Recap/Analysis: Hornets hold off Raptors – At The Hive

Tre Mann and Cody Martin combined for 52 points off the bench as the Charlotte Hornets held off the Toronto Raptors for a 138-133 win.

The Summary

The Hornets needed to start fast, so they scored the first nine points of the game. The Raptors took a timeout, and it completely broke the Hornets momentum. They scored two points in the next four-and-a-half minutes. Cody Martin and Tre Mann helped fix that by spurring a 13-0 run that put the Hornets up double figures after one despite LaMelo Ball not scoring a point.

The Hornets superstar got going in the second quarter and scored points in bunches of threes. The Hornets led by as many as 23 but went ice cold after Ball and Josh Green went to the bench. The Raptors scored 14 straight points to keep the Hornets within reach. In all, the Hornets let the Raptors score 43 points in the second quarter alone and only led by five at the half.

The defense did not get better in the early parts of the second half. At one point, the Raptors had a stretch where they made 25 out of 33 shots. Despite continuing to score the ball well, the Hornets couldn’t create any separation and eventually lost the lead to the Raptors at the midway point of the quarter. They hung around and used a 12-0 run to close the quarter and reclaim their lead.

The teams continued going shot for shot well into the fourth quarter. Cody Martin did a bulk of the scoring for the Hornets, as per usual. The Hornets made a few attempts to pull away, but the Raptors wouldn’t let it happen. RJ Barrett hit a few tough shots down the stretch to keep the Hornets from putting it on ice, but the Hornets held off long enough to make it a free throw contest. They converted at the line to keep the Raptors from ever threatening at the 11th hour.

The Good

Cody Martin had the best offensive game we’ve seen from him. He scored a career high 25 points and hit four 3-pointers. But it’s more than just the point total; it was the way he got the points. He hit a couple of pull-up midrange jumpers, and a couple of his threes were quick shots with a hand in his face.

His backcourt-mate off the bench had a huge game as well. Tre Mann scored 27 points and looked like the problem he was in the preseason once again. He hit a few timely threes and was all over the place on the offensive end on the floor. When he was on the court, most of the offense ran through him. He’s now averaging over 20 points per game on the season.

Nick Richards had one of, if not his best game as a Hornet as well. He finished with 24 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, and four blocks. He was all over the offensive glass and punished the Raptors on that end of the floor. You’d maybe not like to see Jakob Poeltl put up such a similar stat line on the other end, but that’s picking nits.

Josh Green played limited minutes, but he showed why he’s a seamless fit with this team. He hit 3-of-4 3-point attempts and made several high effort and high IQ plays.

Grant Williams scored a rather quiet 17 points off the bench. He’s been a knockdown outside shooter so far this season.

The Bad

He had a decent game overall, but LaMelo Ball had a few very reckless shots. You take the good with the bad I suppose.

Miles Bridges had his second game this season where he just wasn’t at the races. The only time he was really noticeable was during a second quarter stretch where he forced a few bad shots up in rapid succession. He only played 24 minutes, so the staff must not have been too keen on what they were seeing given how well some of the bench players were playing.

The Hornets let a shorthanded Raptors team shoot 57% from the field. Some of that was tough shot making that wouldn’t be sustainable over a larger sample size, but a lot of it was the Hornets just letting the Raptors by too easy. A lot of guys got beat too easily on the perimeter and there just wasn’t enough help at the rim to make up for it. You should typically win pretty comfortably if you win the 3-point battle 20-9.

What’s Next

The Hornets hang out in Charlotte before hosting the Celtics on back to back nights Friday and Saturday.