Anyone can have a hiccup, right?
That sounds like as good a rationale as any to the Charlotte Hornets, who had won eight of nine before falling in overtime at cellar-dwelling Houston on Saturday night in the opener of a four-game road trip.
Charlotte is eager to rebound on Monday as it visits the Chicago Bulls, losers of three of four.
“You’re going to have those moments,” Hornets coach James Borrego said. “But I love that this group continued to battle. Nobody gave in (Saturday), but we kept fighting, pushed it to overtime and had a chance to win it.”
Kelly Oubre Jr. missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with three seconds remaining in overtime. While Houston connected on 46.9 percent (23-of-49) of its 3-point attempts, the Hornets were 20-for-50 (40 percent) from long range — slightly better than their league-leading 37.7 mark.
“Run and gun. That’s who we are,” said Terry Rozier, who paced Charlotte with 31 points. “We’ve got a lot of players that can shoot. We’ve got a lot of players that can score. That’s just what it is.”
Trouble was, the Hornets felt they became too reliant on the status quo against the Rockets, who endured a 15-game losing streak early in the season.
Charlotte missed each of its seven attempts from long range in overtime.
“I thought we settled on a lot of (3s),” Miles Bridges said. “We could have got to the rim more and got fouled, got better shots. But we’ll do a better job on it. We’ll watch film. We’ll get better.”
LaMelo Ball registered a triple-double of 19 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for the Hornets. His brother, Lonzo, came four assists shy of matching the feat for Chicago in Saturday’s 107-104 home loss to the Miami Heat, contributing 11 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
DeMar DeRozan (28 points) and Alex Caruso (22) paced the Bulls, who were outscored 35-30 in the fourth quarter.
“That’s the type of style and physicality you’re going to see in the playoffs,” DeRozan said.
Chicago committed 23 turnovers against the Heat. The Bulls, who were idle Sunday after playing three games in four nights, remain unconcerned about their recent woes, feeling confident about a jelling lineup that recently welcomed the return of Nikola Vucevic, who was out for much of November while part of the NBA’s COVID-19 protocol.
“No worry at all. It happens,” DeRozan said. “It’s just a bad week. We have to take from it, understand it, and give us more of that passion to go out there that we can’t go out there and give up the next one.”
The Bulls hope to get Zach LaVine back on track. Slumping to 2-for-6 shooting in the first quarter, LaVine finished with 16 points. He is averaging 25.3 points, slightly off DeRozan’s team lead of 25.8.
Mason Plumlee, who is sidelined with a right calf strain, has missed the past two games for Charlotte.
Chicago has won three straight in the series.
