Hannes Steinbach dominated the second half, but he and the Charlotte Hornets couldn’t overcome some hot Bucks shooting in the loss, 110-91.
The Summary
The Hornets got on the board with a pull-up three from Christian Anderson, which would not prove to be a sign of things to come. The rest of the players we’d want to see score got going right behind him, with both Hannes Steinbach and Tidjane Salaun both getting to the basket for buckets. It went south after that. The Hornets couldn’t get stops, and the Bucks went on a 13-0 to open up a decent lead. The Hornets made a little push early in the second, but that quickly gave way to more bad defense and a double digit deficit. That deficit was 16.
Steinbach got a couple of post touches to open the second half and made good with both of them. The Hornets kept feeding him, and he pulled the Hornets to as close as one point after back to back possessions with put backs of his own misses and a dunk. He had 14 points and 6 rebounds in just over six minutes to start the third quarter. He took a breather after that, and the Bucks immediately went to work restoring their lead. They scored 16 straight points and effectively put the game out of reach before the fourth quarter even started.
The Good
We got good halves from two of the Hornets featured players. First, Hannes Steinbach was dominant in the second half. It looked like there were conversations at the half about getting him the ball and him being aggressive when he got it. The Bucks could not contain his strength around the basket, and he gobbled up every rebound that was remotely close to him. It was exactly the type of player he showed he was at Washington. He wsa the best player on the floor in that second half. If that was the last we see of him at summer league, it was a fantastic momentum builder.
Tidjane Salaun finally asserted himself a little bit more, particularly in the first half. The threes didn’t fall at a great rate, but he didn’t miss a single shot inside the arc. His finishing looked solid, and he was noticeably stronger and more physically imposing than the players trying to guard him. He added four steals on the defensive end as well, including a nice cookies steal on a ball handler. 21 points and four steals is a pretty good showing.
Christian Anderson continues to be unable to buy a bucket, but he looked much improved as a facilitator. He still had a few moments struggling with pressure, but he was better than he was in the first few games. He was also more decisive as a passer and showed the vision we were promised. He finished with ten assists that were a variety of kickouts to shooters, dumpoffs to dunkers, and pocket passes to rollers.
The Bad
The defense was less than ideal, but I don’t really care all that much about that when 70% of the players playing in the game aren’t going to be on the active roster when the regular season starts.
What’s Next
The Hornets get a consolation game to wrap up their time in Vegas. They play the Sacramento Kings (probably without Darius Acuff) on Friday at 6:30.
