Hornets drop another game to NBA-worst Pacers

UNSPLASH

For the second time in back-to-back game, the Charlotte Hornets lost in the final seconds, this time to Indiana 114-112 at Spectrum Center.

Late game woes haunted the Hornets for the second time in a back-to-back home stint.

This time, it was against Indiana, the NBA’s worst team based on record at 7-31. As in the previous night’s game against Toronto, The Pacers hit a game-winning shot late. Indiana forward Pascal Siakam, who finished with a team-high 30 points and 14 rebounds, made a driving layup with 11.5 seconds to go to seal a 114-112 win. 

Some controversy arose whenever Siakam hit the go-ahead layup. Charlotte (13-25) coach Charles Lee ran to midcourt to signal for a timeout to set the offense. The officials apparently didn’t see him and Indiana’s T.J. McConnell stole the inbounds pass from LaMelo Ball. 

“I didn’t get much of an explanation,” Lee said about not getting the timeout. “I think that most of it was because they didn’t see it. Again, the ball goes through the basket with 11 seconds to play, the team goes down one, I thought I came out and called a timeout, but it obviously wasn’t seen or heard.”

Brandon Miller was ejected after receiving his second technical foul early in the third quarter, leaving the Hornets without an important scoring option. 

Ball scored a game-high 33 points off the bench, his first reserve role since his rookie year. 

“It’s all just basketball,” Ball said. “So, pretty much, just whenever you are in between the lines, I feel like it’s all the same.”

Ball said it didn’t matter if he started or came off the bench, he wanted to win.

“I am just being open-minded,” he said. “We all want to win, so just trying to figure out the best solution.”

Although Ball was productive, he made crucial mistakes down the stretch that may have altered the outcome. With 1:03 left, the Hornets up three with three seconds into the shot clock, Ball’s halfcourt lob to Moussa Diabate was stolen and McConnell cut the lead to one. 

“I didn’t start today so I could finish the back end,” Ball said. “I take full responsibility for that. I think that is my fault. That last lob, we could have dribbled it out, and just some other silly possessions before that. Even the last pass [to Sexton for the final shot], I should have shot that instead of putting Collin in that position.”

Other than the late mistakes, Ball was productive, which Lee recognized. He also gave an explanation as to why Ball’s minutes were structured to essentially come in every quarter around the 6:30 mark. 

“[We were] just trying to find a way to get more creative with how we manage Melo’s minutes in order to keep him in a good place health wise,” Lee said, “and also, just coming off that last game, we wanted to find a way to make sure we can have him in at the end of games. And sometimes when you start, and some of the stretches that go on getting stuck out there, maybe before a media [timeout] or something. You come off the bench, it helps us regulate his minutes, and then I thought he was able to play more minutes in the fourth quarter, so he had a great pop tonight. He gave us a huge boost off the bench.”

Charlotte has to turn the page for a five-game road trip starting on Jan. 10 against Utah. 

Comments