Brooklyn Nets: 3 things to watch in critical battle with Hornets

2. Hornets scuffling at wrong time

The Charlotte Hornets fell behind the Orlando Magic Thursday night in the Eastern Conference standings after the Magic knocked off the Golden State Warriors on the heels of three straight losses by the Hornets.

The Hornets are struggling with their bench play of late. Against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, the reserves coughed up a 12-point lead Charlotte had built by late in the third quarter.

It negated a night in which Charlotte held reigning MVP James Harden to 30 points on 10-of-29 shooting, as The Beard was just 1-for-11 from 3-point range.

It negated a night in which All-Star Kemba Walker scored 27 points in the first half, a night in which the Hornets erased a double-digit first-half deficit with a 26-4 run before intermission.

Coach James Barrego acknowledged the dropoff from the first unit to the second after the loss, per Brendan Marks of the Charlotte Observer.

"“You look at our statline — our starters vs. their starters — we won that game. Our starters won the game [Wednesday night], gave us a chance and I’ve just got to figure out what to do with the second unit.”"

Charlotte’s reserves scored 27 points — 18 of them from Jeremy Lamb, who played 32 minutes as opposed to the 23 by starting small forward Miles Bridges.

They were 8-for-25 from the floor, shot 2-for-9 from deep and had 19 rebounds, nine assists, a steal, two blocks and seven turnovers.

The Rockets got 27 points from its bench, but on 7-of-17 shooting, going 4-for-12 from long range with 10 boards, two assists, two steals, a block and just two turnovers.

Houston’s bench was limited when former Net Kenneth Faried had to leave with a sore left hip. He played just eight minutes in Charlotte — he’s averaging 27.9 minutes since signing with the Rockets on Jan. 21 — and did not play against the Miami Heat on Thursday.

Charlotte’s reserves shot even worse in Monday night’s loss to the Warriors, hitting 7-of-25. There is some dissent over Barrego’s assessment of his team as well, with forward Marvin Williams taking a different line.

"“You can’t sit here and say, ‘It was the bench,” or ‘It was the starters’ — sometimes we’ve been awful too, it’s part of a team. It goes back and forth every night. … We just have to lift each other up.”"

Borrego says he still needs to do more to help the offense with the second group.

"“Tried to move [Jeremy Lamb] to that group, which I think helps, but I’ve got to do a better job helping that second unit offensively. That’s on me.”"

For the season, Charlotte is seventh in the NBA in bench scoring at 42.2 points per game. Brooklyn — even with Spencer Dinwiddie sidelined for the last 14 games — is still second in the league at 47.5 points per game from its reserves.