NBA

Hornets rookies Brandon Miller and Nick Smith Jr. combine for two thirds of Charlotte’s points in Summer League loss

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Antonio Kozlow
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Antonio Kozlow Sports Editor

Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.

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Sports Editor

Updated12 Jul 2023

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Despite still not winning their first Summer League match this offseason, the Hornets are finding other reasons to celebrate. Charlotte’s first-round rookies are proving their worth game after game, as they recently dropped two thirds of their team’s points in Tuesday night’s 97-93 loss to the Trail Blazers.

The North Carolina franchise rallied from a 15-point deficit and nearly tied the game after winning the third quarter at the Thomas & Mack Center, but Portland had rolled off a 23-6 run in the second that felt impossible to overcome.

Recent draft picks Brandon Miller and Nick Smith Jr. combined for a total of 59 points with an impressive 50% shooting from the field, showing great improvement from their 30% efficiency throught their previous two summer exhibitions.

Charlotte’s Summer League Head Coach Marlon Garnett believes that the difference between both team’s displays were in the details.

“Small details, especially in the first half,” he said. “They started backcutting us and getting easy layups and the offensive rebound game really hurt us. First half, we got back in the game with a few decent offensive possessions. I told them at halftime, ‘Don’t be confused that we got back in it with our defense because we didn’t.’

“It’s unfortunate that in a game where the intensity and effort were solid, it was just small plays where you lose possessions.”

While Nick Smith Jr. outscored everyone on court and was especially clutch with 16 points to his name in the fourth quarter, the draft’s No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller contributed with 26 throughout the match. Most importantly, the team refined their shooting accuracy with 7-of-17 from beyond the arc and 87% from the free-throw line.

“Obviously, I made a couple more shots, but I had couple good looks,” expressed Smith Jr. “Kai [Jones] and the other bigs were setting good screens for me. I had to use my creativity to get my shot up at the end. I just got it going and I wanted to use that to the best of my ability. I’m just getting more comfortable being out there.”

Hornets Summer League coach praised his rookies’ latest performance after only three games wearing the Charlotte jersey

According to Garnett, their rising stars are learning about the NBA’s intensity as they go, taking on new plays as they grow in aggression.

Check out their best highlights after combining for two thirds of Charlotte’s points last night:

“They looked like they had a mindset of being a little more aggressive, especially Nick. Nick got it going. We tried to put him in situations where guys were struggling to stay in front of him,” the coach said. “He was making some plays. It was good to see him getting rolling. I liked the pop Brandon had today. Good offensive games, but we must be better with the small details.”

Portland was led by sophomore guard Shaedon Sharpe who hit 26 points, 17 of those which came in the last quarter including some dominant three-pointers.

The North Carolina franchise are preparing to face the New Orleans Pelicans this Thursday, July 13 at the Cox Pavilion. Tip off starts at 7:30pm ET.