Miles Bridges topped 30 points again and DaQuan Jeffries had his best game as a pro in the Charlotte Hornets’ loss to the Hawks, 123-110.
The good
Miles Bridges kept up his hot run of play with a running hook and three to open the Hornets’ scoring. It was part of a strong Charlotte start that put the Hornets out to an early lead. That didn’t last long. A few minutes of rough possessions let the Hawks come back and take a lead, and they clung to a one point advantage after one.
Both teams had a hard time scoring in the first few minutes of the second quarter. The game picked up a little bit as the quarter went along, but as was the case for seemingly the entirety of the game, nothing super noteworthy happened. When the half ended, the Hornets trailed by three.
The Hornets had a few really rough misses in the early part of the second half. They also struggled defensively, which allowed the Hawks to race out to a double digit lead. LaMelo missed a bunch of threes, DaQuan Jeffries made a few, and Trae Young made a heavy helping of free throws to give the Hawks an 11 point lead heading into the fourth.
Jeffries continued his hot shooting to help the Hornets start to push for a comeback, then he tomahawked a dunk into the back of the rim on an open fast break, and that seemingly sucked the life out of the run. The teams traded points down the stretch, and the Hornets never threatened as time ticked away.
The Good
Miles Bridges is in the midst of one of the best stretches of play we’ve seen in a Hornets uniform in a while. 31 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals. He’s doing everything he can to keep the Hornets competitive in these games. There’s not much more to say.
DaQuan Jeffries looked like an NBA player for what I believe is the first time this season. He’s had a quick trigger all season, but the shots finally went in last night. He also found his way into some easy buckets with good off ball movement and cuts.
The Bad
While Bridges continued his strong play, LaMelo continued his struggles. He grinded out 25 points by getting to the line a bunch, but his shooting from the floor has been so, so bad. It is now eight straight games shooting below 40% from the field. He’s 12-of-45 from three in his last four. His defense was also pretty rough last night. He was getting blown past by just about any player he was guarding.
The Hornets played sloppy basketball on both sides of the floor. They committed 21 turnovers, 13 of which were live ball steals by the Hawks. On defense, they put the Hawks on the free throw line 39 times. So if it was the usual annoying foul baiting by Young, but that’s on the scouting report. You have to play disciplined defense against him. The Hornets did not.
What’s Next
That game felt rather uneventful. On to the next one. That would be a visit to the Wemby-less Spurs on Friday night.