The Charlotte Hornets scratched and clawed all game long, but they couldn’t overcome some poor outside shooting as they lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 115-102.
The Summary
Both teams brought their A game right out of the locker room. Buckets were pouring in on both sides for the first two minutes or so before the Hornets hit a dry spell. They went about six-and-a-hat minutes without a point. The Spurs scored 18 straight in that time and broke the game open early. A couple of threes from Josh Green steadied the ship, and the Hornets cut the deficit back down to seven by quarter’s end.
The Spurs scored another nine straight points to start the second quarter and reestablish their significant advantage. Again, the 3-point shot helped the Hornets stick around. This time it was LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller that tossed a couple in. They briefly made it a single digit game again, but it slipped away in the final couple of minutes. At the half, the Hornets had made just 9-of-29 3-point attempts and trailed by 13.
In what had become a recurring theme for the day, the Hornets would make a small push, this time thanks to Kon Knueppel, but an inability to get stops let the Spurs keep their hefty lead. The stops eventually came, and Knueppel’s continued scoring and some help from Grant Williams had the Hornets back within single digits heading into the fourth quarter.
A couple buckets had the teams separated by just four points, but Victor Wembanyama imposed himself on both ends of the floor and helped the Spurs create some more space over the next few minutes. The Hornets had an offensive possession blown up out of a timeout then failed to score on a fast break. The Spurs followed the bad fast break with a three. Another three on the following possession put the Spurs up 16 at about the midway point of the quarter, and it felt like that was pretty much the knockout punch.
The Good
Miles Bridges was pretty good on the offensive side of the ball. He had some less than ideal shot selections, but he was aggressive when the Hornets were a bit tentative around Wemby. He led the team in scoring. Now if he could just stay locked in on the defensive end…
Kon Knueppel looked a little sped up early in the first half, but he ended up settling in. He scored 17 points in the third quarter alone, which is a career best. He’s getting really good at generating contact and getting to the free throw line, which bodes well for his ability to shoulder a larger offensive burden in the future. He also had one notable possession late in the game where he D’ed up De’Aaron Fox in space, which is no small feat.
Coby White had a good game off the bench. He and the bench group actually picked up the starters instead of the other way around.
The Bad
The Hornets are going to have figure something out with these dribble handoffs, especially with someone like Victor Wembanyama on the other team. Moussa Diabate and Ryan Kalkbrenner got left all alone with the ball at the top of the key, and Wemby just parked at the front of the rim to wait for any potential drives of dribble handoffs. It’s so hard to get good looks on offense when Wemby is allowed to guard a non shooter.
The Hornets were always going to need a plus game shooting from deep to counter Wembanyama’s rim protection. They didn’t get it. While 33% isn’t terrible, the Hornets were probably looking for something in the higher 30s. Just another three or four makes from deep and we have ourselves a barnburner finish.
Brandon Miller had a brutal game. He was 2-of-7 from three and missed all seven of his 2-point attempts. He never looked comfortable or felt like he was taking shots he wanted to take. None of the looks inside the arc were particularly good. He was invisible for a while and then tried to assert himself without any success. Just one of those days I guess.
What’s Next
The Hornets fly home then get a couple of days for rest and recovery. They come out of the break with back to back games of teams in their region of the playoff race. That starts with a visit from Bam Adebayo and the Heat on Tuesday.