Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel each topped 20 points to lead the Charlotte Hornets to a dominant win over the Indiana Pacers, 129-108.

The Summary

The Pacers scored the first four points of the game, but they didn’t hold that lead for long. The Hornets raced back out front with a 24-2 run over the next few minutes. Every player chipped in, but Kon Knueppel featuring heavily as a driver was cool to see. Sion James followed that up with three 3-pointers, including one that was part of a 4-point play. The Pacers did a good job climbing part of the way back, but Charlotte still led by 14 after one. Indiana continued that whole competitive basketball thing well into the second and narrowed the margin as low as seven. It hung around there for a bit before a flurry of scoring from LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller suddenly put the Hornets up 19 at the break.

The Hornets added to their lead early in the second half and built the lead out as large as 26. However, they followed that with some relatively poor possessions that didn’t end in points. That coincided with the Pacers finding a little bit of offensive rhythm, which let them chop down some of that point differential. Even with that, the Hornets led by 18 heading into the fourth.

The start of that fourth quarter was much like the third. The starters got some early run in the period and built the largest lead of the game at 27 points. The starters hung around for a few more minutes, but both coaches emptied their benches with a few minutes left in the game and the final result already obvious.

The Good

This was the Hornets 42nd win of the year. This guarantees their first winning season in several years.

Even with the weight of the moment, this game had the makings of a letdown trap game. The Hornets were coming off a comfortable win against a Suns team that is much better than this Pacers team, and this game is going to be followed by four tough ones. Still, the young Hornets were focused and took it to the Pacers right from the jump. There were some lulls throughout the game, but nothing out of the ordinary that would suggest they weren’t taking the game seriously. An easy 20 point win is an easy 20 point win.

LaMelo Ball is becoming so much better of a little things player. He had a bunch of possessions where he fought on switches and quickly identified open players to take away transition and scramble drill opportunities for the Pacers. He’s always had loads of offensive talent, but he’s harnessed that to have complete control of the game when he’s on the floor.

Kon Knueppel had another one of his 50/40/90 games that Eric Collins has been talking about a lot in the later part of the season. He had a pretty quiet 20/4/4 stat line, which is pretty ridiculous for a rookie. I know I say it all the time. He’s kind of spoiled us at this point.

Brandon Miller led the Hornets with 22 points. He had a handful of bailout shots that he created in late clocks situations, including a nasty step back in the face of Micah Potter. It was smooth easy night of scoring.

Miles Bridges maintained his uptick in shooting from the first game in this back to back. That could be a boon to this already lethal offense if he can keep that up.

He cooled off in the second half, but Sion James’s shooting exhibition in the first half deserves a shoutout.

The Bad

There were a few spells where the offense went cold and wasn’t necessarily creating the best looks. It wasn’t terribly egregious and was probably a product of the lopsidedness of the game, but it was noticeable.

What’s Next

The Hornets have the hardest schedule from here until the end of the season. They play the Timberwolves before closing with all three of the top three teams in the East. They’ll need to win at least one but probably two of those games to cling to the eight seed.

Their next game is Sunday evening against the Timberwolves.