Warriors Vs. Hornets 2/20/2021

The Hornets came into this game after a rough loss to the Spurs. The Warriors also came into this game after a rough loss. The Warriors loss was to the Magic though not the Spurs. The Warriors were still missing all 3 of their centers in this game which meant that the Warriors wouldn’t be able to expose the Hornets centers as easily. James Wiseman and LaMelo Ball were the number 2 and number 3 overall pick and were set to play for the first time in the NBA in this game but Wiseman was injured so that didn’t happen. Speaking of LaMelo Ball, he is a 6’7” pass first point guard who was the number 3 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft. This would’ve been Stephen Curry’s first game back at home in 2 years but that will have to wait because he wasn’t feeling well before the game. The Hornets also had 6 days of rest which gave them a bit of an advantage since this was the second game of a back-to-back for the Warriors. For the Hornets to win they needed to play good defense, force a bunch of turnovers, and score very well. For the Warriors to win they needed to find a nice games out of Kelly Oubre Jr. and Andrew Wiggins, defend Terry Rozier lll and LaMelo Ball, and rebound well. Would the Warriors be able find points and get the win despite Curry’s absence or would LaMelo Ball and the Hornets take advantage of their long break and get the win? To the game!

The Hornets won the tip which led to a P.J. Washington Jr. dunk. At 11:02 Mychal Mulder made a layup to tie the game at 2 points a piece. At 8:05 Andrew Wiggins made a 3 to give the Warriors a 7-6 lead. Then at 6:44 Miles Bridges made a 3 to retake the lead for the Hornets. At 4:40 Terry Rozier lll made a 3 to give the Hornets a 6 point lead. At the end of the first quarter the Hornets were leading 24-15. Malik Monk was leading the Hornets in scoring with 7 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. was leading the Warriors with 5 points. In the first quarter the Warriors had 1 fewer assist, 8 fewer rebounds, 2 fewer steals, 1 more rebound, and 1 fewer turnover than the Hornets. The Warriors had the same amount of fouls as the Hornets. The Hornets shot decently in the first quarter with 47.6% from the field and 36.4% from 3. The Warriors on the other hand didn’t shoot so well with 31.6% from the field and 20% from downtown. The Warriors hoped to tie the game or take the lead at halftime. The Hornets hoped to enlarge their lead in the second quarter.

To start the 2nd quarter Wiggins made a midrange jumper to cut the Hornets lead to 7 points. At 10:15 Brad Wanamaker made a layup to cut it to a 5 point deficit. At 6:14 Kelly Oubre Jr. slammed in a putback dunk to give the Warriors a lead. Then at 5:22 Jalen McDaniels made a free throw after making a layup to give the Hornets a 2 point lead. At 4:50 Oubre Jr. made a corner 3 to give the Warriors the lead. At 2:13 Gordon Hayward made a layup to give the Hornets the lead. Then at 1:32 Andrew Wiggins got a fastbreak dunk to retake the lead for the Warriors. With 3.5 seconds left in the half Andrew Wiggins made a layup to give the Warriors a 5 point lead. To end the half Terry Rozier lll made a 3 to make the Warriors lead 47-45 at halftime. Jalen McDaniels was the leading scorer for the Hornets with 9 points. Kelly Oubre Jr. was the leading scorer for the Warriors with 16 points. In the first half the Warriors had 2 fewer rebounds, 1 fewer steal, 2 more blocks, 4 fewer turnovers, and 3 fewer fouls than the Hornets. The Warriors and Hornets each had 11 assists at halftime. The Hornets shot well in the first half with 45% from the field, 40% from deep, and the Hornets didn’t miss a free throw. The Warriors shot around 40% from the field, 25% from 3, and 75% from the free throw line. LaMelo Ball hadn’t scored at halftime which was surprising. In the 3rd quarter both teams hoped to gain momentum and maintain a 10-15 point lead entering the 4th quarter. To the third!

