The Charlotte Hornets started a collapse late in the second quarter that persisted all the way through the second half as they lost to the Indiana Pacers, 144-113.

Summary

We promised that there would be points, and there were points. It took a while for the points to show up though. It took almost two whole minutes for the first points to get put on the board, but they came fast and furious after that. The Pacers scored most of those at first thanks to their drive and dish game that allowed their centers to score 15 first quarter points. The Hornets got their answer from Terry Rozier, who scored 14 first quarter points, including a step back three at the buzzer to pull the Hornets within two.

The Hornets continued to struggle with the Pacers centers, who ended the first half as the team’s top two scorers. Still, the Hornets kept pace. Brandon Miller led the charge with eight points early in the quarter and a balanced Hornets attack picked it up from there. The visitors went cold in the final minutes of the half and lost their grip on the game a little bit. A 13-4 Pacers run to end the half put them up 11 at the break.

The Pacers hot shooting continued into the third quarter. Buddy Hield made four 3-pointers on his own as well as three free throws after being fouled on another 3-point attempt as the Pacers extended their lead to 20 points. Miles Bridges had a strong finish to the quarter with seven points, but the Hornets didn’t get any stops on the defensive end to make the scoring surge worth anything. A Buddy Hield dunk gave him 19 points in the quarter drove Steve Clifford to call a timeout with just 18.5 seconds left in the third quarter. The Hornets didn’t get a good shot out of the timeout and went into the fourth down by 21.

The fourth quarter started with two more Pacers 3-pointers on the first two possessions of the quarter. The Hornets answered with two tough mid-range jumpers, neither of which went in (though one was tipped in).

The Good

Brandon Miller finished with 21 points and a nice all around floor game. He fluffed up his numbers a little bit with the game out of hand in the fourth quarter, but still, a very strong performance for the rookie. He was aggressive looking for his shot and is continually getting more comfortable sing his body to create space and get into the paint without needing to blow by guys. He hit two 3-pointers, which is hopefully the start of another streak of multi-3-pointer games.

Terry Rozier had a very strong first half. He scored 19 points and was a key factor in the Hornets keeping pace for most of the first half. He mostly disappeared at halftime, but at least he put a couple of strong quarters out there and ended up with decent production for the totality of the game.

The Hornets did a good job of attacking the offensive glass to try to manufacture some offensive production.

The Bad

The Pacers had the Hornets defense in shambles. They were able to get into the paint at will and the Hornets weren’t the least bit connected to effectively help each other. In the first half, the Pacers fed their bigs off the drives for layups and dunks. In the second, that turned into kickouts to 3-point shooters. The Pacers shot over 60% from the field and nearly 50% from three before garbage time. They barely let up in garbage time too.

Despite being a collective turnstile defensively, the Hornets still somehow managed to put the Pacers on the line 30 times, and the Pacers typically don’t get to the free throw line very often relative to how many shots they get up.

The Hornets made just 8-of-31 3-point attempts (25.8%). The Pacers don’t give up many 3-point attempts, but their opponents have made a league high 40.1% of those attempts this season. The Hornets couldn’t capitalize on that soft spot in the Pacers mostly porous defense, and the 113 points they scored is the fewest the Pacers have allowed in their last eight games.

What’s Next

The Hornets return home for one game against the defending champion Nuggets on Saturday. After that, they hit the road for a six game road trip that features five Western Conference contenders.