The offense continues to struggle.
The Charlotte Hornets offense continued to struggle as they dropped a game to a Milwaukee Bucks team missing many of their best players, 105-96.
Both teams made their first two shots of the game, but the level of play diminished pretty quickly after that. The teams stumbled through a pretty even first quarter that featured a Mason Plumlee elbow jumper that got the shooter’s roll and forced a Bucks timeout. The Hornets were very aggressive attacking the paint but struggled to finish when they got there. The Bucks left their center in the paint instead of guarding the Hornets centers outside, and it clogged up the Hornets’ driving lanes. Brook Lopez drilled a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Bucks a 30-24 lead after one quarter.
The Bucks scored five straight to start the second quarter after a few very bad offensive possessions from the Hornets. Bryce McGowens continued to get rotation minutes and made a nice fast break layup to help the Hornets cut into the Bucks lead. Jordan Nwora had himself a moment and gave the Bucks a 14-point first half lead after three straight jumpers. The Hornets were able to shave that down a little bit and take a 11 point deficit into the half.
The Hornets came out with much better defensive intensity to start the second half. They held the Bucks without a point for the first four minutes of the third quarter. On the other end of the floor, Jalen McDaniels scored the first eight points of the half for either side and single handedly brought the Hornets within one possession of the Bucks. A pair of Kelly Oubre free throws pulled the Hornets within one point, but that was as close as they would get. The Bucks got hot from three, the Hornets offense bogged down again, and the Bucks restored their lead to double figures. The third quarter ended the same way it began—with the Hornets down 11.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo was given a technical foul for spiking the ball after the third quarter buzzer sounded. Terry Rozier hit the free throw before the start of the fourth. Rozier was also responsible for the Hornets first made shot from the field, but that didn’t come until over three minutes later. The Hornets scored five straight coming out of a timeout to threaten a late push and at a couple of points got as close as five points from the Bucks. Whenever they did, the Bucks would quickly get a bucket to stop the bleeding. The Hornets weren’t able to threaten in the final couple of minutes of the game, and the Bucks cruised to the win.
Terry Rozier led the Hornets with 26 points while Jalen McDaniels (21) and Kelly Oubre (20) scored in the 20s as well.
The Hornets shot under 40% from the field and made just 5-of-24 3-point attempts. PJ Washington failed to register a point and missed all 13 of his shot attempts.
The Hornets assisted on just 15 of 34 made field goals, which is very representative of the lack of ball movement on the night. The offense contained much more dribbling than passing and was not at all cohesive.
They’ll have a day off before hosting the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday.