Hornets booed repeatedly in 47-point blowout home-opener loss to Hawks

Scott Fowler, The Charlotte Observer on Oct 23, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Booed off the court at halftime and handing out live-ball turnovers like they were free lollipops at the bank, the Charlotte Hornets got crushed in their home opener, 128-81, by the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.

This was exactly the opposite of what the Hornets wanted. Playing a real game in Spectrum Center for the first time since trading away LaMelo Ball over the summer, this was Charlotte’s first chance since that controversial deal to show the home fans that the deal was a good one.

On Friday night, the very early returns weren’t good in front of a disgruntled sellout crowd of 19,524. Charlotte was down by 35 points after three quarters, and the entire fourth quarter amounted to garbage time.

The Hornets (1-1) had played far better with the same cast in their overall opener Wednesday night, on the road, when they beat Brooklyn. But that game was in New York and this one was in Charlotte’s backyard and, more importantly, against a far better opponent.

Atlanta won 46 games a year ago and then took two more in a first-round, best-of-7 series against the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks. The Hawks (2-0) are strong, balanced and devoid of superstars — playing basketball basically the way the Hornets want to play it this season. They had six players in double figures and no one with more than 19 points.

But with Charlotte backcourt starters Kon Knueppel (hamstring) and Coby White (calf) both out with injuries, as well as reserve forward Grant Williams (hamstring), this was a Hornets team that had all sorts of trouble even getting the ball to within 25 feet of the Atlanta basket.

The Hawks stripped Charlotte’s ball handlers over and over, resulting in 14 first-half turnovers that resulted in 15 points. Charlotte also turned the ball over on its first possession of the second half when Naz Reid (seven turnovers, but also a team-high 17 points) threw it away. Brandon Miller had an awful game shooting the ball, going 2 for 14.

By halftime, Atlanta led 68-43. A sizable contingent of the crowd booed as the Hornets left the court, and it was hard to blame them. This wasn’t what an opening night was supposed to be like. The boos rained down again after many of the Hornets’ turnovers, and there were 25 of them altogether.

Charlotte has many more chances to right its wrongs, of course, starting with home games Saturday and Monday. But Friday night pointed out some of the difficulties the Hornets have when they’re not shooting the 3-pointer well. They were 7 for 28 at halftime from deep, with only Reid and Grayson Allen effective from 3-point range. Miller, he of the $209 million contract extension earlier this week, started very cold and never stopped. He was 1 for 8 on 3s at halftime and ended up with one of the worst shooting nights of his career (2 for 14 overall, 1 for 11 from 3, six total points).

And yet the majority of the Hornets’ shots came from three-point range — this is a team that really never stops shooting them, for better or for worse. In this case — 11 for 51 for the game — it was very hard to watch.

Atlanta, meanwhile, got the ball into the paint far more often. Rather than relying on the vagaries of the three ball, the Hawks kept driving inside for layups and dunks and ended up outscoring Charlotte 54-34 in the paint.

If only the Hornets could have stopped the game after one possession apiece. They caused an Atlanta turnover and then got a Moussa Diabate dunk within the first 27 seconds.

After that, though, it was about all Atlanta. There was a massive cheer from the home crowd in the fourth quarter, though, when Atlanta’s Asa Newell missed two straight free throws, giving those still in attendance a digital coupon for eight free nuggets at Chick-fil-A.

Hornets vs. Hawks notes

Hip-hop artist Petey Pablo did the halftime show. … The Hornets placed a free T-shirt at every seat, which meant the T-shirt toss promotion was a little redundant (but they still held it — twice) … Miller was a startling minus-37 in plus-minus ratio for the game. … Miller has begun the season in arctic range on his 3-pointers — he was 3 for 14 in the first game and 1 for 11 in the second, for a two-game percentage of 16%. … Diabate only took two shots for the Hornets. They were both dunks, giving him eight dunks for the season. … Point guard Dennis Schroder had a tough night for Charlotte, shooting 1 for 5, with three assists and four turnovers in 20 minutes.