Five takeaways from Charlotte Hornets’ dominant road victory against Kings
The opponent was anything but impressive, but the Charlotte Hornets had their most dominant road victory over the season Tuesday, beating the Kings in Sacramento 131-111.
Five things to carry from the Hornets’ performance, which ended past midnight Eastern Time Wednesday:
Protect the ball
The Hornets totaled three turnovers - two by Frank Kaminsky and one by Nic Batum. The franchise record for fewest turnovers is two, set in a home game against the Milwaukee Bucks last season in March.
Hornets coach Steve Clifford, currently out on medical leave, always makes low turnovers a top priority. Hornets center Dwight Howard is ninth in the NBA in turnovers at 3.27 per game, so him going without one Tuesday over 29 minutes is noteworthy.
Shooting
The Hornets are one of the NBA’s weaker shooting teams this season. However, Tuesday they made 15 of their 32 3-pointers and were 51-of-89 from the field overall.
Road improvement
The Hornets entered this game with a 3-13 record away from Charlotte. With 20 of 41 home games this season already played, any chance of significantly improving the final record demands improvement on the road.
They will finish this four-game West Coast road trip no worse than 2-2, with one game left against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center Friday (10:30 p.m.).
Batum
Batum missed the season’s first six weeks after tearing a ligament in his left elbow in the preseason. He has been inconsistent this season, which has drawn negative attention to the five-year, $120 million contract the Hornets signed him to two summers ago.
Batum scored 21 points Tuesday night, making eight of 12 shots from the field (3-of-5 from 3-point range). Batum isn’t a scorer first – his versatility as a passer, scorer and rebounder is his strength – but it’s important that he aggressively hunts for his shot the way he did in Sacramento.
Rough ride
In terms of quality opponents, the Hornets have played one of the 10 toughest schedules in the NBA this season. Seemingly, that means some giveback the second half of this season. However, they have burned up so many home games already, with 10 losses at Spectrum Center, that it might be too late to take advantage of what is left on this slate.
Bonnell: 704-358-5129; Twitter: @rick_bonnell
HORNETS 131, KINGS 111
Charlotte | Min | FG-A | FT-A | R | A | F | Pt |
Kidd-Gilchrist | 20:40 | 5-7 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
Williams | 19:16 | 3-5 | 2-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Howard | 29:07 | 9-13 | 2-5 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 20 |
Batum | 30:36 | 8-12 | 2-3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 21 |
Walker | 29:45 | 4-11 | 3-3 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 12 |
Kaminsky | 24:39 | 4-8 | 2-2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
Lamb | 23:15 | 6-11 | 1-1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 16 |
O’Bryant III | 18:53 | 7-9 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 16 |
Graham | 16:18 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
Carter-Williams | 16:13 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Monk | 5:11 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Bacon | 4:05 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Stone | 2:02 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Totals | 240:00 | 51-89 | 14-18 | 30 | 25 | 14 | 131 |
Percentages: FG .573, FT .778. 3-Point Goals: 15-32, .469 (Batum 3-5, Lamb 3-5, Kaminsky 2-3, Williams 2-3, O’Bryant III 2-4, Graham 1-3, Monk 1-3, Walker 1-5, Carter-Williams 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: 3 (5 PTS). Blocked Shots: 3 (Carter-Williams, Howard, Williams). Turnovers: 3 (Kaminsky 2, Batum). Steals: 7 (Lamb 3, Walker 2, Graham, Howard).
Sacramento | Min | FG-A | FT-A | R | A | F | Pt |
Labissiere | 28:21 | 7-14 | 3-3 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
Temple | 22:04 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
Randolph | 25:08 | 11-18 | 2-2 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 24 |
Fox | 32:49 | 5-12 | 6-8 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 17 |
Hill | 28:14 | 4-7 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
Hield | 24:33 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
Bogdanovic | 23:38 | 5-8 | 1-1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 11 |
Cauley-Stein | 22:44 | 3-7 | 2-4 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
Koufos | 13:04 | 5-6 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Papagiannis | 6:43 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Richardson | 6:21 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Jackson | 6:21 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 240:00 | 45-87 | 14-18 | 47 | 22 | 19 | 111 |
Percentages: FG .517, FT .778. 3-Point Goals: 7-17, .412 (Hill 3-3, Hield 2-3, Temple 1-2, Fox 1-4, Bogdanovic 0-2, Randolph 0-3). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 15 (20 PTS). Blocked Shots: 2 (Cauley-Stein, Hill). Turnovers: 15 (Hill 4, Fox 3, Bogdanovic 2, Cauley-Stein 2, Labissiere 2, Hield, Randolph). Steals: 1 (Fox).
Charlotte | 32 | 40 | 28 | 31 | — | 131 |
Sacramento | 25 | 27 | 29 | 30 | — | 111 |
Att.—17,583 (17,608). T—1:56.
Officials—Zach Zarba, Nick Buchert, Tre Maddox
This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Five takeaways from Charlotte Hornets’ dominant road victory against Kings."