The Charlotte Hornets let a previously inept Magic offense erupt for 123 points and couldn’t keep pace in their second straight loss.
The Summary
The Magic came into the came the worst jump shooting team both in terms of volume and efficiency. They took few jumpers and made even fewer. So naturally they came out looking like a stereotypical pace and space team. They hit nine first half threes. To make matters worse, the Hornets couldn’t keep them out of the paint, which made for an absurdly efficient 71 first half points. The Hornets offense wasn’t able to keep pace, especially with slow starts from LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, and they fell behind by a pretty considerable margin pretty quickly. They were able to claw back a bit thanks in part to a huge offensive first half from Ryan Kalkbrenner.
The Magic jumpers regressed to the mean in the third quarter aided in part by some increased defensive intensity from the home team. The Hornets charged all the way back to within a possession after trailing by double figures for most of the game but couldn’t get over that hump. The offense went cold from the late third into the early parts of the fourth as the Magic reestablished their double digit lead and grew it to its largest point of the evening. A couple Hornets threes made the game mildly interesting for a second, but the Magic responded with a run to put the game away early.
The Good
Ryan Kalkbrenner has been such been a good find on the offensive side of the floor. He scored a career high 17 points. He’s not the smoothest finisher, but the ball always goes in after it leaves his hands. He’s up to 27-of-30 shooting from the field. That’s pretty good.
LaMelo Ball had a rough shooting game from deep, but it still felt like he played a mostly good game. He dished out 13 assists and was the most reliable Hornet in terms of generating offense and getting the Magic defense to scramble. He was money with his floaters and showed little bits of a player that’s gotten stronger and more comfortable dealing with contact.
Collin Sexton had another good game and along with LaMelo helped the Hornets make it a game again in the third quarter.
I really like how quickly and aggressively Liam McNeeley attacks after he catches a pass on the perimeter. All of his assists were from getting into the paint via attacking a closeout and dishing to open teammates.
Sion James got the start and has so significantly outplayed his draft position and expectations coming into the season. The stat line was modest, but his tenacity and physicality are apparent whenever he’s on the floor, and he’s been knocking down shots at a better rate than expected. This rookie class is shaping up to be an all timer for this franchise.
The Bad
Miles Bridges had a rough outing. He’s had a few rough starts but has generally found a way to put it together by the end of the game. That didn’t happen last night. He made a couple of fourth quarter threes to help the stat line, but his play over the course of the game was pretty shaky. He missed a couple of dunks and had some really sloppy turnovers and lost balls in traffic.
Kon Knueppel was completely invisible. It was his first not-good game as a pro, so it’s not anything to worry about, but it was a bump in the road. He’ll learn to keep asserting himself even when the game isn’t going his way.
Keeping with the rookies, it’s no surprise, but Kalkbrenner and Knueppel both need to get stronger with the ball. They combined for seven turnovers, and most if not all of them were the duo losing the ball to defensive pressure. It’s been a bit of an issue all season, but it was extra apparent in a game where the Hornets were struggling with some sticky offense.
The Hornets as a team turned the ball over 21 times and conceded 29 points off those turnovers. A lot of them were turnovers of the live ball variety and they did not do a great job getting back and stopping the ball. The Magic had a whole lot of relatively uncontested fast break layups.
In that same vein, the Magic had a good gameplan to blow up the Hornets offense, and the Hornets didn’t handle it well. They denied quick passes on the perimeter and overplayed the dribble handoffs the Hornets use to initiate so much of their offense. It resulted in a lot of possessions with Hornets bigs or secondary ball handlers holding the ball for several seconds and being forced to bail out to lob pass away from the basket to reset the offense. That made for a lot of late shot clock possessions and is a big reason why the Hornets posted a pretty poor assist total outside of LaMelo Ball.
Today’s nit to pick. I absolutely cannot stand it when a player or team simultaneously initiate a lot of contact and then dramatize any contact they receive in return. The Magic are very physical on defense, but Franz Wagner is also apparently like 125 pounds whenever an offensive player nudges him away from the ball.
What’s Next
The Hornets stay home to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday with a slightly earlier start.