Brandon Miller had his best game of the season to lead the Charlotte Hornets to an NBA Cup win over the Bulls.
The summary
The Bulls play some of the fastest basketball in the league, and the Hornets happily obliged with that pace. Both teams repeatedly attacked the basket early in the shot clock, and neither offered much resistance. There were a few exceptions, but the Hornets played a much better brand of basketball than they had been in the last week or two. The ball moved, players moved, and shots were well selected. The Hornets went on a couple of runs at different points in the second quarter to build a decent lead. The Bulls cut into it a bit, but the Hornets still led by five at the half.
Brandon Miller came out of halftime firing and scored a quick seven points as the Hornets added to their lead. A little bit of cold shooting and some Hornets turnovers let the Bulls get all that back and then some as they took the lead over late in the third. Coby White exploded for 14 points in the quarter with most coming at the rim. Miller hit one more three late for his own 14 point quarter to bring the Hornets within one heading into the fourth.
LaMelo found Miles Bridges on the baseline for a dunk to open the fourth quarter. That got him going, and he pulled the Hornets back on top with a quick seven points. A couple of Sexton “putbacks” after “offensive rebounds” (one was actually just tipped in by a Bull when Sexton was nearby) extended the lead to double figures. A cold spell let the Bulls cut into some of that lead. Bridges broke the seal with a little jump hook, then a Ryan Kalkbrenner blocked a shot that led to a Brandon Miller fast break dunk to effectively put the game out reach.
The good
Brandon Miller is so, so good. His outside shot seems to be coming around, and he’s playing with an elevated sense of confidence that’s made him a much better player inside the arc. And he chipped in three blocks on the defensive end, including a monstrous chase down block early in the game. We just need him to stay healthy so he can stay in rhythm and continue this trajectory.
Collin Sexton had one of his better games in recent weeks. He was more assertive getting all the way to the basket instead of shooting little floaters and push shots that he’s settled for more often lately. He mixed it up in the paint all game long and brought some dog that seemed to get the Hornets buzzing a bit.
Miles Bridges, like Sexton, played one of his better games of late. His stat lines have often turned out well, but he’s had a lot of games where it felt the process to get there and the impact didn’t match the box score. That wasn’t the case last night. He got the ball rolling on the fourth quarter run that ultimately put the Hornets up for good, and his overall decision making was good.
I thought LaMelo’s floor game was pretty good outside of the shooting. He had a steal in the back court and another steal where he ripped the ball away from Tre Jones. He’s just gotta get these shots to go down.
Ryan Kalkbrenner had two blocks on Coby White during the fourth quarter which were a huge factor in the Hornets hanging onto their lead when shots weren’t falling.
The Bad
LaMelo, please please please start making some shots. He was 6-of-19 from the field and 3-of-10 from three. He’s now shot at or below 30% from three in seven of his last eight games and sub-40% from the field in six of the last seven. He’s below 32% from the field in four of his last five. The Clippers game is the only combo breaker in any of these stat lines. It’s a truly remarkable spell of inefficiency. He’s shooting too many tough shots given how poorly he’s shooting, and his shot confidence seems off. He seems to reverted a bit to his early career shooting form where he has a tendency to kick his feet and shoot a little off balance when he doesn’t need to, and his shot is suffering because of it.
It’s been a couple of rough outings for Kon Knueppel. He even hit the side of the backboard on a corner 3-point attempt. Bust? The misses were all right there, so I’m sure they’ll start dropping again before long.
A fan got ejected for harassing Josh Giddey late in the fourth quarter. He was wearing white framed sunglasses while getting ejected to make matters worse. It’s not cool to harass professional athletes, kids. Don’t do it. The one good part of it was that he tried to hype the crowd as he was getting escorted out by security, but he got booed. Good job to the rest of the fans that did that.
What’s Next
The Hornets are right back at it at 6:00 tonight against the Raptors.