The season that belonged to the Hornets was over.
In the play-offs, the Hornets lost 103-132 to the Hawks, and was eliminated, the Hornets fell behind 23-32 in the first quarter of this game, and the Hawks played a wave of 42-24 in the third quarter, and then the game gradually lost suspense, the Hornets fell behind the opponent by 33 points at most, which was completely hung up by the opponent.
Counting this year, the Hornets have been eliminated in the playoffs for two consecutive years - last year's playoff Hornets defeated the Pacers by 27 points 117-144, and it is worth mentioning that after last year's exit, they hung the score of that game in the team's training hall to motivate themselves, and this year, they lost 29 points.
Back in this game, the Hornets' three cores all played poorly:
— Three goals, 7-of-25, 26 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists
— Rozier, 8-of-22, had 21 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists
— Bridges, 5-of-11, had 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists
The Hornets and the Hawks are both offensive and defensive teams, and the Hawks' all-team shooting rate and three-point shooting rate reached 52.1%/50.0% in this game, and the Hornets only had 37.8%/31.7%, so it is no wonder that they were hanged.
In addition to the loss, the Hornets had an unpleasant scene in the final moments of the game, when the game went through the fourth quarter, and in a quick attack counterattack by the Eagles, Bridges defended Hunter and was fouled, Bridges roared at the referee for this decision, and then received two consecutive technical fouls and was expelled.
Before leaving, Bridges was very emotional, many times wanted to find the referee theory, when walking to the players' tunnel, there were Eagles home fans waving their hands to say goodbye to him, Bridges did not control the mood, directly threw the braces out to express his dissatisfaction.
Slow-motion footage showed bridges supposedly hit a young female fan, and after the game, he bluntly said in an interview that he was swayed by emotions and hoped that he could contact the woman to apologize, and then he wrote on social media: "Can someone help me contact this young woman?" That's unacceptable. ”
It's no wonder Bridges ended the season by losing big scores, being knocked out, and being expelled from the game in this way, but fortunately his apology is still very sincere and timely - that being said, the fine should not be avoided, and I hope not to add a ban.
Leaving this aside, looking back at Bridges' performance this year, he played really well.
Bridges has played a total of 80 games for the Hornets this season, averaging 20.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, shooting 49.1%/33.1%/80.2% from three fields and shooting 59.3% from the field.
For comparison, Bridges played in 66 games for the Hornets last season, 47 off the bench, averaging 12.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, with a true shooting percentage of 64.5%.
As you can see, Bridges has made tremendous progress this year, he is also considered the top three candidates for the fastest improving player this year, in addition to the statistical improvement, his influence on the game is also extraordinary:
— Bridges, Hornets offensive efficiency of 114.5, 2.1 points net win over opponents in 100 rounds
— Bridges is not there, the Hornets offensive efficiency is 106.9, and the net loss of 100 rounds is 4.1 points
There is no doubt that Bridges, like the three-goal, is regarded as the future of the Hornets, although he did not make the playoffs, but with his performance and potential throughout the year, Bridges can definitely get a good contract extension in the offseason - Bridges can sign a 5-year 170 million maximum salary this summer, to be honest, the maximum salary is unlikely, but the 100 million yuan contract will definitely not run.
Finally, let's talk about wasps.
One statistic is that the Hornets have failed to win a playoff series for the 18th consecutive year after confirming their missing playoffs today, equaling the league's longest current record held by the Kings and Timberwolves.
The data is ugly and ugly, but the future of the Hornets is still OK, three goals and Bridges are the core of great potential, Rozier's scoring ability is not bad, as well as PJ Washington, Oubre and others, but unfortunately this kind of game-winning format, young people are still slightly naïve, next year, come again!