Charlotte Hornets beat the Atlanta Hawks 105 to 90 and are undefeated this season when facing the Hawks. It’s the second straight win for the Hornets while the Hawks have lost four straight. Hornets pulled within three games of the eighth-place Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Kemba Walker became the third player in franchise history to make 200 three-pointers in a single season. Atlanta was without All-Star forward Paul Millsap due to a tenderness in the right knee and was without top reserve guard Kent Bazemore due to a bone bruise in right knee. Hornets starting forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist left the game with a right ankle strain in the third quarter and did not return. Charlotte went on 23-4 run to start the second quarter and took a 51-42 at halftime. Hornets stretched its lead to 22 early in the fourth quarter after Frank Kaminsky drove and dished it to Marvin Williams for a dunk. Around the two-minute mark in the fourth quarter, Atlanta threw in the white flag and put in their bench players to play the rest of the game.
The MVP for the Hornets for this game would be Nicolas Batum who scored 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting and dished out 6 assists. Ever since Batum came back from his migraines problems the Hornets are 2-0. Batum is a key part of the Hornets offense, from his passing to his ability to shot the three ball to posting someone up and hitting a fade away on one foot and his rebounding. When he’s out the entire offense suffers from it. Charlotte did a lot of good things in this game, scoring 17 points off 18 Hawks turnovers. In the first half, Dwight Howard killed the Hornets on the boards but after halftime Hornets did a better job of containing Howard, especially on the offensive boards. Another stat that I like was Hornets bench outscored Hawks bench 43-22. I think the one of the reason Hornets bench has been playing so much better of late has been the play, Briante Weber. Weber brings a burst of energy when he comes in, from full court press to handling the ball well and not turning the ball over. He not a scorer but he brings so much other stuff to the team and can get to the line and score if he has too. The leading scorers for the Hornets this game were Kemba Walker with 16 points, Frank Kaminsky with 14 points 5 assists, Marvin Williams with 13 points 8 rebounds and Jeremy Lamb with 12 points. Leading scorers for the Hawks this game were Dennis Schroder with 20 points 6 assists, Dwight Howard with 13 points 10 rebounds, Ersan Ilyasova with 13 points 6 rebounds and Tim Hardaway Jr. with 11 points. Charlotte Hornets (31-39) travel to Orlando tomorrow to face off against the Magic Wednesday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment