The Charlotte Hornets dropped their fifth game in a row Wednesday night, losing at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets, who entered the matchup with a 1-6 record. Charlotte's main issues (turnovers, scoring and shooting) came to the forefront once more, as the Hornets lost 114-104. To add injury to insult, second-year forward Kon Knueppel was forced to leave his season debut after six minutes with a leg injury
.Naz Reid led the team in scoring, finishing with 28 points and nine rebounds on 11-for-18 shooting from the field. Grayson Allen finished with 22 points off the bench, 20 of which he scored in the first half. For Brooklyn, Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle combined to score 48 points, with rookie Mikel Brown Jr. chipping in 18 off the bench.
Prior to Charlotte's matchup Friday against the Boston Celtics, here are three things to take note of.
3. Struggles can't be blamed on just one player
Although the Hornets have a couple of players struggling when it comes to turnovers (Naz Reid and Dennis Schroder) and 3-point shooting (Sion James and Schroder), the blame should be spread out pretty evenly, except for maybe Grayson Allen, who's been the team's biggest bright spot early on. Wednesday night against the Nets, eight of 11 players in Charlotte's rotation committed multiple turnovers, including Knueppel, who only played six minutes. The same can be said for the Hornets' shooting struggles, as the majority of the team has struggled from long-distance. Charlotte shot 30% from deep on 40 attempts Wednesday against Brooklyn.
2. The Hornets may be in for a bigger step back than originally anticipated
While many expected the Hornets to have a slow start in large part due to injuries or take a step back altogether following the departure of LaMelo Ball, the future of the team appears much more bleak than anticipated. Currently on a five-game losing streak, Charlotte's struggles don't appear to be an overnight fix. With injuries and serviceable veterans who hold solid trade value, things could potentially get worse before they get better.
1. The Hornets can't do what they did best a season ago
The Charlotte Hornets haven't lost their identity; they just can't succeed at what made them so successful last year, which you could argue is even worse than losing your identity. Off to a horrendous start offensively to begin the season, the Hornets are faced with the decision of abandoning their 3-point-reliant offense that made them so dynamic a year ago. Currently, the Hornets are 28th in the NBA in 3-point percentage, despite ranking No. 3 in attempts. While they haven't had a large sample size when fully healthy, it may be a while until they are, with Knueppel going down in Wednesday's game. Is Charlotte's current personnel flexible enough for a change in play style? Or will the Hornets become sellers way sooner than ever anticipated?
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This article originally appeared on Rookie Wire: 3 things from Charlotte's 114-104 defeat to Brooklyn
