The Milwaukee Bucks fell to the Charlotte Hornets. Tyler Herro led all Bucks scorers with 18 points in 23 minutes, followed by Ryan Rollins (12 in 23) and Kyle Kuzma (12 in 22). Brandon Miller—marked as day-to-day before the game—showed out, dropping 18 points in 23 minutes. Brayden Burries, Nate Ament, and Kasparas Jakucionis were all inactive for the Bucks.
Game Recap
The Bucks began the game on the right foot, with Tyler Herro converting a midrange floater to open the scoring. Soon, led by triples from Ryan Rollins and Jaime Jaquez Jr., the Bucks jumped to a 10-2 lead. However, the up-tempo Hornets offense worked wonders, getting the home team back into it and tying the game at 13—Bucks timeout. Royce O’Neale took the lead with 4:17 remaining, but AJ Green answered with a 28-foot three-pointer to tie it. Triples from Tidjane Salaun (he can shoot now!) and Sion James, however, pushed Charlotte’s lead to six shortly thereafter. Kevin Porter Jr. rose over Ryan Kalkbrenner to throw down a contact dunk, and Jericho Sims had a nice reverse layup to narrow the lead, but Charlotte held on to end the quarter, up 29-26.
Although Kyle Kuzma connected early in the second quarter, the Hornets kept rolling over Milwaukee—mostly in transition. A Brandon Miller three widened Charlotte’s lead to six, forcing a Milwaukee timeout. From there, the Hornets clicked as the Bucks’ offense stalled. Miller had 11 second-quarter points, while key scorers like Herro remained muted. The Bucks also struggled with ball handling, committing seven first-half turnovers. That said, Milwaukee ran a 10-3 stretch to cut Charlotte’s lead to two with three minutes left in the half, but Charlotte answered with 13 unanswered points—led by Naz Reid and Sion James—to close out the half up 60-45.
The Bucks struggled to find their footing from long range, while the Hornets kept dancing around Milwaukee’s defense. Without Kel’el Ware on the court, Milwaukee’s bigs looked slow to switch on the perimeter. They also looked especially vulnerable on screens, where Charlotte could either find an open corner shooter when the defense collapsed or trap the Bucks big in a favourable two-on-one. Charlotte’s advantage stayed steady, led by their small-ball pairing of Naz Reid and Moussa Diabaté. A thunderous Ryan Kalkbrenner lob put the home team up 20 with just over two minutes remaining. The Bucks’ offense looked unresponsive to anything the Hornets’ defense gave it; they didn’t shoot well from three, and they weren’t good at banging it out in the post. The Hornets had a big lead at the end of third quarter, up 87-67.
The game was all but over as the final frame began. Charlotte put in a reserve lineup led by first-round draft pick Hannes Steinbach and two-way center PJ Hall, while Herro, Kuzma, and Porter tried to close the Hornets’ 20-point lead. The Hornets scrapped against the Bucks’ starters, taking charges, grappling for offensive rebounds, and making extra passes to find open teammates on the perimeter. Eventually, he Bucks threw in the towel and trotted out Pete Nance, Kam Jones, and Jake Stephens, who made his preseason debut. Despite Stephens’ late three-pointer to close out the game, it was too little, too late as the Hornets strolled out of Spectrum Center with the win.
Stat That Stood Out
The Bucks shot 3/17 from three during the second quarter. That shooting slump let the Hornets build a large lead and eventually run away with the game. It seemed like no one, including the Bucks’ sharpshooters, could find the net.
Obscene Overreaction
Will Kevin Porter Jr. struggle heavily this season? He hasn’t scored double digits in the preseason, and his performance today—six points on 1/6 shooting—was particularly underwhelming. With so much guard depth on the roster, KPJ could quickly fall out of Milwaukee’s rotation.
