Miles Bridges scored 35 points, but the Charlotte Hornets lost to the Golden State Warriors once again, 119-101.

The summary

The Hornets found themselves in an early hole thanks to some sloppy passing and ball handling, similar to the early stages of the first two meetings between these teams. Tidjane Salaün of all people helped get the Hornets on track with nine straight points, all coming from behind the arc. LaMelo Ball got a steal and dunk in the early parts of the second to get the Hornets within four. Miles Bridges scored 15 second quarter points to help the Hornets stay within 11 by halftime.

The teams traded basket in a relatively slow start to the second half, then the fireworks started. LaMelo found Bridges from halfcourt after diving on the floor to secure the ball.

LaMelo Ball connects with Miles Bridges all the way from halfcourt 😲 pic.twitter.com/W2SWMy7cLS

— NBA Philippines (@NBA_Philippines) March 4, 2025

The Hornets pulled to within two points thanks to a 10-0 run capped off by a pair of Jusuf Nurkic free throws. Steve Kerr got a technical yelling about a lack of traveling calls. The Warriors built back a little bit of their lead, but a rare occurrence helped the Hornets come back. LaMelo Ball made a three, and while it was going through, Draymond Green basically stiff armed Salaün in the throat. He somehow had the audacity to argue the call to the point of getting a technical and was also assessed a flagrant foul. Salaün made the flagrant free throw, then LaMelo made another three after the Hornets were awarded the ball back. It ended up being a seven point possession. The broadcast was kind enough to flash on the bottom of the screen that the Hornets went on a 7-0 run over a six second span. The Hornets pulled away again with a pair of Buddy Hield threes, the second of which came after a weird play in which LaMelo was either fouled or had the ball knocked away, neither of which the officials acknowledged. After all that, the Hornets trailed by nine heading into the fourth.

The Hornets stumbled at the start of the fourth quarter. The Warriors went on an 8-2 run to start the quarter and never looked back. They hit a handful of threes to kill any comeback attempt. Bridges was able to answer a lot of them, but he and his team weren’t able to get the requisite stops.

The Good

Miles Bridges scored 35 points and is now averaging 20 points per game for the season. He’s been the one constant for the Hornets as the season has crumbled. He finished with a fantastic all around stat line in the loss. Beyond that, he’s turning into a matchup problem. The Hornets have been trying to get opponents’ smaller and/or weaker defenders on him, and he’s been making them pay, particularly when there’s a decent cast around him.

Most of his production came in a short stint in the first quarter, but it was nice to see Tidjane Salaün see the ball go through the rim a few times. He made all three of the 3-point attempts he took in the first quarter. Hopefully this can turn into a bit of a jumping off point for him. He did have a really goofy egregious double dribble that didn’t get called in garbage time, but we’ll pretend like it never happened.

It may have been an 18 point loss, but it’s still twice as good as the loss the Hornets suffered the first time they played the Warriors. They lost by 36 to the same team just a week ago.

The Bad

Is there anyone in the NBA more annoying than Draymond Green? Dude whines about everything. The ego must be massive to have made such little effort in curtailing his behavior on the floor given how much it hurts his team. He’s also super irritating on TV when he’s on the TNT shows. Not that it’s related to the game, but I’ve gotta get that out while we’re talking Warriors.

Damion Baugh and DaQuan Jeffries have continued their bricklaying off the bench. They combined to go 3-of-15 from the field and 0-of-7 from deep. Jeffries has made 1 of his last 24 3-point attempts. Baugh has made 3 of his last 24.

Nick Smith Jr. had another realllll rough night. He’s had some good moments this year, but his lows have been very, very low. In his last ten games, he’s shot 32.6% from the field and 21.4% from the field. The shot has to fall for him to be a playable player, and he’s nowhere close to doing that enough right now.

The Hornets missed 11 free throws. That’s not enough to cover the difference in the game, but it’s too many missed free throws.

What’s Next

The Hornets will host Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves on Monday.