Kon Knueppel, LaMelo Ball, and Brandon Miller all put a bunch of highlights on tape to lead the Charlotte Hornets to a win.
The summary
The Hornets jumped out to an 8-0 lead with some disruptive defense and bouncy offense. They maintained their active ball movement on offense and all of the key players made 3-point shots. They raced out to 37 first quarter points and led by two heading into the second.
The Hornets went nuts with dunks and more threes to light up the Spectrum Center crowd and take a commanding lead early in the second. They put up 29 points in just the first six minutes of the quarter before a Hawks timeout finally cooled them off a bit. The Hornets struggled a little bit to get back into a regular rhythm after riding off vibes during the offensive explosion, which allowed the Hawks to pull a little bit closer heading into the half.
Back to back lobs from LaMelo Ball to Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges got the Hornets rolling again and helped the Hornets build a bit more back to their lead. But again, the Hawks hung around and pulled closer thanks to some aggressive scoring by Jalen Johnson. That persisted into the fourth quarter. The Hornets fought to keep Johnson at bay and used some Kon Knueppel magic to do so. The game came down to crunch time, and the Hornets’ star point guard did what stars do. He made two crafty layups to keep the Hornets in front, then hit a step back three to drive home the dagger.
The good
LaMelo Ball came back from a minor ankle injury and immediately made his presence felt. He was scorching hot from three in the first half but was still responsible with his shot selection and decision making. He dished out 13 assists and beyond that simply made the offense tick. When he would sit down for a breather, there was a notable degradation of the offensive pace and flow. His ability to push the pace in transition and get into the paint in the half court made everyone’s life easier. That’s why the Hornets were +17 with him on the floor.
Kon Knueppel had another one of his games that we’re becoming increasingly accustomed to. He tied LaMelo for the team lead with 28 points and chipped in another six made threes and seven assists. If LaMelo was the closer, Knueppel was the set up man. There was a possession where the ball got knocked into the back court twice and Kon was forced to pull up from beyond half court at the shot clock buzzer. He didn’t make the heave, but he did hit the rim, and it ricocheted off Jalen Johnson out of bounds. Knueppel took the ensuing inbounds pass and splashed a three. A couple possessions later, the Hawks stole a pass from Knueppel, but he was able to deflect the ball and then tightrope around the out of bounds line to save the possession, which quickly turned into a Miles Bridges three. He makes plays.
Brandon Miller might be starting to come around. He had his second straight plus game shooting from deep and was able to add efficient scoring inside the arc. And he did this:
Tidjane Salaün had another good game. His energy had a palpable impact on the game, which is expected from him. But these new developments on offense have been quite fun to witness. He hit a couple of threes and had two deft layups over defenders that he kissed in high off the glass. He’s had a tremendous month of December.
By my count, KJ Simpson had his third straight game with a back court steal that led to an easy bucket for the Hornets.
The Bad
The offensive output somewhat masked a pretty poor defensive performance. Jalen Johnson would’ve been hard to stop for anyone, but the Hornets didn’t do a good enough job working together to slow him down. He did most of his damage on slow down layups and floaters around the basket. When left one on one, just about every defender struggled to match his physicality. When they were better at providing help, there wasn’t enough attention paid behind the help, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker in particular kept shaking free of Johnson’s penetration.
What’s Next
The Hornets have now won two straight and are 5-4 in their last nine. They’ll get a tough test when they travel to Detroit to take on the Eastern Conference leading Pistons.