Hornets Blitz Rockets in Dominating Return Home to Charlotte
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - There's no place like home. After a long and challenging six-game road swing, the Charlotte Hornets briefly returned home to Spectrum Center on Monday night and defeated the Houston Rockets, 123-99.
"I thought we grew as a group on the road," Hornets head coach James Borrego said in his postgame press conference. "Through the highs and the lows of the road trip, we grew as a unit. We just knew that if we could come back home with some momentum, this is going to be a home-friendly environment for us moving forward. After tonight, [we have] 28 home games. You can feel the energy in the city, in the building. It's starting to move, there's a great momentum and our guys are feeding off of it. You can feel it from the start. I give our fans a ton of credit. I give our organization a ton of credit. Obviously, we've got to go on the road now so we've got to carry that with us."
After a tightly contested first quarter, the Hornets opened up a 64-50 lead at the half. Terry Rozier really heated up in the third quarter connecting on four triples, going for 14 points in the quarter. Rozier finished the game with 27 on 10/17 shooting and 7/12 from beyond the three-point line.
"He's finding his rhythm right now," Borrego said about Rozier. "We're trying to get our rhythm as a team but I think this was a step forward. It's great to see Terry put a couple games together back-to-back with high production, 27 points in 27 minutes. We need that from T-Ro but again, I think it started with his defense. The way he set the tone for us defensively. Obviously we need shots to go in. He's a big shot maker and we believe he is going to continue on this path the rest of the season."
The Hornets will be back in action on Wednesday night in Indiana to take on the Pacers. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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