Hornets try to find ways to get over the hump in close games

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Charlotte Hornets centers Mark Williams and Nick Richards, who have spent most of the last year recovering from injuries, were active for a game for the first time in Tuesday's loss to Philadelphia.

The Hornets can’t find ways to win close games — at least recently.

Charlotte’s last four losses – against Miami, New York, Atlanta and Philadelphia – have been by an average margin of 3.5 points. Head coach Charles Lee was visibly irritated after the loss to the 76ers and knows his team must start faster instead of making heroic comebacks late in games.

“I just didn't think that from the jump we were ready to hoop tonight,” Lee said. “I thought that Philly, give them credit, their physicality kind of took us out of the rhythm offensively. I thought defensively, our execution of coverages isn't as sharp as it has been in previous nights. And again, even on the defensive end, just not enough of that competitiveness and toughness. And then I thought the second half, we did what we usually do, and we competed a lot harder.”

Lee said they will need to watch video to see where things went wrong in the first half against Philadelphia. Everyone knows the standard he and the organization expect, so it is a matter of executing the gameplan, in the first half especially.

“We'll go back and watch the film and just try to find ways where we weren't ourselves,” he said. “I think that we’ve talked about it before, about who we want to be, and what are our standards and what are the expectations. And I don't think that we were quite at that level tonight in the first half. … I thought the second half, we changed some coverages, changed the rotation a little bit and gave us a little bit of a boost.”

The Hornets, who are playing without LaMelo Ball due to a calf strain, will be re-evaluated in a week. Prior to the game against Philadelphia, Charlotte had been without centers Mark Williams since November 2023 and Nick Richards since Nov. 5. Both played against the 76ers, with Richards made large contributions while Williams was on a minutes restriction, playing just nine minutes.

Richards’ 22 points was second on the team behind Brandon Miller’s 34. His 14 rebounds led Charlotte and he had the highest plus/minus on the team at plus-9.

“[Richards and Williams] bring another level of size and ability to finish in the paint,” Lee said. “I thought Nick did a really good job defensively again of just being versatile. He just brings great versatility defensively.… I thought Mark for his first game playing in a while. I thought he did a really good job of trying to be active and trying to affect some things in the paint at times – we still need a little bit more, but I think that’ll come with more reps.”

The one bright spot for the Hornets is forward Brandon Miller. Over the last five games, Miller has scored 20 or more points in each and scored more than 30 on two occasions. Lee was complimentary of the second year forward and his continued growth on defense.

“Really proud of Brandon,” Lee said. “I thought he elevated his game defensively to start, starting him on (Paul) George. I thought that he was locked in. He wanted to close the gap; he wanted to make it tough. I thought there was a play early in the first half where he’s trying to pick him up full court and make sure he sees a body.

“Offensively, just trying to make the right plays when they needed to be made. They’re top blocking him – not fighting it, you’ve got to do a selfless cut through and then the ball finds him on another pin down. In those situations when they have two on the ball and they blitz him, he’s hitting seam passes and trusting his teammates. I just think there’s been a ton of growth from Brandon over the last couple of days now that he’s seen that he’s the focal point of another team’s defense.”

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