Only 13 points were scored after the Hornets brought the game to a 101-101 tie with 4:19 left.
Nine of them were scored by the Warriors, including six from second-year forward Jonathan Kuminga.
The Warriors coughed up an 18-point lead, but a closing lineup of Kuminga, Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Donte DiVincenzo and Draymond Green closed out the Charlotte Hornets.
On the final possession of the game, Kuminga bottled up point guard LaMelo Ball in transition, didn’t foul his 3-point attempt and secured the defensive rebound. Of all his dunks and impressive plays in a 6-for-6, 14-point, six rebound night, that display of smarts may have been the most impressive.
With a 110-105 win over the Hornets, the Warriors (17-18) improved to 14-2 in the Chase Center. This first game of a back-to-back is the second of an eight-game home stand in which Golden State can bank wins if they continue to dominate in San Francisco like they have so far.
Here are three takeaways from Golden State’s victory.
A Hornets offense stuck in the mud
Sometimes, it looked like Charlotte was playing NBA 2K My Player mode, and most Hornets on the court thought they were the main character.
So often, Charlotte possessions ended after one pass. They ended early in the shot clock, and often with a 3-point attempt (12 of Charlotte’s first 19 shots were 3s). And even when they swung the ball around, they typically did so without purpose, so drivers were still attacking a defense geared up in a shell.
The stylistic contrast between Charlotte and the Warriors was apparent for most of the night. The Warriors playing the brand they’ve harnessed over the past decade, the Hornets sludging along.
Charlotte has the 30th ranked offensive rating in the NBA. Both their ineffectiveness and lack of spice is shocking considering LaMelo Ball’s creativity and court vision.
In fairness to the Hornets, Ball has only played 10 games this year. Gordon Hayward has missed significant time. Terry Rozier has been banged up, too, and Miles Bridges is expected to serve a lengthy suspension once he signs a contract — with the Hornets or otherwise — when he returns from his domestic violence arrest.
But no team with options like Ball, Rozier, Hayward, and P.J. Washington should put together the worst offense in the league. There’s a ton of talent across the NBA, but not that much.
The Hornets finished with 22 assists on 38 made field goals (compared to 31 of GSW’s 41). They jacked 38 3-pointers and connected on just 26.3%, common for the least accurate outside shooting team in the league. One of their 3s came on an errant alley-oop lob that somehow went in.
A rough Wiseman stretch, but a promising Kuminga one
James Wiseman had an awesome dunk!
Then he played himself off the court. In a matter of seconds.
Wiseman’s two-handed slam off a nice Jonathan Kuminga dish gave the Warriors an 11-point lead.
Then Mark Williams, Wiseman’s man, dunked for the Hornets on the other end.
The next possession, he forced a 20-foot pull-up jumper. It was the shot Kevin Garnett made look easy for a decade. James Wiseman is not Kevin Garnett.
Off the rebound, the Hornets got the Warriors cross-matched. Wiseman lunged at a LaMelo Ball pump fake, taking him out of position. When he tried to scramble back to recover, he was too late and ended up goaltending Ball’s floater attempt, giving him an automatic and-1.
Wiseman promptly got subbed out there. After another Hornets bucket, GSW’s lead was four.
Jonathan Kuminga, though, while we’re on the Second Timeline beat, played crunch time in Kevon Lonoey’s spot. In the fourth quarter of a tied game, he savagely stripped P.J. Washington, skied for a defensive rebound and finished with a dunk in rapid succession. That burst showed the type of force Kuminga needs to play with.
Then Kuminga drained a floater through Hayward to put GSW up four. Draymond Green hyped him up on the bench during Charlotte’s subsequent timeout.
And lastly, the showstopper: off a ridiculous Jordan Poole spin, Kuminga finished another two-handed jam from the dunker spot to ice the Hornets away. It was a signature moment for the young forward.
Klay Thompson, working outside-in
Klay Thompson is one of the best 3-point shooters to ever touch a ball, but he’s at his best when he’s bending a defense from all over the court. He’s not just a 3-point specialist.
All six of Thompson’s first field goal attempts Tuesday came from deep, though. He just happened to have it going, sinking four of them.
Once he had it going from the outside, Charlotte defenders closed out on him even harder than they normally would. He got inside for a baseline jumper at the end of the first quarter which gave him 14 in the opening frame.
In the second, he snuck behind a clueless Hornets defense for a circus reverse layup.
Thompson was quiet in the third quarter, but found James Wiseman diving to the rim and nailed a 3 on consecutive possessions when Charlotte had cut Golden State’s lead to single digits.
Thompson finished with a game-high 29 points on 10-for-22 shooting.
