The NBA highlighted its marquee teams over a five-game Christmas television slate on Wednesday.
Not among those teams were the Washington Wizards or the Charlotte Hornets, who have 11 wins between them. Instead, the bottom two teams in the Southeast Division will meet Thursday night in Washington.
Charlotte has lost five straight and 13 of 14 after a 114-101 loss to the visiting Houston Rockets on Monday. Washington has lost five of six, the latest being a 123-105 drubbing Monday at Oklahoma City. However, the four-win Wizards have actually split their past four home games, while Charlotte is 2-11 on the road this season.
Against Houston, Charlotte shot 1-for-11 from 3-point range while scoring 15 points in the first quarter. When they trailed 62-31 at halftime, they departed the court to boos from the home crowd. The Hornets fell behind by as many as 34 points early in the third quarter before Houston took its foot off the gas.
Miles Bridges scored 24 points with eight rebounds and LaMelo Ball added 23 points and eight assists for the Hornets. Mark Williams chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds.
“We didn’t do anything. We didn’t communicate, we weren’t physical,” Bridges said. “That’s not Hornets basketball. It starts with the physicality, communication. … We’ve just got to be better defensively.”
The Hornets began the season 4-5 but have managed only three wins since, and their latest loss resulted in a players-only meeting.
“I think them (forwards Bridges and Taj Gibson) talking to us, I think they both said what everybody is thinking,” Williams said. “I think it just starts with us. We’ve got to be tougher, got to play harder. Just do all the things it takes to win. Just got to have some pride out there. I think we just lacked that tonight.”
The undermanned Wizards, meanwhile, stayed close in Oklahoma City before the Thunder pulled away late. Washington was missing double-digit scorers Bilal Coulibaly (groin), Alex Sarr (back) and Kyle Kuzma (ribs) due to injury, and lost Marvin Bagley III to a knee injury during the game.
Washington made 16 of its first 32 3-point attempts but then missed its last 11 as Oklahoma City, a 20-plus point favorite, pulled away by outscoring the visitors 32-18 in the final quarter.
“They just made that little run. … I thought we ran out of a little gas during that stretch,” Wizards coach Brian Keefe said. “But our guys battled. Our guys played a terrific game.”
Jordan Poole scored 31 points, including 5-of-12 from 3-point range in his fourth 30-plus point game this season.
“That’s what Jordan does,” Keefe said. “He’s our primary scorer. He draws so much attention. It wasn’t just his scoring. It was his drawing — they had to put two (defenders) on him. That allowed us to get open threes for other guys. I thought he played a terrific game tonight. Not just for himself, he got other guys going.”
Carlton Carrington added 14 points (including 4 of 8 from beyond the arc) and Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds for Washington. It was his eighth double-double of the season.
On the negative side, 19 Wizards turnovers led to 24 points for the Thunder.