With the 30-6 Oklahoma City Thunder internet hosting the Charlotte Hornets, you may need anticipated a blowout. Simply not one with the Hornets on the profitable aspect.
The Hornets out-rebounded the Thunder, 52-33 ,and sank eight extra three-pointers to stun the defending champions, 124-97. They turned solely the second workforce to defeat the Thunder on their house courtroom this season, displaying that their rookie-heavy workforce may not be far-off from competing.
Hornets uncovered Thunder’s vulnerability inside
Earlier than final yr’s title season, the Thunder addressed their rebounding weak point by signing massive man Isaiah Hartenstein. He is out with a left calf pressure for the second time this season, and his workforce sorely misses his 10.4 rebounds per recreation. Moussa Diabate completed with 12 rebounds and Miles Bridges added 11 Monday, whereas Brandon Miller matched Chet Holmgren’s six boards.
That is how Charlotte overcame an enormous turnover disparity (21-7) in a recreation the place the Thunder bought 16 extra shot makes an attempt than the Hornets. After they pressured misses by the Thunder, the Hornets made it depend by limiting OKC’s second-chance factors.
The Thunder prefer to play small-ball. Monday, 6-foot-5 Jalen Williams began at energy ahead versus a Hornets beginning lineup the place Kon Knueppel was the shortest participant at 6-foot-6. Solely Holmgren delivered a lot measurement.
That helped the ball-hawking Thunder get turnovers, however towards probably the most prolific three-point capturing groups within the league, they did not get the standard capturing benefit that small-ball lineups typically present. Charlotte shot 19-for-39 from behind the arc, with Miller main the way in which capturing 7-for-10 and LaMelo Ball going 4-for-7. Since Dec. 1, Ball is capturing 46.1 % from deep, together with a very outrageous triple falling out of bounds Monday.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1324276914788316’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
