How Charles Lee, injury-ravaged Hornets reacted after running past Indiana Pacers
Just when it seems like the Charlotte Hornets are in a hopeless spot, reeling a bit because of a rash of injuries, they pull off something like Friday night.
Who cares if they were playing without three of their top big men — Miles Bridges (knee), Nick Richards (shoulder) and Mark Williams (foot). The shorthanded Hornets weren’t about to let that be a cop-out, not with coach Charles Lee at the helm, anyway.
That’s not his style.
“A great gritty win,” Lee said after the Hornets rolled past the Indiana Pacers 103-83 at Spectrum Center. “The collective togetherness, the collective competitiveness, I’m proud of the group because every day we come in … we talked today about we don’t make excuses, we just keep making progress. And it’s not about some of the injuries.
“You are like, ‘Oh, why is this happening to us?’ No, ‘What is this trying to teach us, what is this trying to help us learn to do better, to grow from?’ And I think the guys have just kind of embraced the adversity and kind of use this as time to keep getting better and trusting each other.”
Of course, having a healthy tandem like Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball doesn’t hurt, either. The duo combined for 60 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds.
Not bad, eh? Imagine when they actually both get in sync with each other.
“Scary sight,” Miller said. “It’s definitely going to be scary. LaMelo is that two-way (player) that coach Charles has been preaching to everybody and also myself. I think that’s a dangerous game to play. His ability to pass the ball on the offensive side and my ability to knock down shots, I think that’s a great duo to have in this league.”
A dynamic one that got plenty of help to take down the Pacers, a formula the Hornets (4-5) must ride as they navigate a slew of injuries.
“It’s always a part of it where guys get hurt, they go out and it’s a ‘next man up’ mentality,” Cody Martin said. “Tidjane [Salaün] got the start — congratulations to him, too. Him just being himself and going out there to be aggressive and playing hard. I think we’re all not sitting around wondering who is out, some of that is just adjusting and learning how we’re going to play and figuring out where we’re going to get our shots at, and just everybody coming in and playing aggressive at both ends of the floor and trusting each other.
“It’s got to be where there’s no drop-off and sometimes it may look different at times what the offense looks like and what plays we run with who’s out there on the floor, but still playing the same style of basketball.”
With the rash of injuries and missing bodies, Lee has to toe that careful line of not riding his key players like Miller and Ball too hard while also trying his best to mix and match lineups that likely aren’t used to being on the floor with each other, as Martin mentioned.
If things are getting away from the Hornets, that’s not going to be a license to begin tossing strategy out the window and changing things up on the fly.
“We will continue to be mindful with our rotations and our sub patterns,” Lee said. “The most important thing is everyone is competing at a high level. We understand that we don’t need to do anything extra, so I don’t need to put this extra load on them. We do it by committee.
“And I don’t think the flow of the game is going to force me to do something uncharacteristic that our group is not going to be ready for at the end of the day. So, it’s again unfortunate that Miles is out, but I think we’ve just been battling through this throughout the early part of the season, and we’ll handle it and weather the storm.”
Brandon Miller knocking off rust
The Hornets’ matchup with Indiana (4-5) represented the fourth outing for Brandon Miller since missing four games with a strained left glute. Miller’s shooting numbers have been below the 43.6% he made during his rookie campaign, hovering at 35.4%. Miller’s scoring average (12.8) entering the night was also down compared to the 17.1 he put up in 2023-24.
But he got it going against the Pacers with 29 points and connected on five 3-pointers in the third quarter, establishing a new career high for any quarter. He nailed seven 3-pointers overall.
“I think if your shot is not falling, your teammates are always going to preach to you — keep shooting the ball,” Miller said. “Of course, I think it’s more ways to affect the game. The defensive side, we bought into the defensive side and got the stops that we needed. I think we held them to 83 points. I think that’s a hard thing to do in this league for sure, especially with a great team like that.”
Miller piggybacking on his other general contributions — such as solid defense on top of that buzzer beater to lift Charlotte over Detroit — has Lee encouraged.
“I think Brandon’s done a good job since he’s been back,” Lee said. “It’s nice having another long, athletic, versatile wing out there that can fill it up offensively, make the right plays and passes, offensive rebound. Defensively, his presence has been really good.
“Versus (Detroit’s Cade) Cunningham, he had some really good ‘refuse to be screened’ moments in center field and then getting to a contest — the block that he had on the one where Cade goes spin move versus Taj Gibson and then he beats it up off the backboard. I just think that he’s doing a great job of inserting himself and trying to find his rhythm as he’s coming back.”
Missing Miles Bridges
Somehow, the Hornets must make up for Miles Bridges’ production and it appears it will be a by-committee approach. Lee started rookie Salaün at power forward in Bridges’ place, and the Hornets will also have to utilize a mixture of Salaün, Grant Williams and Moussa Diabate on the reserve frontline until Bridges returns.
The sixth-year forward, who’s the Hornets’ third-leading scorer at 14.6 points per game, has a bone bruise in his right knee that will keep him out for at least the next two weeks, when he’ll be re-evaluated.
“It was unfortunate,” Charles Lee said. “I think he was coming off probably his best game of the season. I’ve seen a lot of growth just game to game from him, so it’s an unfortunate injury for him.
“I think you saw who Miles Bridges is in terms of he came back into the game and was part of our last play. He’s going to do everything he can in his rehab plan to come back and be ready to go.”
Rick Carlisle bullish on Josh Green
Josh Green has a fan in Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who was the head coach in Dallas during the fifth-year pro’s rookie season in 2020-21. Carlisle lauded Green’s growth and his intensity level.
“Loved him,” Carlisle said. “He has a real niche in this league as a 3-and-D guy that is one of the best crashers in the game for rebounds. Hard play in this league is a skill, in my opinion, and is a talent, and he has that talent.
“As you can see, his shooting has gotten better and better. I know he’s shooting in the 40s right now from ‘3,’ and you know the intensity that he brings to the game affects it.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2024 at 11:07 PM.
