The Aporia · Hornets blown out by Hawks 128-81 in first game home without LaMelo Ball, booed by sellout crowd

Hornets blown out by Hawks 128-81 in first game home without LaMelo Ball, booed by sellout crowd

Read the original at Toronto Star ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Reed, S. (2026, October 24). Hornets blown out by Hawks 128-81 in first game home without LaMelo Ball, booed by sellout crowd. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/hornets-blown-out-by-hawks-128-81-in-first-game-home-without-lamelo-ball-booed-by-sellout-crowd/article_f7aa986c-c7ef-5fd1-b7b0-d3f3b43aae8e.html

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Quick Summary

The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Charlotte Hornets 128-81 in an exhibition game, marking the largest blowout victory in franchise history, surpassing their previous record of 46 points set against Sacramento in 2017. This game was the Hornets' first home match since trading away LaMelo Ball, with fans showing their discontent through loud booing during and after halftime as Charlotte struggled to keep up with Atlanta's scoring pace, leading to a significant deficit early on.

Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-24, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

On Friday night, the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Charlotte Hornets by a record-breaking score of 128-81, marking the largest blowout in franchise history. The previous biggest margin was a 46-point victory over Sacramento in 2017. Jalen Johnson led the Hawks with 19 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds, while Aaron Wiggins contributed 19 points off the bench. The Hornets struggled without their injured key players and faced significant fan disapproval during their first home game since trading away star point guard LaMelo Ball. A sellout crowd of 19,524 booed the team heavily at halftime as the Hawks built a substantial lead early in the game.

Written for “Hornets Loss Without LaMelo Ball” on 2026-10-24, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Why this leaning score

This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.

No political leaning scored for article 103427 · logged 2026-10-24

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

0 of 13 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

64/100

Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Sports

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-24 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 9419 article(s) · 25 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 25 correction(s)

2026-10-22

News Clarification for Oct. 22

2026-10-21

No. 6 Hoosiers try to for rare rebound at Michigan after turning the page on 22-game winning streak

2026-10-19

Driver’s License Suspensions for Court Debt Draw Scrutiny

2026-10-16

Amputations and cancer treatment delays: Lawmakers hear testimony on Mississippi prison healthcare

2026-10-16

UPDATE: Golconda Gold Releases Q3 2026 Production Update at Galaxy

2026-10-08

News Clarification for Oct. 8

2026-10-07

Correction

2026-10-05

Entertainment Correction for Oct. 5

2026-10-03

Tennessee's prisons chief is resigning after failed execution of Christa Pike

2026-09-28

Organizations call for Action to End the Deaths of Indigenous People in Custody

2026-09-27

Police memorial recognizes six officers killed in the line of duty in 2026

2026-09-27

UPDATE: WSP to host Power & Energy-focused investor event virtually only

2026-09-26

News Clarification for Sept. 27

2026-09-26

Former federal public servant seeks better pensions for injured workers

2026-09-25

News Corrections for Sept. 25

2026-09-25

She has not been charged. But the Project South allegations have branded her with a 'scarlet letter'

2026-09-24

Correction

2026-09-23

MULTIMEDIA UPDATE: Smith+Nephew launches the new EVOS™ PELVIC Plating System at the 2026 Orthopedic Trauma Association (OTA) Annual Meeting, expanding the EVOS Plating Platform for pelvic and acetabular fracture management

2026-09-22

Costa Rican man complained of lack of care for diabetes before his death in ICE custody, family says

2026-09-22

Judges' grilling of accused men leads to sex assault and dangerous driving cases being overturned

2026-09-20

Jura Energy Corporation Provides Clarification Regarding Media Reports Concerning Its Petroleum Rights in Pakistan

2026-09-19

New details emerge about Toronto's guns-for-hire and the 'crash-out mission" that sparked the Project South investigation

2026-09-17

UPDATE: Osisko Critical Minerals Corporation Announces C$100 Million Private Placement of Special Warrants

2026-09-17

Alabama set to execute man for pawn shop killings months after his nitrogen gas execution blocked

2026-09-04

Orca Corrects Q3 Quarterly Dividend Announcement

Who wrote this

Steve Reed

22 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 The Hornets played their second straight game without last season’s NBA rookie of the year runner-up Kon Knueppel (hamstring), starting point guard Coby White (calf) and reserve forward Grant Williams (hamstring).

2026-10-24 · assertive framing · Hornets blown out by Hawks 128-81 in first game home without LaMelo Ball, booed by sellout crowd

🔮 The Panthers could certainly use him with rookie right tackle Monroe Freeling dealing with a knee injury.

2026-10-14 · assertive framing · Panthers' Taylor Moton returns to practice after recovering from blood clots in his lung

🔮 Briscoe is expected to continue his “ultra aggressive” approach next week.

2026-10-12 · assertive framing · Back-to-back wins vault Chase Briscoe back into title contention, but is it too little, too late?

🔮 “I definitely didn’t think we would start off the Chase like this. ...

