CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Isaiah Wong didn’t learn from his teammates’ mistakes. With eight minutes remaining and the Hornets mounting a comeback, he attacked Nuggets big man Zeke Nnaji on a switch. Both players turned 24 last month, and both are reserves for their respective teams, in and out of the rotation. Mostly out, in Nnaji’s case.
Maybe that puts them on a level playing field on paper, but what Wong seemingly failed to recognize as he drove to the basket was that Nnaji had already flashed his defensive potential against a more established player throughout the game.