Recap: Hornets make valiant comeback but fall just short against Nets, 122-116

There’s no quit in this team, man.

After trailing by as much as 23 points in the first half, the Charlotte Hornets fought back to within one in crunch time before ultimately falling to the Brooklyn Nets, 122-116.

Terry Rozier led Charlotte (7-18) with a season-high 29 points and five assists. Kelly Oubre Jr. totaled 28 points on 12-21 shooting from the field, adding eight rebounds. Jalen McDaniels put up 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Mason Plumlee posted his 10th double-double of the season with 13 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. PJ Washington logged 12 points, five rebounds and a career high-tying seven assists.

Brooklyn (14-12) was led by Kyrie Irving’s 33 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Kevin Durant neared a triple-double with 29 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Seth Curry dropped 20 points, five rebounds and six assists off the bench. Nic Claxton had 14 points and seven rebounds.

Durant opened the game with an and-one jumper on a foul from Plumlee. Both teams shot well and played good offense throughout the first quarter, with McDaniels and Plumlee leading the way for Charlotte in the early-going. Washington converted inside on back-to-back trips and then floated a perfect hit-ahead pass to McDaniels to give the Hornets a 17-16 lead, but it was all Brooklyn from that point onward. A 9-0 solo run from Curry built an 11-point lead for the Nets, 36-25, and after Kai Jones answered with a three Durant nailed a 20-footer just before time expired to make it 38-28 after one.

Brooklyn quickly stretched the lead to 17 points in a fast-paced start to the second quarter, gaining a 47-30 advantage on a 23-7 run spanning back to the first quarter. Jones provided some high-energy minutes in the first half, driving baseline on Irving and finishing at the rim over Markieff Morris to help keep the Hornets within 20 as the Nets offense kept rolling. The Hornets were playing solid offense themselves, shooting 52.2 percent from the field, but poor transition defense and low closeouts allowed Brooklyn to shoot 60.4 percent and 50 percent from downtown in the first half. Washington buried a contested three in the final seconds to give himself 11 points and trim the deficit to 18, 73-55 at the break.

Former teammates Irving and Rozier traded step-back jumpers to open the second half. McDaniels put together an excellent hustle play a few minutes later, flying in for the chasedown block and sprinting back down court to scoop a bad pass from Oubre off the floor and nail a corner three to make it a 13-point game, 78-65. The Hornets were playing good offense for the entirety of the game, but it wasn’t until midway through the third that they scaled up the aggression and made the Nets work for everything they got. A 12-4 run over the final four minutes got Charlotte within single digits, 96-87, after three. The Hornets outscored the Nets 32-23 in the third.

The Hornets run stretched to 17-8, including a 12-0 stretch from the Hornets that made it a four-point game by the time the Nets were able to recover. Irving’s six-straight points helped Brooklyn would pull back ahead by 10 points, 102-92 before Rozier hit a tough jumper and lobbed to McDaniels to make it a two-possession game once again as the two former Celtics went at each other in the fourth. As he dished out a career-high tying seventh assist, Washington suffered an apparent eye injury and left the game. JT Thor checked in for his first minutes of the night, and McDaniels also briefly left the game after seemingly hurting his ankle moments later. But injuries are no matter for this Hornets squad.

Rozier buried a triple at the top of the key to make it a two-point game, 109-107, and after a slight response from the Nets, the Hornets forced a 24-second shot clock violation and Oubre followed it up with a massive three that made it 113-112. Durant made a huge three to make it a four-point game again as the clock ticked under two minutes. Rozier got the Hornets back within two, and on the ensuing possession, head coach Steve Clifford used his coach’s challenge to no avail on a layup attempt from Irving, who made both free throws to make it 120-116. Plumlee was fouled underneath the rim on the next trip, but missed both free throws with 34.2 seconds left. The Hornets didn’t foul on the inbound, which was rather puzzling, and allowed Brooklyn to bleed the clock down to 13.6 seconds before Irving hit a layup to ice it. The Nets staved off the Hornets valiant comeback attempt to win, 122-116.

Obviously, a loss is a loss, but that second-half comeback says something about this team. At the very least, the Hornets have some dawgs — they are never going to count themselves out and will always believe they can shoot their way back in front.

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The Hornets are back at it on Friday at The Hive against the New York Knicks.