Kemba Struggles Mightily as the Charlotte Hornets Fall to the LA Clippers, 107-102
Kemba and the Charlotte Hornets’ struggles continue as they dropped yet another game, this time to the Los Angeles Clippers at home.
CharlotteHornets102
The Charlotte Hornets (24-30) were defeated by the Los Angeles Clippers (33-21) as they have now lost 15 of their last 20 games on the season. Not only are the Hornets struggling but Kemba Walker is also having his fair share of troubles. Nicolas Batum‘s near triple-double kept this one close but Blake Griffin led the Chris Paul-less Clips.
After missing seven games, Cody Zeller returned last game but re-aggravated his quad injury. He was absent from this one as he tries to recover from the nagging ailment. Ramon Sessions missed his fourth straight game as he will be out for a while after knee surgery.
Turning Point
The Hornets got off to a fast start as they held an 11-point lead in the first quarter. LA then went on a 21-8 run to take a 29-27 lead to end the first period. After that, the Clippers never relinquished their lead even though Charlotte tied the game a few times.
More from Swarm and Sting
Who Stepped Up
Nicolas Batum led the Hornets as he finished the game with a game-high 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Frank Kaminsky, who started in place for Cody Zeller, added 20 points, eight boards and five assists to his stat line. Marco Belinelli chipped in with 17 points off of the bench.
Jeremy Lamb scored 13 points with the second unit. Kemba Walker had one of his worst games of the season as he only scored 10 points on 4-18 shooting. He hasn’t played his best over the past week or so. He is desperately in need of some rest and the All-Star break couldn’t get here any faster.
The Clippers were led by Blake Griffin who scored 20 points to go along with 12 rebounds and eight assists. Jamal Crawford scored 22 off the bench while Austin Rivers had 18 points and five assists. Every player who saw minutes for Los Angeles scored in this one.
Play of the Game:
BIG JAM FROM FRANK!!! 💪 #LACatCHA #BuzzCity pic.twitter.com/OGqjAKCasY
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) February 12, 2017
Tweet of the Game:
Quick Stings
With the loss, the Hornets fell to 0-1 on the season against the Clippers. They will meet once more this season but the team from Buzz City have now lost 10 straight regular season games to LA dating back to the 2010-11 season. Charlotte has now lost nine of their last 10 games and there are absolutely no signs of that turning around.
In their next game, the Charlotte Hornets will host the Philadelphia 76ers who will be without Joel Embiid. It will be the third meeting between the two sides this season as they are set to face off for a total of four matches. This may be Kemba and company’s chance to finally get a momentum-building win.
