The summary
The game started well.
Brandon Miller went on to take and make each of the Hornets next two shots as he made a big splash in his return from injury. It was a part of a scorching hot start from the Hornets as they built an early lead. That quickly evaporated as James Harden decided to start taking just about every shot and making just about all of them. He just iso’ed the Hornets and no one could stop him. He gave Charlotte when he finally sat out to start the second quarter. The Hornets couldn’t score in his absence, so they watched their deficit grow even more until they started getting some stops. Harden poured in a couple more buckets when he came back in, but the Hornets got a response from Kon Knueppel. He, Miles Bridges, and Collin Sexton scored all 27 Hornets in the second quarter as they went into the half down by five.
The Hornets slowly pulled even closer during a pretty clunky start to the second half, but they let up defensively and the Clippers go on a run. James Harden finally started missing some shots, but a now discombobulated Hornets defense kept losing track of his friends. The deficit grew to 20 early in the fourth after a three from old pal Nic Batum. It was part of a surge of deep Clippers threes from the top of the key, three of which game from Brook Lopez. The Hornets kept it close enough for James Harden to have to come back into the game, and he went ahead and went on more scoring outburst to get up to a Clippers record 55 and put the game away.
The Good
It was a little up and down, but it was very nice seeing Brandon Miller back on the floor. The 3-point shot didn’t come back with him, but he scored very well inside the arc and was engaged defensively. Assuming the three ball comes around, he looks every bit the part of a rising star.
Speaking of rising stars, Kon Knueppel is further solidifying himself as rookie of the year front runner. He got ultra aggressive in the second quarter and paid it off with 11 points. He led the Hornets in scoring for the third straight game and did so on only 12 shots. He made a couple of tough jumpers off the dribble and a crazy wrong-handed layup inside the arc. He’s creeping towards a 20 point-per-game season with 50/40/90 shooting splits.
He got into foul trouble, but I appreciated the defensive intensity that LaMelo Ball played with, especially early in the game. The fouls were more a product of him trying to be physical instead of cheap fouls due to a lack of discipline (except for one). He’s got it in him to be a good defender, he just needs to bring it every night.
The Bad
As is tradition for the Hornets, when a player returns from injury, another must be sacrificed. Since the player returning was Brandon Miller, the Hornets sacrificed two players to pay for his return. Ryan Kalkbrenner twisted his ankle in the second quarter and Pat Connaughton strained his calf somewhere in the first half. Both will likely be day-to-day or maybe week-to-week going forward.
This isn’t exclusively a Hornets a problem, but boy did they struggle to contain James Harden. He was able to beat just about every defender when left on an island. The Hornets tried to double him pretty early on, and that only served to break the defense down and leave open players scattered around the floor. I don’t really know a better solution. I guess you just chalk it up to a Hall of Famer Hall of Faming.
Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball went 3-of-17 from three. Both have been in and out of the lineup, so it’s not surprising their rhythm isn’t there. The Hornets need them to stay on the floor and start making their threes.
What’s Next
The Hornets play a rare back-to-back early start. They’ll head down 85 to Atlanta to take on the Hawks on Sunday.