper, his only basket in the fourth to seal the victory for the Knicks.

            The MVP for the Hornets this game would be Kemba Walker with 31 points 10 rebounds 5 assists. Who played out of his mind this game and also earned his first career All-Star nod on Thursday night when he was named to the Eastern Conference’s reserves the first All-Star for the Charlotte franchise since 2010 when Gerald Wallace was name an All-Star. Kemba had been averaging career highs with 23 points per game on 57.6%, 5.5 assists and 4.1 rebounds per night. Among Eastern Conference point guards, he ranked fifth in player efficiency rating and fourth in estimated wins added entering Thursday night’s action. He’s single handedly keeping the Hornets playoff hopes alive. The other leading scorers for the Hornets were Marvin Williams with 17 points on 5 made three-pointers, Nicolas Batum with 15 points 11 rebounds 9 assists 5 turnovers, Marco Belinelli with 15 points. This is a game the Hornets should’ve won, they lead for most of the second half and the reason they went on a 6-minute drought was the fact the Hornets shot way too many three-pointers in that time span. They missed 37 three-pointers tonight, that’s too many. If you’re not hitting three-pointers, then drive to the basket and get foul and shoot free-throws. Another big stat was the fact the Hornets gave up 21 second-chance points, that’s too many to be giving up in a single game. A team that’s supposed to rely on their defense, has played some terrible defense the past month of the season. Leading scorers for the Knicks were Carmelo Anthony with 18 points on 8-for-26 shooting 11 rebounds, Kristaps Porzingis with 18 points, Courtney Lee with 16 points and Brandon Jennings with 15 points who came off the bench and played most of the second half when Derrick Rose injured his ankle early in the third quarter. Charlotte Hornets (23-24) host the Sacramento Kings tomorrow night before going on a 3-game west coast trip.

Charlotte Hornets lost to the Golden State Warriors, 113-103

The Charlotte Hornets lost to the Golden State Warriors, 113-103 Wednesday night on ESPN. It’s the second straight lost for the Hornets after losing to the Wizards Monday night. Cody Zeller did not play due to a quadriceps contusion, Roy Hibbert took his place in the starting lineup, Kemba Walker was questionable due to an illness. The first half was back and forth affair but the Warriors did take advantage of our weak bench and took a 53-47 lead at halftime. The Hornets would start the third quarter on a 19-4 run, led by Kemba Walker 12 points in the quarter to take the lead and would lead to begin the fourth quarter. But that’s when Kevin Durant and Steph Curry took over the game, Durant scoring 16 points in the quarter and Curry knocking down to clutch three-pointers in the final three minutes to seal the win for the Warriors.

            The MVP for the Hornets this game would be Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with 15 points and 9 rebounds, who played great on both sides of the court. Grabbing offensive rebounds to playing great defense to knocking down some mid-range jumpers. MKG has been playing great the past few games for the Hornets and hopefully he can keep it up. The leading scorers for the Hornets were Kemba Walker with 26 points 8 assists, Nicolas Batum with 16 points 6 rebounds 8 assists, Marvin Williams with 14 points 5 rebounds and Spencer Hawes with 10 points 13 rebounds coming off the bench. The Hornets need to find another scorer to help Kemba out, Nic Batum isn’t a reliable second scorer and they also need to trade to give them bench scoring. The only bench player who scores is Marco Belinelli who is more of a shooter then an all-around scorer. Frank Kaminsky has been terrible this year, Roy Hibbert hasn’t been good since he played for the Pacers, even then he was more of a defender then a scorer and Ramon Sessions is just not a good point guard and coach Clifford knows it to, allowing Kemba to play all the first and third quarters, the two quarters where we played our best basketball. We also beat ourselves tonight too, giving up 15 turnovers, some of those turnovers were unforced turnovers. Just like Frank Kaminsky stepping out bounds shooting a three pointer or Spencer Hawes standing under the basket on the out bounds area and someone passing him the ball and him not moving his feet so he won’t catch it out bounds. Leading scorers for the Warriors were Kevin Durant with 33 points 4 blocks, Stephen Curry with 28 points 6 assists also making 6 three-pointers and Klay Thompson with 19 points. After going 3-2 on this home stand, Charlotte Hornets (23-23) go to New York to face off against the New York Knicks on Friday night.

Charlotte Hornets lose to the Washington Wizards, 109-99

Charlotte Hornets lost to the Washington Wizards 109 to 99 Monday night. The lost snapped the Hornets 3-game winning streak and it’s the fifth win in six games for the Wizards. The Wizards have won 3 straight against the Hornets including the two times the teams played each other this year. Marvin Williams injured his right big toe in the first half and went into the locker room for evaluations but would come back and play in the second half. The Wizards were red hot in the first half, shooting 57% from the field which helped them get a 60-48 lead at halftime. Charlotte would pull within 5 early in the fourth quarter but the Wizards would go on a 11-0 run that was capped off on a steal and fast break dunk by Kelly Oubre Jr, which helped give the Wizards the win.

            The MVP for the Hornets this game would be Marco Belinelli with 18 points on 5-of-12 (41.7%) shooting off the bench for the Hornets. To be honest it was hard trying to figure out who was the MVP for the Hornets this game since everyone played terrible in my opinion. As a team the Hornets only shot 38% from the field and missed 32 three pointers and the defense was as terrible, just overall a bad game by the Hornets. Leading scores for the Hornets were Kemba Walker with 21 points on 7-of-24 shooting, Cody Zeller with 13 points 9 rebounds and Marvin Williams with 13 points 8 rebounds. The only positive note for the Hornets this game was the fact that the Hornets bench outscored the Wizards bench, 40-22 in points. Washington Wizards leading scores this game were John Wall with 24 points 7 assists, who picked up his 25^th 20-point game of the season, Markieff Morris with 23 points 8 rebounds, Bradley Beal with 18 points, Otto Porter with 14 points 13 rebounds, his seventh double-double of the season. Charlotte Hornets (23-22) host the Golden State Warriors Wednesday night on Steph Curry annual homecoming game in Charlotte, the game will be television on ESPN.

