Sion James didn’t need the stat sheet to explain why the Charlotte Hornets walked out of Brooklyn with their fifth straight loss. He saw the same thing everyone else did: the game got sloppy, the ball stopped moving, and the mistakes piled up.
Charlotte fell 114-104 to the Nets on Wednesday night, and James was one of the few Hornets who kept his own house in order. In 30:46 off the bench, he finished with 10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals without a turnover of his own. He scored 7 of those points in a third quarter he played all the way through.
The bigger issue was what happened around him. The Hornets turned it over 17 times overall, and James pointed straight at the way the offense bogged down.
“We beat ourselves, so that never feels good,” James said. “We got away from doing things we were supposed to be doing.
We showed flashes of the way we’re supposed to play. So for us, it’s just about being more consistent with that.”
Charlotte looked sharper early, at least on the scoreboard. The Hornets put up 57 points in the first half, shooting 17 of 41 from the field and 9 of 25 from 3-point range. But after halftime, the offense cooled off hard: 14 of 36 overall and 3 of 15 from deep.
The Nets also turned Charlotte’s mistakes into momentum. Brooklyn scored 13 points off the Hornets’ seven second-half turnovers and added 12 fast-break points after the break, while Charlotte managed just 2 in transition in the second half.
That wasn’t the story in the opening quarter, though. The Hornets coughed it up nine times in the first, but Brooklyn only turned that into 4 points, and Charlotte still led 24-21 after one.
James made his presence felt late in that period with two steals 17 seconds apart. One led to two Naz Reid free throws.
On the next, James drew a foul and made one of two to help tie the game at 13.
He said the difference was the pace.
“The ball’s popping around, moving quickly,” James explained. “Guys are making quick decisions.
That’s what it looks like when it’s going well. Whether a shot’s going or not, sometimes the first half we’re getting great looks.
[They] weren’t going. It’s part of the game.”
“But things start to slow down and get a little - we just slow down too much on offense,” James continued. “We start turning the ball over in ways we’re not supposed to, and it’s just hard to play that way.”
Hornets coach Charles Lee said Charlotte had stretches where it was careless with the ball and also slipped defensively.
Coby White, back since Monday from a left calf strain, had 2 turnovers in 18:06. Brandon Miller had 3, including one on the final Charlotte possession of the third quarter with the game tied 80-80.
James’ role has grown in his second season. Charlotte drafted him 33rd overall out of Duke in 2025, and as a rookie he played in all 82 games, starting 19, while averaging 5.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 22.5 minutes.
This season, he had been starting in place of Kon Knueppel. Knueppel made his season debut Wednesday and started, but left with left leg soreness after 6:09 and did not return.
James checked in for him and handled the rest from there.
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Instead, Brooklyn took control after the break and kept applying pressure when Charlotte needed a steady response. Naz Reids 28 points and nine rebounds gave the Hornets a strong individual line to build around, but Michael Porter Jr. answered with 26 points and 10 rebounds for Brooklyn, and the late-game gap only reinforced the frustration around Charlottes inability to close. [Read more 🡒]
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Kevin OConnor flagged the Hornets poor shooting efficiency and bad body language as part of the bigger concern, and the issues have only been magnified by injuries to Kon Knueppel and Brandon Millers uneven play relative to his contract. For a team already trying to prove it can build around LaMelo Ball, the early slide makes every decision feel heavier, especially when the offense is this stagnant and the margin for error is already shrinking. [Read more 🡒]