Charlotte Hornets: Player grades from the big win in Detroit
The Charlotte Hornets defeated the Detroit Pistons on Sunday afternoon by a score of 113-103, led by Kemba Walker and Tony Parker who each scored 24 points in the victory.
The Charlotte Hornets had lost four games a row on the road and put forth a full team effort to move to 6th place in the Eastern Conference. After a heartbreaking, one point overtime loss in Philadelphia on Friday, the team bounced back and moved to 7-6 on the season.
The team had their foot on the gas starting the second half, starting a 7-0 run. This set the pace for the rest of the game as the Hornets would go on to outscore the Pistons 62-54 over the last two quarters.
Charlotte played intense defense in the second half, they were doubling when the Detroit Pistons passed the ball into the paint, reaching 6 steals as a team. This would occasionally free up shooters on the perimeter, which kept the Pistons close throughout the second half.
Reggie Bullock finished with six makes from three-point range, while Langston Galloway and Reggie Jackson each added two of their own.
Tony Parker was sensational, scoring 24 points off the bench, putting in another vintage performance we have become accustomed to seeing over his 18-year Hall-of-Fame career. He scored the dagger three-point shot, pushing the lead to 12 with 45.8 seconds left.
We are going to go through every player’s performance tonight, as we prepare to follow up tonight’s performance with another road win in Cleveland on Tuesday night.
Disclaimer: Dwayne Bacon, Bismack Biyombo and Devonte’ Grahman did not log minutes tonight, so they will not be graded.
B-. <a href=. SF/PF. Charlotte Hornets. MICHAEL KIDD-GILCHRIST
B. <a href=. C/PF. Charlotte Hornets. WILLY HERNANGOMEZ
C. Malik went 0-3 from three-point range and 0-5 from the floor, but was perfect from the charity stripe hitting all four of his free throws. He did add five rebounds and two assists, but he could not get anything to fall tonight.<p>I can’t say anyone on the team tonight did anything wrong on the defensive end tonight, they were all active and all played a part.</p><p>Malik’s grade would be worse tonight, if it was not for him getting flipped by Blake Griffin on a drive to the hoop in the second half, resulting in Blake getting a Flagrant II upon review and being immediately ejected.</p><p>Hopefully his shots can drop against Cleveland on Tuesday night.</p>. SG. Charlotte Hornets. MALIK MONK
B. Jeremy put in another solid performance, showing no sign of his groin problem that took him out of Fridays game in Philly. Jeremy scored 10 PTS on 4-6 shooting, and added 6 RBDs and 3 assists. He played the way he is expected, created when he needed to and ran the offense as he is expected. He nailed a couple of pull-up mid-range jumpers, and added some solid play on the defensive end. His play tonight solidified his starting spot for at the least the next couple games. He did not play out of his mind, but shot when he was open and continues to show solid decision making skills when he gets passed the ball.. SG. Charlotte Hornets. JEREMY LAMB
B+. Miles returned home to his state of Michigan and gave his family, and everyone in the building the moment of the night when he added to his highlight-reel of dunks, after taking a pass from Tony Parker as he cut to the basket and slammed it in with his right hand. Miles added eight points and hit both of his free-throws in his one trip to the line. He added eight rebounds, and showed his athleticism on the boards, using his length throughout the night to grab rebounds. As he gets more comfortable in his time on the court, he certainly has the potential to be a 20-20 player. Happy with how active he was, but still need more creativity off the dribble.. SF. Charlotte Hornets. MILES BRIDGES
C+. Marvin hit some key three-pointers, where he was left open after the Pistons doubled Kemba off the pick-and-roll. He hit 3-7 from behind the arc and added 10 points in his 27 minutes. He was okay on the boards, but was intense on the defensive end picking up two steals. He hit shots from behind the arc, and now firmly holds the 3rd spot in franchise history for three-pointers made. I would like more activity on the boards for our starting power forward, but he gave full effort throughout the evening preventing his grade from being lower.. PF. Charlotte Hornets. MARVIN WILLIAMS
A+. Tony turned in another vintage performance, scoring a season high and team-leading 24 points. Throughout the night, he controlled the second unit and also worked very well while Kemba was on the floor with him. It seems that Tony can score whenever he feels like it. He had the hot hand putting the ball in the basket. These performances from him are awesome to watch. He may be San Antonio’s, but these nights show that he belongs in Charlotte. He hit the dagger, pushing the lead to 12 in the final minute. Pure emotion after he hit the shot also! A+++++. PG. Charlotte Hornets. TONY PARKER
CODY ZELLER. B+. Cody fouled out tonight but put in a very good night of basketball. He was constantly on the floor, and he was giving it his all against Drummond in the post. He contested countless shots from Drummond, and that won’t show up on the score sheet but his physicality tonight is what helped us ease to our first road win in 5 games. Cody scored 14 PTS and shot 45% from the floor, while adding 6 RBDs and 3 Blocks. It was a classic Cody effort, from our Center.. C. Charlotte Hornets
Charlotte Hornets. NICOLAS BATUM. A-. If I was grading Nic strictly off his scoring tonight, it would be an F. He played 34 minutes and only scored five points, but he helped the team in other places. He sort of took the role of MKG in his absence, leading the team in rebounds with eight. He had three assists, two steals and also added a block. Yes, we need more scoring out a starting SF, but he worked hard without the ball in what turned out to be a scrappy game inside the arc. He excelled in the hustle stat categories. Need more scoring from him, or Miles might take that starting spot before the end of the month. But….they say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.. SF
A+. Kemba was HOT. He continued his hot scoring streak and added 24 points tonight. It could have been more if Tony Parker was not feeling it as much as he was. The huge difference tonight compared to Friday, was Kemba’s scoring through the first three quarters. On Friday in Philly, he only had eight points going into the fourth quarter. On Sunday, he had been heating up with Tony leading into the 4th. He led the team with eight assists, bagged two three-pointers and hit his four free throw attempts. Kemba and Tony should share the game ball. It WAS a vintage game from Kemba Walker in a big game on the road after the tough loss to Philly. “The Captain” did his thing tonight, creating his shots and setting up his teammates.. PG. Charlotte Hornets. KEMBA WALKER
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