Re-Energized Hornets Pummel Raptors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - After losing nine of the last ten games, the Charlotte Hornets needed the All-Star break to come in the worst of ways. They needed to reset, refresh, and get healthy. In Friday's 125-93 win over the Toronto Raptors, it looked like a the week-long break paid off in huge dividends.
The Hornets got out to a 14-2 lead in the opening minutes of the game, forcing Toronto head coach Nick nurse to call an early timeout. From the opening tip, the Hornets had terrific ball movement on offense, but more importantly, played with pride on the defensive end. The Raptors looked as if they didn't expect the Hornets to be up in their grill for the the entire 24 seconds of the shot clock on each possession and struggled to find the bottom of the net, missing nine of its first ten shots.
Toronto is a team that turns it over at a very high clip and they did so again Friday night. Their 17 turnovers in the game marks 52 total turnovers in just three games with the Hornets.
Four Hornets (Terry Rozier -16, Montrezl Harrell -12, Kelly Oubre Jr. -10, and LaMelo Ball -10) went for double figures in the first half of play. Rozier shot an efficient 7/10 from all over the floor, P.J. Washington and Kelly Oubre Jr. each hit a pair of threes, and Harrell had three baskets off of offensive rebounds. Scottie Barnes did a lot of the damage for Toronto in the second quarter, notching exactly half of the team's points in the quarter (14). Charlotte was in control at the half 70-47.
The Raptors continued to find any sort of groove offensively in the third quarter going just 5/19 from the floor and 1/4 from three-point land. Meanwhile, the Hornets had a little fun with some electrifying dunks that was without a doubt a much better show than what we saw in Cleveland for this year's dunk contest.
Not only did the Hornets dominate every facet of the game, but they got back to their roots of shooting the three-ball with efficiency (15/40 - 37.5%). For a team that relies so much on perimeter offense, this was the start to the start James Borrego wanted to see coming out of the break.
The Hornets will be back in action inside Spectrum Center on Sunday to host the Detroit Pistons. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST.
BOX SCORE
TOR: 19-28-12-32-93
CHA: 28-42-27-28-125
1st
TOR 8/20 FG | 0/3 3FG | 10 REB | 16 PIP | 8 TOs
CHA 11/25 FG | 4/13 3FG | 13 REB | 14 PIP | 6 TOs
2nd
TOR 20/44 FG | 3/10 3FG | 16 REB | 34 PIP | 9 TOs
CHA 29/50 FG | 9/22 3FG | 27 REB | 38 PIP | 8 TOs
3rd
TOR 25/63 FG | 4/14 3FG | 25 REB | 42 PIP | 13 TOs
CHA 40/69 FG | 13/30 3FG | 40 REB | 52 PIP | 12 TOs
4th
TOR 37/84 FG | 6/23 3FG | 36 REB | 58 PIP | 17 TOs
CHA 52/94 FG | 15/40 3FG | 52 REB | 70 PIP | 18 TOs
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