It was the battle of the under 10 win teams Friday night as the Charlotte Hornets protected their home floor and beat the San Antonio Spurs, 124-120. Despite some exceptional performances from the likes of stars LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, the game saw the return of rookie Brandon Miller who missed the last two games, but still dropped 24 points and collected nine rebounds.
Bridges, who had 23 points and six rebounds, said that Miller changes the team in a multitude of ways. One aspect that he always tell the first-year player to conquer is being aggressive when necessary according to Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer.
“(We’re) completely different,” Bridges said. “I always get on Brandon about being aggressive. He played good, he played aggressive and that’s what we need from him every game. He’s still a rookie, he’s still figuring it out. But once he gets in that mode to play like that consistently, he’s going to be tough.”
Coming out of the University of Alabama and taken with the second overall pick by Charlotte, Miller had a lot of hype attached to him since coming out of high school as a five-star recruit. Ball led the team with 28 points and recorded eight assists as he said that Miller's measurements and performance “speak for itself.”
“It speaks for itself,” Ball said. “He’s 6-9, athletic, can defend, shoot. So, whenever you don’t have that you are going to feel it. So, just having that back — smooth.”
Steve Clifford says Hornets miss Miller in “all phases of the game”
Hornets head coach Steve Clifford had nothing, but great things to say about Miller's outing Friday and said that they “miss him in all phases of the game.” More so, he cites the ability to be a two-way player as besides scoring, he can guard a lot of positions.
“With him, we really miss him in all phases of the game,” Clifford said. “He guards primary scorers, scores 14 a night, has a high IQ, has positional size. He can guard ‘2s’, he can guard ‘3s.’ He’s guarded point guards. Obviously, he’s a valuable player for us. I think whenever you lose one of your four or five best players, it hurts your depth. And for him, we need those points right now, too.”
Despite the physical and mental traits that Miller gets praised for, it is easy to distinguish the sole reasoning for his performance. Per the rookie, he credits his team and teammates for “motivating” him and “boosting my confidence.”
“Honestly, I think that was just my team just motivating me, giving me the energy I need to go out there, take tough shots, play through tough environments, close games like this. So, I think hats off to the team just boosting my confidence,” Miller said via The Charlotte Observer.
Wins hard to come by for Charlotte
It is safe to say that wins are hard to come by for the Hornets as Friday was just their ninth of the season. Clifford had a more empathetic approach saying that while the win should help the confidence of the team, Charlotte has “been through a lot.”
“(It’s) good for confidence,” Clifford said. “Our group’s been through a lot. I’m really proud of them the way they’ve hung in there. We’ve kept competing, working hard. So, it’s good. It’s just you play every other night. We are in a brutal stretch here. We don’t have two games off again until after the All-Star break. So, it’s important just to win, just to feel good.”
The Hornets are now 9-30 on the season which puts them 13th in the Eastern Conference. Their next game will be against the Philadelphia 76ers on the tail-end of a back-to-back.
Follow Us
Subscribe