Hornets' Play-In Loss: LaMelo's Late Surge Not Enough

On April 18th, the Charlotte Hornet season ended in a rough plan lost to the Orlando Magic,

121 to 90, or Orlando jumped out to a massive 68-37 halftime lead, the biggest ever in

planned tournament history, and never let up.

Early on, the Hornets got pushed around, shooting just 33.7% from the field and coughing

up 20 turnovers that fueled, Orlando's run.

The Magic owned the paint 64-28 and grabbed 49 rebounds to Charlotte's 34, controlling

every bounce.

Lamello Ball owned up to it after the game, saying he should have grabbed the reins from

the start instead of sticking to structure plays.

He felt the team waited too long to switch gears, and by then, it was game over.

Ball dropped 23 points, but 21 came in the third quarter when the deficit was already

huge.

That late surge showed what Charlotte could have been, but it just wasn't enough.

This lost things for a young Hornet squad looking to build, setting the stage for an

offseason of tweaks under Coach Charles Lee.

From your team, powered by AI, this is Charlotte Hornet's News Today.

I'm Corey with The Story.