Brandon Miller left the game in the fourth quarter as the Charlotte Hornets lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 112-101.

The summary

The Hornets found themselves in an early hole as the Tyrese Maxey and Paul George show started early. The two combined for 27 of the 76ers’ 31 first quarter points. On the other side of the floor, the Hornets had a brief spell of good shooting in the middle parts of the quarter, but they eventually bogged down and fell into an eight point hole by quarter’s end.

The sluggish offense continued into the second quarter. Hornets ball handlers couldn’t separate from their defenders, and it made for some ugly possessions. Vasa Micic and Nick Richards forged a strong connection in the pick and roll, which generated some decent scoring later in the period. LaMelo Ball spurred a little run to pull the Hornets within five at the break.

Kelly Oubre woke up over the halftime intermission and helped the 76ers out to a double digit lead within a couple minutes, but a Hornets timeout got the good guys back on track. The teams traded blows but the 76ers, unlike the Hornets, were able to make a few 3-point attempts, and that helped them build their lead. The lead swelled to as large as 21 before the run was snapped by a Cody Martin three and layup. The margin was 16 after three.

The Hornets started the fourth quarter with a much needed run thanks in part to some solid perimeter defense by Moussa Diabate in switch situations and hot shooting by Josh Green. In the midst of the run, Brandon Miller stepped on the foot of Guerschon Yabusele and twisted his ankle. He left the game and wouldn’t return. The run kind of dried up after that, and missed shots and turnovers plagued the next several minutes. The final few minutes turned into a 76ers free throw shooting display, and the Hornets had no chance to keep up with that.

The Good

Miles Bridges returned to the form he had in the four games before he got hurt. He used his frame to get to the basket and made eight of his 11 shots inside the arc and totaled 24 points.

Nick Richards and Mark Williams were both nice to have on the offensive end of the floor. A lot of the Hornets best offense came from feeding the bigs around the rim. Williams is still ramping up his minutes. It’ll be nice once he gets back to full speed.

Cody Martin had a quietly solid game off the bench.

Isaiah Wong has been such a great find. He’s a much better defender than his college play would suggest, and he’s been able to find a niche as an effort player on both ends of the floor. I don’t see any reason he can’t continue to earn rotation minutes while Tre Mann is out, and it’d be nice to see him continue to get minutes when Mann comes back.

The Bad

The Hornets can’t have nice things. In the first game in over a year that they’ve had all of Ball, Bridges, Miller, and Williams healthy, one of the four had to get hurt again. Brandon Miller twisted his ankle late in the game. Hopefully he won’t be out too long, but this injury bug just won’t leave the Hornets alone.

Speaking of being unable to have nice things, Paul George now his both his second best and best game of the season against the Hornets. He’s been underwhelming in his first season in Philadelphia, but you wouldn’t know that if you only watched him when played the Hornets. He turned back the clock and made a number of acrobatic layups and pull-up 3-pointers that were nearly impossible to guard. It be like that sometimes.

The worst version of the Hornets showed up when the game got tight in the fourth quarter. They committed seven turnovers in the fourth quarter alone. Seven of the eight players that appeared in the fourth committed exactly one turnover (Miles Bridges was the one that didn’t).

The Hornets only made 12-of-21 free throws. Every Hornet that attempted a free throw missed at least one. They shouldn’t do that.

What’s Next

The Hornets get a couple of days off before visiting the Wizards, who are 3-21 so far this season.