Hornets delayed by train, trucked by Hawks in play-in game blowout

The Charlotte Hornets were salty after a stalled train forced them to walk from their bus to Wednesday's play-in game against the Atlanta Hawks.

The perceived slight wasn't sufficiently motivating.

The Hawks rode a dominant third quarter to a 132-103 blowout win to eliminate the Hornets and advance to Friday's play-in game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The winner of that game earns the No. 8 seed and a date with the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The loser joins the Hornets in the offseason.

Pregame train melodrama

Prior to the game, a train blocked the Hornets bus from accessing State Farm Arena. So they got out and walked the rest of the way. Check out Montrezl Harrell's Instagram story:

"This is one for the books right here," Harrell said. "I ain't never seen this. Pregame? NBA, we got to do better than this."

It's not clear how far they had to walk. But it wasn't just Hornets players who were irked. Head coach James Borrego was too. And he didn't rule out shenanigans from the home team ahead of an elimination game.

"In my 20 years, I've never seen that train stop," Borrego told reporters pregame. "Never seen that. I've been coming to this arena for 20 years, have never seen a train stop before the game.

"Our guys noticed, though. Our guys noticed. It's good fuel. It's good fuel for us."

It wasn't good enough.

Hawks run roughshod

The Hawks controlled the game from the opening tip en route to a 32-23 first-quarter lead and 60-52 edge at halftime. But the third quarter is when they put the clamps down. Atlanta outscored the Hornets 42-24 in the third while frustrating the league's fourth-highest scoring offense en route to the 29-point victory.

Trae Young led the way as one of six Hawks in double figures with 24 points and 11 assists. Clint Capela controlled the post with 15 points and 17 rebounds. As a team, the Hawks shot 52.1% from the field and 50% (16 of 32) from 3-point distance despite Young's 1-of-7 effort from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, they held the Hornets to 37.8% shooting and more than 12 points below their regular-season scoring average of 115.3 points per game. LaMelo Ball's team-best 26 points and seven assists didn't keep the Hornets anywhere close to their Southeast Division rivals.

Bridges ejected, throws mouthpiece into stands

It was a frustrating end to a promising season for the Hornets that saw Miles Bridges lose his cool and throw his mouthpiece into the stands toward Hawks fans after a fourth-quarter ejection for technical fouls.

He owned his actions and asked for help contacting the fan he hit with the mouthpiece after the game.

The Hornets entered the play-in round with promise having finished the regular season on an 11-4 run. Their effort when they got there couldn't have been much worse.