What the Hornets said about being eliminated from in-season tournament without Ball

Go ahead and cancel those Las Vegas reservations.

Minus their star point guard for the first time this season, which is something the Charlotte Hornets will have to get used to again given the uncertain timetable for LaMelo Ball’s return from an ankle injury, the Hornets struggled to hang with the New York Knicks Tuesday night. The Hornets couldn’t overcome sporadic offense and unflattering defense, getting bounced from the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament after a 115-91 loss to the Knicks in East Group B play at Madison Square Garden.

So, there won’t be any knockout round action for the Hornets (5-11, 1-3 Group B) next week.

“It would have been great,” coach Steve Clifford said. “It’s a great idea. You are taking the best players in the world, you are playing single elimination. I think people will like it. So, I would have been fun to be part of it.”

Even if that meant keeping his starting unit in when the game was already out to hand to run the score up, just as the Knicks and Milwaukee did to the Hornets in their respective outings because point differential is one of the key tiebreakers. Consider it a competitive quirk that added more intrigue to the tournament’s final day.

“I don’t know how else you could do it, though,” Clifford said. “They are so thorough, the league. I mean, that’s what they do in European soccer, too. It’s the same thing. I don’t know what the other answer would be. You don’t want to play an extra game, obviously. So, I think that’s probably the only answer they have.”

Here’s what else of note the Hornets had to say Tuesday:

On LaMelo Ball missing his first game this season with an injury

“Like I told them this morning,” Clifford said. “We have yet to have our full team for these two years, it feels like. Not even practice. And when we do, I feel like we can be a really good team.”

Beside being without Ball, center Nick Richards was out.

“It’s crushing,” Clifford said. “There’s only five guys in basketball and you lose one guy … playing without Nick Richards is a big deal. If you have a team where you can play different guys off the bench every game, that probably means you have like two, three superstars at the top of it. Like most normal teams, we have enough talent. But we have to have everybody play well and we can’t get hurt when we sub. So, of course losing him, losing Nick, it’s a big factor.”

“Listen, there’s definitely a part of it that (stinks). But you have to think that eventually here, things are going to turn because you can’t control injuries. But it’s also hard to believe that we can continue to have the type of luck that we’ve been having, because these aren’t like pulled muscles. We’ve had some pretty significant injuries.”

He added: “You just have to hope that hopefully it won’t be a significant amount of time, and that he doesn’t get out of rhythm and he can come back and pick up where he left off.”

Miles Bridges said: “It’s definitely the last thing we wanted — for him to get hurt, especially the way he was playing. But I’m just trying to keep him in good spirits, making sure he’s good. I want him healthy first of all, but we want to get him back as fast as we can.

“We’ve got to get (James Bouknight) back, Nick (Richards) back. Once we get them back, I feel like we are one of the best teams in the NBA. We’ve just got to get everybody back at least and have a chance, you know?”

Terry Rozier said: “Obviously, it’s tough seeing my brother and our star player Melo go down. It’s kind of been our season for the last two years. And it’s something that we can’t control, being super healthy. But I’m just happy to be back with the guys and hopefully we will have everybody back real soon.”

“It’s devastating, but nobody else cares if you are not around,” Rozier said. “We still have to play thes 82 games, no excuses. Like I said, nobody else cares. So, we’ve got to pick and do what we can, and win with what we’ve got until we get everyday back healthy. And then once we get everybody back healthy, we know what we are capable of.”

On what happened offensively against the Knicks

“A bunch of things,” Mark Williams said. “There were times we got stagnant. There were times we just missed open ones and there were times with stuff we just didn’t convert on. Execution wasn’t there as it should have been. Sometimes it was stagnant possessions, I would say.”

“When we were more willing to move the ball to the second side, third side ... keep the ball moving, and not try to play one-on-one — and that’s how our team has been most of the year — we created open shots and we all have got to play the same game. We’ve got to understand when we are good, when we are not. And then we’ve got to stay with it. So hopefully that’s something we can learn from.”

“We are just not organized,” Clifford added. “The Knicks are as organized as any team in the league. They have a way to play, they play that way. They don’t give possessions away and that’s what we’ve got to get to. We started the game poorly because of that and that’s what I mentioned to them after the game. The majority of the stuff you learn, it will start in about 40 minutes here when everyone starts watching the film. But we’ve got to be more organized.”

On Brandon Miller

“He showed a lot of toughness at halftime,” Clifford said. “We were thinking about not playing him and he said, ‘Tape it up.’ So, he’s a really good competitor and he shot the ball well.”

Miller said: “Injuries are going to happen — that’s just the game of basketball. But we’ve got a long season, but just rest up and get 100 percent.”

Clifford added: “When Terry’s been out, Brandon was guarding the other team’s best perimeter player.

So, he has size, he has instincts. He competes very naturally. He has a defensive mindset. He played in a defensive program at Alabama. He competes very naturally, whether it’s in practice or playing 3-on-3 or wherever it is.

“The pick-and-roll part is the big one. You get to the NBA, it’s not a coaching thing. It’s just the players are better. You’ve got to read things quicker, the ball-handlers are better, the rollers are quicker, they flare. And so that part is hard to me. That’s the hardest part in my opinion. For any young player. And he’s actually picked that up pretty quickly, too.”