The Charlotte Hornets lost their seventh straight game after falling to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors 119-101. The Hornets have struggled to string wins together, dropping 16 of their last 18 games.
Discussing the game’s outcome, LaMelo Ball felt like they still needed to figure out who they were, and that could help them string some wins together.
LaMelo Ball keeps it real about the Hornets’ identity
After pouring in 25 points in a loss, Ball spoke about what needs to change or improve with Charlotte.
“I feel like we’ve just got to find our identity – see what we’re going to do, see the shots we want, and then go for those shots,” Ball said. “I like to push fast, play fast pace.”
Transition buckets do naturally make the game a little easier. Scoring while the defense is still trying to get back in their sets would generate easier offense. That faster pace after a miss would fit Ball’s play style, but without the right personnel, it’s hard to produce success with it. Plus, once teams decide to get to the other end of the floor after a missed shot, it becomes predictable.
With Brandon Miller out, the team’s offense is heavily reliant on Ball’s scoring and playmaking prowess. Miles Bridges has also stepped up his scoring since the injury. Against the Warriors, he poured in 35 points of his own, which led all scorers. Unfortunately, the Hornets have lost their last nine games when he’s scored 30 or more.
Hornets fall to 0-2 on their five-game home stand
On the bright side, the Hornets have a shot at redemption in front of their home fans for the next three games. Despite the struggle to win consecutive games, the Hornets have kept games close throughout before things open up in the fourth quarter. Even against the Warriors, it was a seven-point deficit until Golden State opened up the game in the final two minutes of the quarter.
Finding a way to stay consistent would be the key to finishing off games where they are within striking distance of a win. Bridges spoke on his team’s fight in that third quarter.
“Just us competing,” Bridges said. “We competed again, gave ourselves a chance. We turned the ball over a lot though, missed a lot of free throws. Steph [Curry] got wide open a lot, but we gave ourselves a chance, so we can be happy with that.”
Everything stems back to what Ball said about finding an identity. It’s been hard to do with all the injuries, but that should be the goal for the rest of the season. Finding out who they really are.
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