Ball and Plumlee notched double doubles, but the Hornets didn’t make enough shots.
LaMelo Ball had 23 points and 11 assists and Mason Plumlee had 22 points and 10 rebounds, but poor shooting once again doomed the Charlotte Hornets as they lost to the Brooklyn Nets, 123-106.
Mason Plumlee starred for the Hornets in a back and forth start to the game. The Nets eventually started to create some distance with some mid range jumpers and finished the quarter with a 10 point lead.
LaMelo Ball found Mark Williams inside for three baskets in the early going of the second quarter. That proved to be most of the offense for the Hornets as they struggled to convert on any attempts from outside the paint. The Hornets strung together some stops defensively to narrow the margin to as little as five, but Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving did Durant and Irving things to build the Nets lead back into double figures. Ball hit a three at the 2:19 mark that went down as the only shot the Hornets made from outside the paint all quarter long. The teams went into the half with the Nets up by 12.
The Nets scored five straight to start the second half, prompting Steve Clifford to take a timeout after just 54 seconds. Melo responded with a trio of threes and a trio of assists to jumpstart the Hornets offense. The flurry cut into the Hornets deficit briefly, but the Nets answered with an offensive outburst of their own. It was capped off by back to back corner threes from Yuta Watanabe to put the Nets up 18 heading into the fourth quarter.
Ball hit another three to start the fourth quarter, but that would be about as close as the Hornets would get. Edmond Sumner and Royce O’Neale combined for 12 quick points and an O’Neale three from the corner served as the dagger.
Ball played well offensively but had some pretty notable struggles on the defensive end in this one, most notably during Edmond Sumner’s run in the third quarter. Otherwise, the story of the game was once again the Hornets inability to consistently make shots.
The Hornets will be back in action on Monday against the Lakers.