The Charlotte Hornets beat the Lakers on Friday and set a franchise scoring record on national TV. But they couldn’t follow through against the Clippers on Sunday.
That franchise record-breaker happened earlier in the week, on Wednesday, with a 158-126 win over the Pacers.
“It was amazing,” The Charlotte Observer’s Langston Wertz Jr. told WFAE’s Gwendolyn Glenn on this week’s installment of Time Out for Sports. “... It was a wild second half. That sounds like a full college game. Miles Bridges had 22 points in 28 minutes. LaMelo (Ball) had 29, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, a good old triple-double in 38 minutes. And Kelly Oubre … 39 points, 5 rebounds in 35 minutes. And ‘scary’ Terry Rozier had 20. It was just a crazy win — crazy point total.”
Clear the lane for SKY MILES ✈️@MilesBridges | @HornetsOnBally pic.twitter.com/8C9MA8CK7O
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) January 29, 2022
Of course, then came the weekend, when Charlotte beat one Los Angeles team before falling to another. The Hornets beat the Lakers 117-114 but came up short against the Clippers, losing 115-90.
“You’re not going to win every game, Gwen, and you’re going to have some letdowns,” Wertz said. “The win over the Lakers, especially, was big. You had a packed gym, ESPN was here. The stars came out. DaBaby was there at the game, had a little altercation with a fan and one of the Lakers players. But I think America got to see what Charlotte can offer: a young team that’s exciting.
"(The Hornets) had a big lead. (The Lakers’) Russell Westbrook brought them back, but it was a great win for Charlotte on national television… It felt like the Charlotte Hornets of old and gave America a chance to see what we have — and hopefully, they’ll put us on national television even more.”
The Hornets have the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat coming up this week.
You can listen to the full Time Out for Sports conversation above. Here’s a quick look at what else Glenn and Wertz covered this week.
- There’s a preview of the Senior Bowl on Saturday and why the Carolina Panthers are focusing on it.
- There’s a recap of the Panthers’ recent coaching hires.
- There’s some speculation about who wins the Super Bowl.
- Two North Carolina golfers — Duke’s Gina Kim and Wake Forest’s Aksay Bhatia — are going pro.
- UNC Chapel Hill honored former Tar Heels men’s basketball coach Roy Williams — and beat NC State in the process.
- There’s a preview of the UNC-Duke men’s basketball game on Saturday.
- There’s a recap of the Davidson Wildcats ending a 15-game winning streak with a loss to Virginia Commonwealth last week but bouncing back against La Salle.
