Toronto Completes Season Sweep of Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Toronto Raptors completed the two-game sweep and the season series sweep of the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday with a 120-100 win inside Spectrum Center.

Steve Clifford's biggest problem with Sunday's loss to Toronto was the team's inability to defend the pick-and-roll game involving Fred VanVleet. They threw the kitchen sink at him but it didn't matter. He went for 20 points and 20 assists, carving up the Hornets left and right.

With a day to watch the film and make some adjustments in practice, the Hornets found some answers to slow down VanVleet, holding him scoreless with six assists through the first 24 minutes of action.

Unfortunately for Clifford, it's like a game of whack-a-mole right now. Once one problem is taken care of another one pops up. Tonight it was the turnovers that cost Charlotte. They turned it over 11 times in the first half alone, leading to 16 fastbreak points. Theo Maledon was responsible for six of those wasted possessions.

Despite being down twelve at the half, it wasn't all bad ball. Rookie Bryce McGowens set a career-high in points (13) in the first half alone, surpassing his previous high of 12 which he set way back in November.

After being held scoreless in the first half, VanVleet took it personally and put up nearly half of Toronto's output in the third with 16 points on 4/7 shooting. The Hornets went on a 9-0 around the midway point of the third and a James Bouknight three cut the deficit to just five, 80-75. However, the Raptors clamped down defensively and closed out the quarter on a 15-0 run, pushing the lead up to 19. Charlotte went 0/6 from the field in the final three minutes and change with three of those shots being rejected.

The Hornets, who once again played with a bunch of first, second, and third-year, guys were never able to rebound from that three-minute or so stretch.

The Hornets will close out their home slate against the Houston Rockets on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. EST.

1ST: CHA 29-25

TOR: 9/24 FG | 1/7 3FG | 6/10 FT | 6 REB | 6 AST | 0 TO | 16 PIP

CHA: 11/18 FG | 2/5 3FG | 5/7 FT | 15 REB | 8 AST | 5 TO | 16 PIP

2ND: TOR 61-49

TOR: 23/48 FG | 7/17 3FG | 8/13 FT | 18 REB | 16 AST | 1 TO | 32 PIP

CHA: 18/34 FG | 6/13 3FG | 7/9 FT | 23 REB | 14 AST | 11 TO | 20 PIP

3RD: TOR 94-75

TOR: 35/72 FG | 11/27 3FG | 13/18 FT | 32 REB | 22 AST | 3 TO | 44 PIP

CHA: 26/53 FG | 11/24 3FG | 12/14 FT | 31 REB | 21 AST | 15 TO | 26 PIP

4TH: TOR wins 120-100

TOR: 42/88 FG | 15/33 3FG | 21/28 FT | 40 REB | 27 AST | 7 TO | 50 PIP

CHA: 36/77 FG | 12/31 3FG | 16/19 FT | 43 REB | 27 AST | 18 TO | 36 PIP

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