Miles Bridges scored 30 points and tallied 15 rebounds and PJ Washington and Brandon Miller chipped in 20+ apiece, but the Charlotte Hornets lost to Coby White and the Chicago Bulls, 117-110.

Summary

The first quarter was evenly played with two different styles. The Hornets fired up a bunch of threes while the Bulls did their typical midrange thing. It made for a yo-yo score line without either team making any significant run. The quarter ended with Ish Smith dribbling into a three that brought the Hornets within one.

Ish was feeling himself after that buzzer beater and made a behind the head feed to Nick Richards to earn the latter a pair of free throws. The Bulls went on a brief run that prompted a Steve Clifford timeout, and that timeout seemed to hit close to home. The home team reeled off a 22-7 run with PJ Washington responsible for 10 of those points. The lead was as large as ten at a couple points, but the final couple of minutes featured a couple of Cody Martin turnovers, a missed turnaround Martin jumper after lots of dribbling, and a Martin foul on Coby White dribbling on the perimeter as the Bulls narrowed the deficit. White was fouled again, this time by Ish Smith, attempting a 3-pointer at the buzzer. His free throws pulled the Bulls within two going into the half.

The Bulls scored seven straight to start the second half against a stagnant Hornets offense. The Hornets eventually started putting the ball in the hole, but they couldn’t stop White and Nikola Vucevic from doing the same on the other end. White left the game briefly and the Hornets were able to even the game up with Brandon Miller’s third three of the night. They retook the lead when Bridges hit a three of his own a few possessions later. The teams traded buckets with PJ Washington bullying into the paint to tie the game at the buzzer.

The Hornets defense started to slip as the fourth quarter went on. They overhelped and left shooters open and set themselves up for difficult closeouts. Coby White found his groove again and scored seven straight for the Bulls as they opened up a 10 point lead. Bridges tried to match him, but there was just no stopping White. That 10 point cushion held until the Hornets ran out of time.

The Good

Miles Bridges had a huge game. He had three blocks to go with his 30 points and 15 rebounds and took over as the team’s alpha down the stretch when the game was slipping away. The Hornets won the minutes he was on the floor. He’s now scored 20+ points in a career high eight straight games.

Brandon Miller didn’t have his most efficient shooting night, but he showed once again why Hornets fans should be super excited about his future. He created more looks for himself off the dribble in crowds and probably should have gotten to the line more than he did given how much contact he took. There’s so much promise there.

PJ Washington had another strong game. He’s been really aggressive in recent games with his shoulder bump drives to the basket in the last few games, and it’s made for a nice uptick in his offensive production. He came off the bench to add some pop to a unit that had like negative pop before, and he did just that.

January is over. The Hornets were 3-13 in the month. Maybe February will be better.

The Bad

Cody Martin did not have his best game. He had that brutal stretch at the end of the first half that was a big part of the Hornets’ lead getting squandered. He had a possession in the fourth quarter were he dribbled at the top of the key for almost 20 seconds that led to an impossible shot attempt by Brandon Miller. He made a few nice kickout passes on drives but otherwise struggled with the lead guard duties.

Frank Ntilikina played four minutes and hoisted up four 3-pointers. None of them with in. I appreciate the confidence, but maybe rein in the aggressiveness just a tad until the shots start going in.

While not the total trainwreck that the defense has been for parts of the last few games, the Hornets were not good on that end. They were caught scrambling to find shooters for seemingly no reason. Just about any movement from the Bulls sent the Hornets into disarray, and they were either giving up open jumpers or getting blown by on closeouts, which further disorganized the defense. The Bulls don’t have a lot of outside shooting with their current health situation, which limited the damage they did. Other teams would torch this defense like we saw over the weekend.

What’s Next

The Hornets head out for a quick one game road trip to Oklahoma City to take on the up and coming Thunder.