To start the 3rd quarter Eric Paschall made a layup to give the Warriors a 4 point lead. At 10:51 Terry Rozier lll made a couple of free throws to cut it to a 2 point game. At 10:33 Terry Rozier lll made a 3 to give the Hornets the lead. Then at 9:26 Juan Toscano-Anderson made a 3 to give the Warriors a 2 point lead. At 8:41 Brad Wanamaker made a layup to give the Warriors a 6 point lead. At 7:14 Gordon Hayward made a 3 to tie the game. Then at 6:40 P.J. Washington Jr. made a 3 to give the Hornets a 3 point lead. A few plays later Miles Bridges made 2 free throws to give the Hornets a 6 point lead. Those free throws were the end of a 12-0 run for the Hornets. At 3:07 Damion Lee made a layup to give the Warriors the lead. At the 3 minute mark Bridges made a layup to retake the lead for the Hornets. At 2:13 Damion Lee made a 3 to give the Warriors a 2 point lead. At 1:43 LaMelo Ball got his first points of the game with a layup. With 32.6 seconds left in the quarter Rozier lll made a 3 to give the Hornets the lead. To end the quarter Eric Paschall made 2 free throws to tie the game at 69. After the 3rd quarter the Warriors had 1 more assist, 8 fewer rebounds, 2 more steals, 2 more blocks, 8 fewer turnovers, and 6 fewer fouls than the Hornets. The Hornets were shooting pretty well with 43.9% from the field and 41.9% from 3 point range. The Warriors on the other hand shot 39.4% from the field and 27.6% from 3.

To start the 4th quarter Damion Lee made a 3 which gave the Warriors the lead. At 11:05 Rozier lll made a layup to cut the Warrior lead to 2. At 8:55 LaMelo Ball made a layup to retake the lead for the Hornets. The Warriors quickly took back the lead with a Damion Lee layup and free throw. At the 7 minute mark Kent Bazemore made a layup to give him his first points of the game and to give the Warriors a 5 point lead. At 5:19 Draymond Green made a 3 to give him his first points of the game and to give the Warriors a 10 point lead. Those were the last points of a 14-3 run for the Warriors. At 2:52 Hayward made a corner 3 to cut it to a 2 point game for the Hornets. At 1:33 Eric Paschall made 2 free throws to bring the Warriors’ lead back up to 5 points. Then Rozier lll made a 3, then Oubre Jr. made a 3, then Rozier made another 3, and then Wiggins missed a 3 and Draymond Green got the offensive rebound and then passed the ball to Wanamaker and then LaMelo Ball forced a jump ball. Then with 9.3 seconds left in regulation LaMelo Ball won the jump ball and tried Draymond Green hit the ball to Wiggins but instead Hayward grabbed the ball and then Draymond grabbed the ball. This wasn’t another jump ball though because the Hornets were able to call a timeout before Draymond got the ball and forced what would’ve been another jump ball. Draymond Green then got 2 technical fouls which got him ejected and gave the Hornets 2 free throws to tie the game. Terry Rozier lll made both free throws and tied the game. The Hornets also had the ball so they had the last shot of regulation to try to take home the win. To end the game Terry Rozier lll made a fadeaway, baseline, buzzer beater jumper to give the Hornets the win. The Hornets won 102-100.

Leo’s Courtside Commentary: The final 7 points of the game were all from Terry Rozier lll. With 43 seconds left in the game the Warriors were up 5 and then Rozier lll had 7 straight points. Rozier lll also had a buzzer beater 3 to end the first half and 3 points was more than the difference in this game. The fact that a veteran in Draymond Green got ejected and ultimately lost the Warriors the game is very disappointing to me. As you might already know Rozier lll had an amazing game with 36 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal. Oubre Jr. played well for the Warriors with 25 points, 6 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals, and a block. Wiggins also played well with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal. The Warriors did end up playing pretty well considering that their superstar player was out along with all of their centers. The Warriors had 5 fewer rebounds, 3 more steals, 1 more block, 10 fewer turnovers, and 10 fewer fouls than the Hornets. The Warriors and Hornets had an equal amount of assists. The Hornets had a ton of turnovers with 24 and a ton of fouls with 22. The Warriors didn’t shoot as well as usual because Stephen Curry was out. The Warriors shot 43.5% from the field, 33.3% from 3, and 76.5% from the free throw line. The Hornets on the contrary did shoot well with 49.3% from the field, 50% from downtown, and 88.9% from the free throw line. This was the second game in a row where the Warriors were down, were then leading in the 4th quarter, and then failed to close out the game in crunch time. Overall, this was a disappointing loss where the Warriors were weighed down by injuries and Stephen Curry not feeling well.