Miles Bridges and Brandon Miller each scored 20+ while LaMelo Ball notched a double double to help lead the Charlotte Hornets to a 128-125 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves despite a franchise record 62 points from Karl-Anthony Towns. 

Summary

Karl-Anthony Towns fired up a quick three and splashed it to open the scoring, an omen of what was to come. He made his first five shots and scored 13 of the Wolves first 16 points. He used the defensive end to conserve his energy and let Miles Bridges score 13 first quarter points of his own. The Hornets trailed by two after one.

Brandon Miller tossed in some crafty buckets in the early part of the second quarter as the Hornets took a brief lead. His momentum was broken by foul trouble, which forced him out of the game with a little over eight minutes left in the half. A few minutes later, Towns awoke from his second quarter. He hit a series of threes and tough shots around the basket to put the Wolves up double figures. At that point, he had 41 points on 14-of-16 shooting while making all eight of his threes. Still, the Hornets got seven of their last nine first half points from Leaky Black and Nathan Mensah as they trimmed the deficit to just five points at the break. Towns went into the locker room with a Timberwolves record 44 first half points. Miller didn’t miss a shot and went into the break with 15 points for the good guys.

Towns tipped in a Nickeil Alexander-Walker miss to open the second half with his 45th and 46th points of the night. He poured in nine quick points to get to 53 points before the eight minute mark of the third quarter. The teams traded baskets before Anthony Edwards scored his first five points of the game. It started a 14-2 Timberwolves run to put them up 18 before JT Thor stopped the bleeding with a three in the final seconds of the third.

The Hornets were not daunted by the deficit and the big night from Towns. The Timberwolves seemed to get a little out of sorts trying to get Towns the franchise scoring record, and the Hornets capitalized with a barrage of 3-pointers. A 21-7 run pulled them within a point just a few minutes into the quarter. A few minutes later, KAT smoked a layup and got caught up in the baseline camera crew. The five on four advantage led to a wide open three in the corner for Nick Smith Jr., who cashed it in to put the Hornets up one with under four minutes to play. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the game, including a wild falling jumper from Brandon Miller. The Hornets tried to ice it with under a minute to play, but Kyle Anderson grabbed LaMelo on the arm and knocked the ball away with no whistle. Anthony Edwards got a soft blocking call on the other end to get two free throws to pull the Wolves within one.

LaMelo couldn’t shake free to extend the Hornets lead, and the Wolves took possession with 12 seconds to go and a chance to win. Towns attacked the basket and had his shot “blocked” by Leaky Black in what could best be described as a makeup no-call. Black got the ball on the runout. He was fouled and hit his first two career free throws to ice the game. Towns’ desperation three at the buzzer came up well short. He ended up shooting 2-of-10 from the field in the final quarter of play.

The Good

The Hornets played probably their best offensive game of the season given their production and the opponent. They shot 58% from the field and their offense looked more connected and fluid than it usually does. They probably benefited a bit from the Wolves losing focus due to the KAT show, but they still posted an offensive rating of 128 against the best defense in the league.

Brandon Miller scored 20+ points for the third straight time, extending his career long streak. He put on an impressive display of shot making for all distances and angles. His minutes were somewhat limited by foul trouble, but the Hornets won his minutes by 14 points.

27 points on 13 shots for Brandon Miller tonight. Lot of encouraging signs from mid-range & in.

3rd straight game with 23+ points. pic.twitter.com/6QtolTV7mb

— Adam Finkelstein (@AdamFinkelstein) January 23, 2024

Miles Bridges is averaging 23.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in his last ten games while shooting 50.6% from the field, 45.3% from three, and 85.2% from the free throw line. He’s playing a ton of minutes and seems to have regained the form he had before he went and messed it all up a couple of summers ago.

LaMelo Ball didn’t have his best shooting game, but he orchestrated the offense well and dropped 13 dimes.

The bench had the best game we’ve seen them have in a really long time. JT Thor and Leaky Black get special shoutouts for their all around games while Nick Smith Jr. hit a couple of big threes during the Hornets fourth quarter comeback. In all, the bench unit scored 32 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 shooting from three. Those numbers are correct. I didn’t believe them at first either.

The Bad

I guess you could say the defense on Karl-Anthony Towns was lackluster. You typically don’t want to see an opponent go off for 62 points. However, the Hornets kind of turned that into an advantage as the Wolves seemed to get sidetracked chasing points for Towns instead of just winning the game.

What’s Next

The Hornets will travel to face the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday in what is a prime letdown spot.