Preseason Recap

The Hornets winless preseason began in Boston on October 2nd. Everybody was available for this game, except Gordon Hayward, who was still dealing with a knee injury. This match-up against the Celtics, reigning eastern conference champions, was never close. The Celtics, who had very strong 2nd and 3rd quarters, cruised to an easy 41-point victory. LaMelo Ball got us going in the third quarter and finished with 14, 7 and 4, but Kelly Oubre, lead the Hornets in scoring looking solid all night.

The home opener against Indiana was another game dominated by the opposer in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. We wound up losing this one 122-97. Terry Rozier, who was our most consistent all preseason, looked great in this game with 18 points.

We then traveled to Greensboro to play against the Celtics again. The Hornets had their best quarter of the season in the first quarter of this game, outscoring the Celtics by 13 points. This game was a lot closer, while the Celtics, led by Jaylen Brown, sneaked out with only a 9-point victory.

The last two games were our two best-looking games. Gordon Hayward was back in the lineup and looked like the old Hayward, scoring from everywhere on the court, which was great to see. The worst part about the Wizards game was not that we lost again, but that we got news that LaMelo Ball sprained his ankle and would be out for the start of the season Without Ball and PJ Washington the preseason finale was mostly a Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward show. We kept it close but lost by 5.

It was definitely tough to see us winless starting the regular season but considering we didn’t see a fully healthy team in any of the games, there’s no need to worry.