Hornets Make Costly Late Mistakes, OKC Survives At The Buzzer

What could have been one of the more thrilling seasonal victories for the Charlotte Hornets was right there for the taking in crunch time on Sunday evening at Spectrum Center. But a few-too-many pivotal mistakes in the final few minutes ended up being the difference in a tough 121-118 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Though out of the playoff picture for quite some time now, Charlotte had a chance to disrupt the postseason seeding for the second consecutive game following Friday’s home win over Orlando. It wasn’t meant to be though, despite having an octet of players score in double figures for the first time since Jan. 19, 2019, against Phoenix, according to Basketball Reference.  

Even with Nick Richards back from a three-game absence, the Hornets stuck with Grant Williams as their starting center against Oklahoma City’s seven-foot floor-spacing rookie Chet Holmgren. Charlotte shot 55% in the first half but committed nine turnovers for 15 points the other way to enter halftime trailing, 65-55. Down 14 early in the third, the Hornets would close the frame on a 9-0 run to make it a one-point Thunder advantage heading into the fourth.

Falling back by seven again with seven minutes to go, Charlotte pieced together a 13-4 stretch to take a 111-107 lead. Just when it felt like everything was going the Hornets’ way, the slipups started. Josh Giddey poked away a defensive rebound from Miles Bridges, leading to a second-chance 3-pointer for Aaron Wiggins. Two possessions later, a Vasilije Micić turnover led into a go-ahead transition 3-pointer for Isaiah Joe. Then, with the game tied at the 1:07 mark, Tre Mann wrangled a late steal, only to give the ball right back to Oklahoma City, which capitalized on the free possession thanks to another Joe 3-pointer. Both sides swapped points over the final 60 seconds, which ended with a wayward 3-point attempt at the buzzer from Brandon Miller.

“We gave up the fast-break 3-pointer off the turnover, which obviously you can’t do late,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford afterwards. “I think we gave up nine points on offensive rebounds in the last, like, seven-and-a-half minutes of the game. I thought that we had better defensive possessions particularly in the third quarter, but we got some stops there in the fourth. We’ve got to get the ball… which to me, that’s the game.”

Charlotte finished with 18 turnovers for 27 Oklahoma City points and allowed 10 total offensive rebounds for 18 second-chance points. Williams scored a team-high 19 points, while Mann had 18 on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting and six assists, becoming the second NBA player this season to notch a 15-5 game on 100/100/100 efficiency. Micić totaled 17 points and 10 assists for his fourth career double-double and third in six appearances and fellow Serbian Aleksej Pokuševski also established new season highs for points (14) and rebounds (9).

Playing without its two leading scorers in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, the Thunder snapped a season-long three-game losing streak and swept a full season series with Charlotte for the first time since 2018-19. Wiggins tallied a season-high 26 points, Josh Giddey recorded his 11^th career triple-double (20 points, 13 rebounds, season-high 12 assists) and Holmgren posted 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.

The Hornets will close out their longest homestand in franchise history against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, April 9 beginning at 7 PM ET. Follow all the action on Bally Sports Southeast and WFNZ 92.7 FM.