Miles Bridges and Brandon Miller scored 25 and 23 points respectively, but the Charlotte Hornets lost a hard fought, low scoring duel with the 76ers, 97-89.
Summary
The Hornets made their plan very clear by doubling Joel Embiid on his first touch of the game and forcing a miss. It took a few possessions for either team to get going, which made for some low scoring yet even basketball. Embiid scored 15 points in the opening frame with seven of those coming from the free throw line. The game was even at 24 after one.
Embiid got a breather to start the second quarter and watched his team go on a little run to take a lead. Tyrese Maxey gave the Hornets fits with some long drives from way out on the perimeter. A 10-0 run got the Hornets back into the game, with the last two points coming from an offensive possession that was kept alive by two offensive rebounds and a tip out by Nathan Mensah. The Hornets trailed by just one point at the half.
The 76ers scored the first few points of the third quarter, but the Hornets ratcheted up the defensive intensity in response. They blocked several shots, including a couple of jumpers from the 76ers superstars. Brandon Miller did a big chunk of the damage for the Hornets offense with an assortment of shots. He hit a corner three, a driving layup while being fouled, and a contested floater as part of his 12 point quarter. The Hornets took the lead with a couple of difficult layups high off the glass from the hands of Terry Rozier. That lead grew to four points with a three by Miles Bridges to end the quarter.
The Hornets watched their lead quickly disintegrate at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Even with Embiid on the bench, the 76ers started the fourth quarter with a 13-2 run. The Hornets finally got their first field goal almost five minutes into the period when Miles Bridges hit a three from the wing. They struggled with turnovers to the point where they had a couple where they simply lost the ball on the dribble. Both PJ Washington and Nathan Mensah fouled out as the Hornets completely unraveled. They made it a little interesting at the end with a couple of 3-pointers and four points from Brandon Miller, but it was too little too late.
The Good
The Hornets actually won the minutes that Joel Embiid was on the floor. The reigning MVP finished with a plus-minus of -2. The Hornets made up for their small size with connected team defense and a lot of effort and physicality. They forced Embiid to make fewer than half his shots and held him at or below most of his season averages. Given how short handed the Hornets were at the center position, that’s very impressive.
In general, the Hornets played the defense they need to play every night. They played with intensity and togetherness and limited the amount of easy looks the 76ers got. They limited transition opportunities, which has been a thorn in the side of the Hornets defense all season.
Miles Bridges was aggressive and took advantage of Joel Embiid, to an extent. The 76ers chose Bridges as the defensive assignment for Embiid, and Bridges took advantage with five 3-pointers and a few strong drives from the perimeter. He led the Hornets with 25 points and did a good job of cleaning up the defensive glass with 11 rebounds.
Brandon Miller scored 23 points, giving him the first back-to-back 20 point games of his career. His composure and versatility was impressive once again. He scored in just about every way possible and made a couple of 99th-percentile type passes in quick read-and-react situations. He was better on the glass than his seven rebounds would suggest. He mixed it up in the paint and deflected several more rebounds to help the Hornets secure them. Just a really, really good all around game for the rookie.
The Bad
This is kind of the “Charlotte Hornets bench can’t score” recurring segment of the recaps at this point. Tonight, the Hornets got nine points in 75 minutes of court time from their bench players. The 76ers bench wasn’t much better, scoring only 13 points, but this isn’t about them. The Hornets just continue to have no punch off the bench, and that makes it tough to make consistently productive lineup combinations over the course of the game.
While the Hornets did well handling Embiid and outplayed the 76ers with him on the floor, they did a really bad job managing the non-Embiid minutes. Both the second and fourth quarters started with the 76ers going on a run with their star center on the bench. It seemed like the Hornets matched up better with the slow-playing, force-feeding style the 76ers played with Embiid than they did with the more free flowing and faster pace the 76ers play with Embiid resting.
Joel Embiid has mastered ripping through defenders’ arms to get cheap foul calls. He certainly earns his fair share of legitimate foul calls with his physical dominance, but it’s extremely frustrating to watch him get a few free throws a game by initiating contact with defenders that would otherwise be out of his space or kind of flailing around to bait whistles.
Players gotta stop stepping out of bounds when they catch the ball. It happened several times for both teams, with the most egregious being Nathan Mensah catching a pass in the dunker spot with both feet almost completely across the baseline. The lines on the floor don’t move. Stop crossing them.
What’s Next
The Hornets hit the road for a two game road trip that features the best team in the West and the worst team in the East. It starts with a visit to the Western Conference leading Timberwolves on Monday.
