The Charlotte Hornets started a collapse late in the second quarter that persisted all the way through the second half as they lost to the Indiana Pacers, 144-113.
The Pacers centres, who finished the first half as the team’s top two scorers, continued to pose a challenge for the Hornets. Hornets continued to keep up, though. After Brandon Miller scored eight points in the first quarter of the
game, the Hornets’ balanced offence took over. In the closing minutes of the half, the visitors got chilly and somewhat lost control of the game. The Pacers led 11 points at the half after a 13–4 run to close the half.
The Pacers hot shooting continued into the third quarter. Buddy Hield made four 3-pointers on his own as well as three free throws after being fouled on another 3-point attempt as the Pacers extended their lead to 20 points. Miles Bridges had a strong finish to the quarter with seven points, but the Hornets didn’t get any stops on the defensive end to make the scoring surge worth anything. A Buddy Hield dunk gave him 19 points in the quarter drove Steve Clifford to call a timeout with just 18.5 seconds left in the third quarter. The Hornets didn’t get a good shot out of the timeout and went into the fourth down by 21.
On the first two possessions of the fourth quarter, the Pacers scored two more 3-pointers. In response, the Hornets made two hard mid-range jumpers, one of which was tipped in but did not go in.
Brandon Miller finished with 21 points and a nice all around floor game. He fluffed up his numbers a little bit with the game out of hand in the fourth quarter, but still, a very strong performance for the rookie. He was aggressive looking for his shot and is continually getting more comfortable sing his body to create space and get into the paint without needing to blow by guys. He hit two 3-pointers, which is hopefully the start of another streak of multi-3-pointer games.
