Hornets close out four-game homestand with win over Rockets
The Charlotte Hornets snapped a 7-game losing streak to the Houston Rockets with a big 108-99 home win Saturday night. Thursday night, Charlotte allowed Denver to beat them at Spectrum Center for the first time since March 19, 2016. Saturday night, the Hornets got their first win over Houston since March 12, 2016.
The Hornets, who were on a three-game losing streak and desperate for a win, got off to a 20-0 run to start the game. The last time a NBA team led a game with 20+ consecutive points was December 15, 2014. The Cleveland Cavaliers went on a 21-0 run against… the Charlotte Hornets.
Terry Rozier (24), Devonte’ Graham (23) and PJ Washington (20) led the Hornets in scoring. ‘Scary’ Terry Rozier is living up to the name. Rozier knocked down 6 of the 9 threes he attempted (nice). For the second time this season, Rozier has hit 5 threes in back-to-back games. The first occurrence was January 2-4. This season, Rozier is shooting better than his career average from three. Rozier has made 39% of his threes thus far and his career average is 36%. Rookie forward PJ Washington recorded back-to-back 20 point games for the first time in his NBA career. Washington did this against the third and fifth-seeded teams in the West. “This was a good one for us tonight,” said Washington. Washington added, “We felt like we should have won the last two.”
In the second quarter of Tuesday’s contest against San Antonio, the Hornets led by 17. The Spurs were able to rally and edge the Hornets by 1, 104-103. Thursday night the Hornets were neck-and-neck with the third-place Denver Nuggets before Jamal Murray hit the game-winning jumper with 5 seconds left on the clock. James Borrego reacted to the shot by saying, “What else could you do other than block the shot?”
“I thought the team came out with the right mindset,” said head coach James Borrego after the big win. Coach Borrego put an emphasis on getting into the gym and to keep working after Thursday’s heartbreaking loss to Denver. Evidently the Hornets did just that.
In addition to the Hornets’ scoring leaders, center Cody Zeller added 13 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Zeller posted an impressive +25 plus-minus rating. Miles Bridges added 10 points and guard Cody Martin had a career-high nine assists.
Lead Hornets writer for The Athletic, Rod Boone, had great things to say about the Martin twins on Saturday’s episode of The Rookies. Catch the full interview on FoxSportsRadioCharlotte.com and listen to The Rookies weekend mornings from 10-11 on Fox Sports Radio Charlotte.
James Harden recorded a triple-double with a game-high 30 points on 8-22 shooting but according to Eric Collins, Harden got a quadruple-double.
“THERE IT IS. OH MY GOODNESS. 10 TURNOVERS FOR JAMES HARDEN. A QUADRUPLE-DOUBLE.”
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 8, 2020
—Hornets’ broadcasters during Charlotte’s win over the Rockets pic.twitter.com/l2WiPcdn3f
{We must protect Eric Collins at all costs!}
Russel Westbrook, who over the course of the last month is averaging 35ppg on 50% shooting from the field, did not play.
The Charlotte Hornets shot 53% from the field and 47% from beyond the arc. Great team basketball was on display in Uptown as they assisted on 29 of 37 made field goals and scored 22 points off of Houston’s 21 turnovers.
The Charlotte Hornets have a two-game road trip against divisional foes. Charlotte plays in Atlanta on Monday, March 9 and in Miami Wednesday, March 11 before returning home to face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, March 13.