The Charlotte Hornets never found any sort of offensive rhythm and lost to Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns, 111-99.
The Summary
The Hornets went cold and watched their lead slip away. Kon Knueppel helped get the offense on track again before Grant Williams banked in a three in the final seconds of the first. Collin Gillespie answered the lucky shot with a half court heave. Makes sense. The Hornets scored ten straight early in the first, but it wasn’t answered by some hot shooting from Jalen Green. The Suns inched ahead and took a two point lead into the half.
Charlotte started the second half with a few brutal possessions that ended in about as many turnovers as shot attempts. And the shot attempts they did get were generally not good ones. It allowed the Suns to extend their lead into double figures and force a Charles Lee timeout. That timeout seemed to energize the squad. They strung together some stops and scored eight straight points to tighten up the game again. Coby White committed a reckless foul on Collin Gillespie shooting a 40 foot heave at the end of the quarter, and that gave the Suns a four point advantage heading into the final quarter of play. Grant Williams chucked the ball down the court out of bounds to give the Suns an inbound under the basket and potentially more free points, but Josh Green broke up the inbound play.
Another offensive slump caused the Hornets to slide backwards once again, and they again found themselves down by double figures approaching the midway point of the fourth quarter. They wouldn’t make up any ground from there. Collin Gillespie hit a couple threes, Devin Booker made some difficult mid range jumpers, and the Hornets couldn’t string together any sort of offensive cohesion. They ended up with only 41 points in the second half and watched the game slip away as time ticked away.
The Good
I liked how LaMelo Ball made a concerted effort to get into the paint a little bit more in the second half. There have been times where the Hornets have gotten a bit lazy on offense and fire up threes without getting into the paint first. LaMelo either sensed that and got some directive to break the defense down more, and he did that. The Suns defended it well and the Hornets didn’t shoot well off the looks he created, but it was a good process that will lead to better games on better nights.
Grant Williams is the best power forward on the Hornets roster right now. His stats aren’t gaudy, but he’s knocking down his 3-pointers and has been such an impactful player on the defensive end. Other than we has the occasional brain melt at the end of the quarter, he’s such a heady player.
The Bad
There was far two much Miles Bridges in this game, especially in the first two quarters and change. He’s settled in nicely as a fourth offensive option, but for whatever reason, he played this game like he was the primary option. He forced up some bad shots and dribbled out a lot of possessions. He fired up a handful of quick threes that weren’t particularly open, which probably isn’t what the Hornets are looking for given he’s been far and away the worst volume 3-point shooter on the team. He got a pretty early hook in the third quarter, and I wonder if that was part of a planned alteration to the rotation or an observation by Lee that he needed to switch something up in the moment.
Brandon Miller needs to get the foul thing figured out. He keeps getting called for push-offs trying to get open away from the ball. They’re not necessary fouls at all. He didn’t do much of anything except for the fouls after a pretty good start to the game.
Coby White had his second straight rough game. He just looked out of sorts all night. He bobbled some passes and struggled with his handle, so it wasn’t just his statistical output that was poor. Hopefully he gets his rhythm back soon.
The Hornets have gotten some tough luck with hot shooting by players you’d want shooting. Jaime Jaquez Jr. had a season best shooting night on Friday. Rasheer Fleming did the same in this game. He hadn’t made more than two 3-pointers or scored double figures in any game this season. He made 4-of-6 threes and scored 16 points against the Hornets. And then like Tyler Herro in the last game, the Hornets couldn’t get Devin Booker or Collin Gillespie to miss late in the game.
What’s Next
It’s frustrating to see the Hornets drop a couple in a row, but I don’t think they’re doing too much differently. They’ve just missed a few more shots and been victimized by some tough shot making by their opponents. They’ll get some schedule relief with the Blazers, who have gotten Deni Avdija back since the last meeting, on Tuesday.