Down Lamelo Ball, the Hornets Found Perimeter Shooting from Kon Knueppel and Miles Bridges, as Well as a Renewed Defensive Focus.

What a difference a night makes. After collapsing in the second half, last night, against the Timberwolves, the Hornets needed to right the ship. They also needed to snap a three game losing streak.

That's exactly what they did tonight in a 126-103 win over the Utah Jazz. A game where they did not have Lamelo Ball due to a right ankle impingement. 

Charlotte had it going from three from the jump, as we've seen that they're capable of. The Hornets shot nearly 49 % overall and drained 18 threes, with eight different players cashing in from beyond the arc.

Defensively the Hornets were very sound, tonight. Much more than they have been the last few games, specifically in the second half. Kon Knueppel pointed out after the game that they put a strong emphasis on how many points a team scores per quarter.

Tonight that was on full display. Charlotte was able to hold Utah to 25 points in the first quarter, 23 in the second, 38 in the third, and the best was 17 points in the fourth quarter. Other than the third quarter where the Jazz opened up scoring a bit more, the Hornets were very consistently tight on Utah the rest of the time.

On a team that has shown a strong emphasis on the "youth movement" and playing rookies, nobody has been more of a beneficiary of that than Sion James. He continues to get more and more minutes, and showing more and more production on the floor. Tonight he finished with 15 points.

Tonight, James was also given the responsibility of guarding Lauri Markkanen for a large portion of the night. Markkanen finished the night with 29 points, but it's still shows the trust that Charles Lee and the coaching staff has grown to have in Sion James, as Lee expressed to the media after the game.

Even without Lamelo Ball on the floor tonight, and of course Brandon Miller, the Hornets found high powered offense from Miles Bridges finishing with 29 points and an additional 24 points from Kon Knueppel.

Tonight injected some real energy after three tough losses and showed that even without Lamelo Ball and Brandon Miller on the floor, when the Hornets move the ball, defend with energy, and hit threes, they’re still a scrappy, dangerous team.

Charlotte hits the road and heads down to New Orleans for a Tuesday night matchup with the Pelicans.