Hornets score 25 straight, hold Wizards to 6 fourth-quarter points in big win
Steve Clifford probably isn’t too thrilled that his Charlotte Hornets have turned in flat third quarters in their last three games. They’re doing a damn fine job of cranking it up in the fourth, though.
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For the third straight game, the Hornets struggled coming out of intermission, following up lackluster third quarters against the Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings by managing just 16 points on dismal 6-for-21 shooting to allow the visiting Washington Wizards to take a seven-point lead into the fourth quarter on Wednesday. But just as they did in beating both the Sixers and Kings, the Hornets cranked up their surprisingly potent offense enough in the late stages to sweep their prior stumbles under the rug:
After a pair of free throws by Wizards forward Jared Dudley pushed the lead to nine with 9:53 remaining in the final frame, the Hornets scored the next 25 points, holding Washington scoreless for a full 9 1/2 minutes of game time and completely taking over the game. While the troika of Jeremy Lamb, Nicolas Batum and Kemba Walker fueled Charlotte’s offense, Clifford’s club celebrated their coach’s newly minted multiyear contract extension by digging in defensively, holding the Wizards to one of the worst quarters we’ve ever seen.
Wizards:1-of-20 from field in 4th quarter! Last team to take 20+ shots in 4th, make 0 or 1- (Nets, 2008 vs Cavs) pic.twitter.com/nBGLKh6KFh
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 26, 2015
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The Wizards made just one shot in the fourth quarter, a 20-footer by Gary Neal with 10:13 remaining. They then missed 17 in a row, relying on free throws to finish with a measly six points — tied for the lowest-scoring quarter in franchise history — as a nine-point lead turned into a 14-point loss, with Charlotte skating to a 101-87 victory on the strength of an absurd game-closing 25-2 kick.
It was a record-setting finishing performance for Charlotte:
Six points the Wizards scored in 4th were the fewest points ever allowed by @hornets in any quarter ever.
— Rick Bonnell (@rick_bonnell) November 26, 2015
… a fact that caught Batum — who finished with 16 points, a season-high 11 assists, seven rebounds and two steals in 34 minutes of work — by surprise.
“Man, yeah, that’s impressive, because this team can score,” Hornets forward Nicolas Batum said during a postgame interview with FOX Sports Southeast’s Dell Curry. “They’ve got good players, so, well, that’s great. When we’re playing defense, we can beat anyone in this league.”
Those good players, however, struggled mightily on Wednesday. One night after getting blown away by the tandem of Paul George and C.J. Miles, the starry backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal combined for 31 points on 12-for-34 shooting, with Wall logging five turnovers to take a bit of the shine off his six assists and six steals. With the exception of Neal (a team-high 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting) and center Marcin Gortat (17 points on 6-for-8 shooting, 12 rebounds, two blocks), no Wizard could seem to find the bottom of the bucket, a problem that reached a comical nadir in the final quarter.
As head coach Randy Wittman saw it, the issue wasn’t so much that Washington kept missing shots, but rather how the offensive drought poisoned the Wizards’ well on the other end of the court:
Post Game #WittmanFace. pic.twitter.com/Fzc1EfKWx7
— Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) November 26, 2015
“I’d like us to play through a bad [start] to a quarter,” Wittman added, according to Steve Reed of The Associated Press. “If you keep fighting all of a sudden good things happen to you, but if you give into it, it’s a snowball effect.”
The only positive thing you can say about the Wizards’ closing stanza is that it wasn’t the most punchless period in NBA history. That dishonor belongs to the 1996-97 Dallas Mavericks and the 2003-2004 Golden State Warriors, who both managed to finish a 12-minute period with just two points. The Wizards have now lost two straight, falling to 6-6 on the season.
Lamb led six Hornets in double figures with 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting, seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 32 minutes off the bench. The former Oklahoma City Thunder reserve paced a Hornets club that entered Wednesday’s play ranked fourth in the NBA in points scored per possession, making good on an offseason commitment to overhauling an offense that’s consistently been one of the league’s worst in recent years.
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With more speed, playmaking and shooting on the court, the Hornets have thus far been able to weather the preseason loss of defensive linchpin Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, winning four straight overall and seven in a row at Time Warner Cable Arena. And after getting stifled by the Wizards’ defense in the third quarter, allowing Washington to close the quarter with a 13-0 run to take a seven-point lead into the fourth, the Hornets knew they could rely on their revamped attack to not only make up that lost ground, but put plenty of distance between them and their guests by the final buzzer.
“It felt like we couldn’t nothing going,” Lamb said of the third-quarter struggles, according to the AP. “We kept missing shot but we just stayed together and stayed with it and started hitting some shots. Next thing you know, it’s a 25-0 run.”
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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