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Squad problems caused by the Covid-19 outbreak did not prevent the Hornets from taking a win at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. James Borrego’s team, still hampered by absences, prevailed in a tight game 127-130 despite not being able to count on men of the stature of LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier, two of the team’s main scorers, whose contribution was well covered by her peers. Those from Charlotte have avoided for now that this incident is a problem at a sporting level, although we will see if they can respond just as well in the remaining games until we can have the entire squad again.
Miles Bridges, with 32 points, served as team leader in the face of the aforementioned absences, while Kelly Oubre Jr., who started as a starter, took the opportunity to also take a step forward and second his performance with 28 points. Both were therefore in charge of nurturing the scoring of the North Carolina team in many moments, including the final stretch, in which they added several important baskets and in which especially Bridges, with 13 points in the fourth quarter, stood out.
The outside shot was one of the main weapons for the Hornets, who finished the game with 17 triples, their best mark of the season, in 37 attempts (45.9%). Bridges and Oubre were again the most outstanding in this aspect, combining for a 10/16 between them, although Cody Martin also stood out in this facet, who achieved a 3/6 to go up to 19 points and lead the second unit. With 18, both Ish Smith, a starter for the first time this season, and Gordon Hayward, whose contribution allowed the visitors’ scoring rhythm to not slow, stayed.
In this way, it was of little use to the Hawks to have three men over 25 points. John Collins, with 31 and 12 rebounds, was the most prominent in the numerical section, followed by Kevin Huerter’s 28 and Trae Young’s 25, who also distributed 15 assists, but McMillan’s did not manage to perform as well in defense and his great offensive performance ended up being sterile.
The locals, despite spending much of the match behind on the scoreboard, seemed to take the reins of the duel in the last quarter, but were unable to contain the emergence of Bridges. Huerter pointed out precisely the defense as the great problem of the team, pointing out that it had been “very bad and very simple” and hinting that it is a problem that they have been accusing all season.
(Cover photo: Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images)
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