2026-10-10 · assertive framing · Streaking Kyle Larson looks to pad points lead at Charlotte as NASCAR playoffs reach midway point

🔮 But the idea of Young, who was benched two games into his second season in 2024, being an MVP candidate may not be far-fetched.

2026-10-05 · assertive framing · Could Bryce Young really be an MVP contender? Through 4 games, the numbers say yes

🔮 It’s the largest single gift in the School of Social Work’s history and will expand the reach and impact of the Global Social Development Innovations Center, according to a release Monday.

2026-10-05 · assertive framing · Michael Jordan makes $10 million commitment to UNC School of Social Work in honor of his mother

🔮 But a leaky defense could be what keeps coach Dan Campbell’s bunch from making some noise in the postseason if they’re unable to get things turned around over the final 13 games of the regular season.

2026-10-05 · assertive framing · Panthers torch secondary as Detroit defense falters again in 32-26 loss

🔮 Jameson Williams hauled in a 49-yard reception down the middle against an injury-depleted Carolina secondary that lost starting cornerback Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson to injuries last week.

2026-10-05 · assertive framing · Bryce Young and Tetairoa McMillan connect for 2 TDs to lead Panthers past Lions 32-26

🔮 But Reynolds and the offense couldn’t get on track.

2026-10-04 · assertive framing · Darian Mensah, Mark Fletcher Jr. lead unbeaten No. 4 Miami past Clemson 41-13

🔮 He is expected to start his fifth straight game against the Lions.

2026-10-03 · assertive framing · Panthers place wide receiver Xavier Legette on IR with knee injury

Also by Steve Reed

Panthers' Taylor Moton returns to practice after recovering from blood clots in his lung

2026-10-13 · Toronto Star

Back-to-back wins vault Chase Briscoe back into title contention, but is it too little, too late?

2026-10-12 · Toronto Star

Streaking Kyle Larson looks to pad points lead at Charlotte as NASCAR playoffs reach midway point

2026-10-10 · Toronto Star

Could Bryce Young really be an MVP contender? Through 4 games, the numbers say yes

2026-10-05 · Toronto Star

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 22 articles by Steve Reed →

Topics

Atlanta CHARLOTTE Hawks Hornets N.C.

Subjects

Hornets ORG · 5× Hawks ORG · 4× CHARLOTTE GPE · 3× Atlanta ORG · 2× Aaron Wiggins PERSON · 1× Jalen Johnson PERSON · 1× N.C. GPE · 1× Nickell Alexander-Walker PERSON · 1× Sacramento ORG · 1× the Charlotte Hornets ORG · 1×

Narrative

Coach Charles Lee said before the game he doesn’t have a timetable for their return Friday night, but did say all three players are making good progress in rehab and trending in the right direction. Up next Hawks: Host the Rockets on Saturday night. Hornets: Host Miami on Saturday night in a rematch of last year’s play-in tournament game. ___

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-24

2026-10-24 · Toronto Star

Hornets blown out by Hawks 128-81 in first game home without LaMelo Ball, booed by sellout crowd · assertive framing

Claims (13 extracted, 0 hedged)

Jalen Johnson had 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and Atlanta hammered the Charlotte Hornets 128-81 on Friday night in the Hawks’ largest blowout in franchise history. asserted

Atlanta → have → history

The 47-point victory topped the previous franchise mark of 46 set in a 126-80 win over Sacramento on Nov, 15, 2017. asserted

victory → top → Nov

Aaron Wiggins added 19 points off the bench on 7-of-9 shooting and all five Atlanta starters finished in double figures in scoring, including Nickell Alexander-Walker with 14 and C.J. McCollum with 13. asserted

starters → add → 13

Naz Reid led the Hornets with 17 points. asserted

Reid → lead → points

The Hornets did little to win fans over in their first home game since trading away star point guard LaMelo Ball, a widely unpopular decision in Charlotte. asserted

Hornets → do → Charlotte

The Hawks forced 14 turnovers in the first half alone, leading to 15 points on runouts and built a 25-point first-half lead. asserted

Hawks → force → lead

The Hornets were booed loudly as they walked off the floor at halftime by the sellout crowd of 19,524 that was expecting better from a team that won 44 games last season. asserted

that → boo → games

The boos grew louder as the Hawks put the pedal down in the third quarter and pulled away, pushing the lead to 49 in the fourth quarter. asserted

Hawks → grow → quarter

Charlotte’s Brandon Miller endured his second straight poor shooting night since signing a franchise-record five-year, $209 million contact extension earlier this week. asserted

Miller → endure → extension

He finished with six points on 1-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. asserted

He → finish → range

He is shooting 16% (4 of 25) from beyond the arc. asserted

He → shoot → arc

The Hornets played their second straight game without last season’s NBA rookie of the year runner-up Kon Knueppel (hamstring), starting point guard Coby White (calf) and reserve forward Grant Williams (hamstring). asserted

Hornets → play → up

Hornets → say → game