Brandon Miller notched his first career double double with 26 points and 10 rebounds, but The Charlotte Hornets couldn’t make enough plays down the stretch and lost to the Raptors, 111-106.

Summary

The Hornets struggled to get stops early on. Ochai Agbaji had a couple of backdoor cuts for layups and Immanuel Quickley hit a couple of threes. The Raptors rebounded a couple of their early misses to extend possessions and score some second chance points. Brandon Miller dropped a slick dime, hit a heavily contested three at the shot clock buzzer, and bullied into the paint to help the Hornets keep pace. Bryce McGowens put the Hornets on top with a falling floater while getting fouled, and that helped the Hornets to a 29-27 lead after one.

Both teams traded baskets for a few minutes before a Hornets run consisting of two Davis Bertans threes and interior buckets from McGowens and JT Thor put them up eight and forced a Raptors timeout. The Raptors scored nine straight out of the timeout to force the Hornets into a timeout of their own. It was otherwise an uneventful second quarter that ended with the Hornets down four.

Brandon Miller opened the second half with a three but the Hornets otherwise struggled. Miles Bridges ratcheted up his aggressiveness after a quiet first half and attacked the basket to help even the game back up. That was short lived though. The defense crumbled and let the Raptors ignite a run. The Hornets lost track of Gary Trent several times and he made them pay with three wide open threes. The Raptors otherwise got a few buckets off offensive rebounds and a coast to coast drive by Ochai Agbaji. Bridges ended up with 16 points in the third quarter alone, but his interior scoring was only barely able to keep pace with the Raptors. The Hornets trailed by seven heading into the fourth.

That deficit was quickly extended to 12 after a corner three and layup from Jordan Nwora. Gradey Dick made it 15 after a weird offensive foul call on Grant Williams. Brandon Miller hit a couple of threes to stop the run. A Miller block led to a runout that ended a Davis Bertans dunk of all things. Some good Hornets defense coupled with some really bad Raptors decisions bought the Hornets enough time to slowly claw their way back into the game and eventually take a late lead. It ended up as a 14-2 run that took 4:44 of game time to accomplish. The lead only lasted for a few seconds though. Immanuel Quickley drew one of his trademark fouls and hit both free throws. The Hornets did not get a good shot on either of their next two possessions and missed both.

The Hornets were gifted one last chance for a winner though. Agbaji was called for any away from the play foul while the Hornets were trying to inbound down five. Grant Williams hit the free throw, then Brandon Miller caught the ensuing inbound while getting his jersey tugged to pull the Hornets within two. Gary Trent Jr. missed a free throw on the other end to give the Hornets one more chance with the ball down three. Vasilije Micic dribbled for nine seconds before he ran himself into trouble and had the ball taken out of his hands by Trent, who jogged the ball down the court for the game clinching layup.

The Good

Brandon Miller is finding his spots again after getting quiet with the new arrivals. He scored a game high 26 points and looked as smooth and confident as ever. He scored on all three levels both off the catch and off the dribble. There’s not a lot to be said that hasn’t been said already. Just another really good game for the rookie. And he reeled in a career high ten rebounds for his first career double double.

He’s a liability if he’s forced to guard any adept ball handler on the perimeter, but I was impressed by Davis Bertans’ positional defense. Obviously the 3-point shooting is his calling card, and he hit four of those tonight. But on the other end, he was credited with a steal and a couple of blocks, and he took a charge. He was quick to slide over in help side positions and didn’t have any egregious defensive possessions. He’s been an all around good player lately.

Miles Bridges was really good in the third quarter. He attacked the Raptors inside and they had no way to stop him. As good as he’s been, he can add a little extra oomph to his game if he can be that assertive around the basket.

The Bad

It’s a similar complaint I’ve had with Cody Martin at times when he’s running the point. Vasilije Micic has had too many possessions lately where he’s dribbled around too much before getting the ball moving. He’s not enough of a threat as a scorer to justify having the ball in his hands so much, and he was responsible for short circuiting too many possessions by having the ball knocked away from him. That issue manifested itself at key moments in the fourth quarter. First he was called for an eight second violation after getting the ball poked away trying to dribble up the court, then again at the worst time when he turned the ball over on the final possession trying to find the right pass instead of moving the ball and letting the offense happen.

Miller and Bertans were the only Hornets to make a three. All the others were a combined 0-of-10. That’s too few attempts and obviously not enough makes. The Hornets have had spells this season where they’ve been too headstrong forcing shots up inside the arc. They were good enough at it tonight to kind of justify it, but it’s been a problem more often than it’s been a solution this season and resulted in another game of poor offensive efficiency. The Hornets 102.9 offensive rating in this game ranks in the 15th percentile of NBA games this season according to Cleaning the Glass.

What’s Next

The Hornets get a Monday off before hosting the Orlando Magic on Tuesday for Somos Los Hornets Night.