The Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls traded blows all night, but ultimately the good guys came up short.
The Summary
The Hornets got off to a slow start other than Kon Knueppel, who hit a few early shots to help the Hornets keep pace with the Bulls. Both teams found offense relatively easy to come by as they played the first half pretty neck and neck. The Hornets created a little space with a late run that was mostly spurred by Miles Bridges with a little help from Knueppel and Brandon Miller. They led by six heading into the locker room for halftime.
The Hornets built a double digit lead during the third quarter while bombarding the Bulls with threes. Knueppel added a few more to his tally while Miles Bridges added to his strong first half. Patrick Williams carried the Bulls in the first part of the third quarter, then Zach Collins took over for the end. The latter’s run helped spur the Bulls to a comeback. They briefly pulled within a point, but a Knueppel pull-up jumper pushed the lead to three heading into the fourth.
The teams went back and forth at each other with each doing a lot of their damage in the paint. Just about everybody got there’s, but that Collins guy on the Bulls popped up again in the most important moments. He scored a couple of buckets to help the Bulls get their nose ahead, and then an offensive rebound and assist to a cutting Tre Jones put the Bulls up five with just a minute left to play. The Hornets got a gift when Josh Giddey fouled Miles Bridges while Bridges was making a layup, but Giddey got it back immediately on the other end. It looked like the Knueppel was going to get a chance to tie the game with free throws, but the call was overturned upon review. The Bulls took possession, and Coby White iced the game with free throws.
The Good
The extended break seemed to do good for Kon Knueppel. He had a little extra pep in his step. He rose up for a dunk in the half court without a whole lot of room to lift off. His threes went in like we expect them to, but the rest of his game continues to impress. He had a quiet nine assists and was 7-of-9 shooting inside the arc. He scored a career high 33 points and attempted 21 shots. I’d like to see him keep up this level of aggressiveness and stay involved as much as he can. The level of craft is absurd.
Miles Bridges seemed to have benefited from the layoff as well. Maybe he got some extra shots up or something. After starting the month of December 1-of-20 from three, he hit four threes last night alone. He was a key piece of the Hornets building their lead into the third quarter. He finished with 32 points and seven assists. Now we need him to keep this up game to game.
Sion James played a confident game. He was quick on the trigger when he got looks on the outside and put the ball on the floor more than we’re used to seeing from him. He was the nominal point guard for a lot of the game given the Hornets’ injury situation, and I think that helped him insert himself into the game more. He had a couple of strong drives as well and finished one point shy of his career high.
The Bad
That’s now four straight games shooting under 40% for Brandon Miller. He’s 7-of-30 (23.3%) from three in those games. He’s coming off a broken shooting wrist and wearing a wrap around his other arm, so we can cut him some slack, but his shooting has been tough to watch. He’s been spraying his misses, and you can tell it’s starting to get in his head, especially from three. There were a few jumpers where you could see him put a little more dip into his shot as if he were trying a little harder to shoot it, and he let out a visible reaction when he finally made his first shot from deep.
The Hornets have to do a better job protecting the paint. The Bulls scored 80 points in the paint. There’s just too much penetration and the rim protection isn’t imposing enough to discourage drives, even if the Hornets do end up blocking a fair number of shots. There needs to be more physicality and disruptiveness.
What’s Next
The Hornets play their other NBA Cup consolation game thing on Sunday afternoon against the “good but not as good as last year” Cavaliers.