Charlotte Hornets got their third straight win by beating the Brooklyn Nets, 112-105

Charlotte Hornets got their third straight victory Saturday night when they beat the Brooklyn Nets, 112 to 105. Seven Hornets players scored in double digits while the Nets lost their 12 game in 13 games. The Nets were without point guard Jeremy Lin due to a hamstring injury, who hasn’t played against Charlotte since leaving last offseason and signing with Nets over the summer. Charlotte did come out firing, shooting 54% in the first half to build a 60-46 lead at halftime. Brooklyn would come back from 17 down in the second half and make it interesting until 3 minutes left in the game when Nic Batum hit a three-pointer and got fouled and made the free-throw and the very next possession would hit another three-pointer to help seal the win for the Hornets.

            The MVP for the Hornets this game would be Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with 17 points and 14 rebounds. MKG plays hard every game he plays in but tonight he was rewarded for it, his jumpers was going in, he took the ball to the hoop and crashed the boards helping giving the Hornets the edge in the rebounding game tonight against a very good offense rebounding team. Hornets leading scorers were Nicolas Batum with 16 points 9 rebounds 6 assists, Kemba Walker with 16 points 6 assists and Ramon Sessions with 17 points off the bench. Overall the Hornets shot the ball great tonight, shooting 47% from the field, 48% from three-point range and 90% from the free-throw line. The only thing that’s worries me is the play of Marvin Williams, who lately has not been playing well. Only making one three-pointer in the past 18 games is bad especially from someone who is a great shooter like Marvin is, I don’t doubt Marvin will get out of the funk he’s in, it’s just hopefully he founds in rhyme soon. The leading scorers for Brooklyn were Brook Lopez with 24 points, Bojan Bogdanovic with 16 points, Quincy Acy with 14 points who was playing on a 10-day contract and general looked, but seems like he always plays well against the Hornets. Charlotte Hornets (23-21) play again Monday at home against the Washington Wizards.

Charlotte Hornets gets statement win against the Toronto Raptors, 113-78

The Charlotte Hornets blew-out the Toronto Raptors in a statement win Friday night, 112 to 78. Before tonight’s win, Charlotte was 0-7 against the top 3 teams (Cavs, Raptors, Celtics). It was the Hornets second straight win and second straight loss for the Raptors. The Hornets are 9-1 in their last 10 games at home; and are 15-1 this season when holding an opponent under 100 points, Charlotte held Toronto to under 20 points in three quarters this game, 18 points in the first, 15 points in the third and fourth quarters. The Hornets blew the game open in the third quarter, with the help of Kemba Walker 16 points in the quarter, Hornets outscored the Raptors 33-15 in the quarter to build a 25-point lead.

            The MVP for the Hornets this game would be Kemba Walker with 32 points on 11-16 shooting and 6 from 9 on three pointers and also dished out 8 assists. Kemba looked like locked for the All-Star this game, outplaying both Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. Other leading scorers for the Hornets this game was Frank Kaminsky with 16 points 8 rebounds off the bench, Nicolas Batum with 13 points 6 assists and Cody Zeller with 11 points. Leading scorers for the Raptors was Kyle Lowry with 24 points, DeMar DeRozan with 23 points and Jonas Valanclunas with 11 points 6 rebounds. The Raptors only shot 33% from the field this game while the Hornets shot a whopping 50% from the field. Charlotte also out-rebounded Toronto 51 to 33. Those two stats alone show you how one-sided this game was from start to finish. Charlotte Hornets (22-21) play tomorrow night at home against the Brooklyn Nets.

Charlotte Hornets beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 107-85

Charlotte Hornets beat the Portland Trail Blazers Wednesday night, 107 to 85. Charlotte returned home after losing five straight on the road to fall under .500 and moved to the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Kemba Walker had a big first half, hitting six of nine shots, and hitting three three-pointers to help give the Hornets a 54 to 46 lead at halftime. Hornets turned 16 Portland turnovers into 21 points and the Hornets bench outscored Portland bench 44-22. Charlotte led 79-72 after the third quarter but blew the game wide-open after eight quick points from Frank Kaminsky who scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter. The Hornets limited Portland to just 35% shooting and only made 8 of 31 (25%) from the three-point line but Portland did make all 11 free-throws; Hornets did snap an 8-game streak of allowing at least 100 points.

            The MVP for the Hornets this game would be Roy Hibbert who coming into this game was averaging 5.2 points per game but went off for a season-high 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting and grabbing 6 rebounds. Hibbert also had the best play of the game when he attempted to throw an alley-oop pass to Frank Kaminsky that inadvertently went in. Hibbert didn't even crack a smile as he jogged back down court which is the most Roy Hibbert thing ever. Leading scorers for the Hornets are Kemba Walker with 23 points 5 assists, Nicolas Batum with 17 points 7 rebounds 7 assists and Marco Belinelli with 13 points 5 rebounds. Leading scorers for the Portland Trail Blazers are Damian Lillard with 21 points 7 rebounds 6 assists, C.J. McCollum with 18 points and Mason Plumlee with 8 points 10 rebounds. Charlotte Hornets (21-21) play at home Friday against Toronto Raptors.