Up 29 in the third quarter, Ja Morant wanted to run down the clock. The Charlotte Hornets were very accommodating.
A team has 24 seconds to shoot, and eight seconds to advance the ball past half court. But the clock doesn’t start for those until a player touches the ball. Morant saw no one was guarding him, and he let the ball bounce. It’s rare that you see a basketball simply come to a stop on the court, but that’s what happened in Charlotte.
Morant ran 27 seconds off the clock before Terry Rozier finally came down the court to guard him.
The 10-29 Hornets looked totally disinterested in the play. So did coach Steve Clifford, who stood there watching impassively. Maybe they all just wanted the game to end too?
It’s Charlotte’s worst start since 2012-13, a year where they finished 21-61. It’s also the worst start for a Clifford, who returned to the team who fired him in 2018. That year, Clifford was so stressed from coaching the Hornets that he missed 21 games dealing with sleep deprivation and health issues.
Rozier’s reward for finally running back to play defense was to get knocked down on a Steven Adams screen once he re-crossed half court – it looked like his teammates didn’t warn him about that either. Then after a 40-second possession, Rozier eventually fouled Morant on a drive.
Morant’s reward was that he got extra rest, and not just on that play – he also sat for the entire 4th quarter.
At this rate, Charlotte may be running out the clock on their season, and possibly Clifford’s coaching career.
