Hornets Drop Seventh Straight

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Charlotte Hornets dropped their seventh straight game Saturday night, losing to the Denver Nuggets 119-105.

For a team playing the second leg of a back-to-back after traveling from Boston overnight, the Hornets didn't look fatigued whatsoever. They jumped out to a 13-2 lead getting several easy buckets inside starting the night 6/8 from the floor. Meanwhile on the other end, Denver began just 1/7 and then a few minutes later were 3/15.

All five of Charlotte's starters contributed to the hot start, but it was Gordon Hayward who carried the load offensively in the frame, posting 13 points on 6/7 shooting. Denver turned it over five times and failed to get many paint touches early with Mark WIlliams and P.J. Washington doing a good job covering Nikola Jokic. Once the Nuggets began to feed the two-time MVP consistently, it put Williams in foul trouble, forcing Steve Clifford to turn to Nick Richards for much of the second quarter.

After a near three-minute scoring drought, P.J. Washington ended an 11-0 run by Denver. The two teams traded buckets in the final two minutes plus, but the Hornets held a 60-57 at the intermission.

Unlike the beginning of the game, Charlotte came out of the locker room a bit sluggish, leading to a 13-2 Denver run to open the quarter. The Nuggets shot the ball efficiently going 17/27 (63%), which resulted in a 37-point outburst that the Hornets were unable to recover from.

The Hornets will be back at it Monday night as they host the Atlanta Hawks. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. EST.

CUMULATIVE TEAM STATS

1ST: CHA 34-27

DEN: 10/25 FG | 1/6 3FG | 16 REB | 7 AST | 5 TO | 18 PIP

CHA: 15/25 FG | 2/8 3FG | 11 REB | 10 AST | 1 TO | 22 PIP

2ND: CHA 60-57

DEN: 21/51 FG | 2/14 3FG | 27 REB | 15 AST | 8 TO | 34 PIP

CHA: 26/47 FG | 6/18 3FG | 23 REB | 18 AST | 7 TO | 34 PIP

3RD: DEN 94-83

DEN: 38/78 FG | 4/19 3FG | 42 REB | 26 AST | 10 TO | 60 PIP

CHA: 33/67 FG | 7/25 3FG | 28 REB | 22 AST | 8 TO | 40 PIP

4TH: DEN wins 119-105

DEN: 50/99 FG | 5/23 3FG | 51 REB | 35 AST | 14 TO | 78 PIP

CHA: 40/85 FG | 8/32 3FG | 37 REB | 25 AST | 14 TO | 52 PIP

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