Brandon Miller tipped in an offensive rebound as time expired to push the Charlotte Hornets past the Detroit Pistons, 108-107.

The Summary

The Hornets brought their frigid shooting home from Minnesota to start the game. Meanwhile they let the Pistons, and Cade Cunningham in particular, run a layup line on the other end of the floor. The Pistons didn’t make a three and the Hornets made a few, even with their cold shooting, and that discrepancy kept them within a point of the Pistons after one.

The Pistons force fed Cunningham to start the second quarter and it bogged down their offense. He struggled to finish looks and was mostly kicking out to shooters outside. The Hornets stuck to their gameplan of bombing away from three, but that still wasn’t working. Miles Bridges and his downhill attacking was the only reliable offense. The Hornets led by one at intermission.

The second half was more entertaining. The teams traded baskets in the early parts of the second half before back to back alley oops from LaMelo Ball, first to Miles Bridges then to Brandon Miller, got the people going. The Pistons withstood the possible momentum shift and kept the game even through the end of the third.

The Hornets started the fourth quarter with a nifty little lob play from Josh Green to Miles Bridges. The teams traded blows throughout the fourth quarter, and the game was almost never separated by more than a possession or two and was even heading into crunch time. LaMelo Ball had a drive with the game tied at 101 in which it looked like he was fouled twice, but he didn’t get a whistle. The Pistons got a whistle on the other end and made two free throws. LaMelo was unbothered. He hit a step back three then a running floater on the next two possessions to put the Hornets up three with 25 seconds to play.

After the Hornets gave up an easy dunk to let the Pistons cut the game within one, they inbounded the ball to Brandon Miller. He tried to hold the ball to get fouled, but he had the ball ripped away from him. Ron Holland took it the length of the floor and laid it in to give the Pistons the lead with six seconds to play. The Hornets struggled with the inbound, but it found the hands of Grant Williams for an open three to win the game. He missed, but Brandon Miller swim moved past Malik Beasley to grab the offensive rebound, lay it in at the buzzer, and redeem himself for his turnover.

HE'S LIKE THAT@brandmillerr | #HiveMentality pic.twitter.com/9N0DSrD0Wo

— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) November 7, 2024

The Good

Miles Bridges made his arrival to the season. He was more aggressive attacking the basket than we’ve seen so far this season, and that seemed to get him into an offensive rhythm. He finished with a game high 27 points and chipped in some rebounds and assists as well.

LaMelo Ball has committed six fouls…in two games! He’s committed three fouls in each of the last two games, and he’s done that while still putting forth good effort on the defensive end. And he put forth his usual explosive offensive performance. He scored 15 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and is now leading the league in fourth quarter scoring with 10.3 points per game.

Brandon Miller started to find his groove as the game went along. He hasn’t quite found the shooting stroke from deep, but it’s good to see him contributing elsewhere in the box score. Hopefully the game winner can get him feeling good and get some momentum going.

The Bad

The Hornets guards other than LaMelo had a rough go of it. Josh Green didn’t make a shot or score a point. Neither did Seth Curry. Tre Mann scored just four points on seven shots.

The shooting efficiency is not where it needed to be to win on most nights, but that should come around at some point. We’ll call it a cold spell.

What’s Next

The Hornets will host the Pacers in Spectrum Center on Friday.