Recap/Analysis: Matt Morgan leads Hornets to win over Blazers – At The Hive

Matt Morgan was perfect from the field in a 36 point performance that led the Charlotte Hornets to a win over the Portland Trail Blazers, 84-68.

The Summary

The game got off to a very ugly start. Both teams struggled to put the ball in the basket, but the Hornets grinded out to an early lead. The Trail Blazers took 17 3-point attempts before they finally hit their first one. While they were chucking those up to no avail, the Hornets built themselves a double digit lead. Tidjane Salaün worked for a couple of buckets at the basket to help with that. The Blazers cut the lead to seven by halftime thanks to a dominant stretch from Donovan Clingan to close the half.

The Hornets went deep into the bag to start the second half with a 9-0 run. That run consisted of among other buckets, a Zavier Simpson running sky hook and Salaün beating a defender with an inside out move off the dribble and scoring at the rim. The Hornets went on to win the third quarter 25-8 with Matt Morgan leading the way. Morgan stayed hot into the fourth and the Hornets pulled away to cruise to a comfortable win.

The Good

Matt Morgan went nuts, especially in the second half. He played himself into the game with some easy layups and spot up threes, then started taking progressively more difficult shots to keep checking his heat. He hit a corner three from almost out of bounds as he was drifting into the corner. He pulled up from very deep off the dribble a couple of times. It was one of, if not the best shooting performance you’ll ever see in a summer league game. He finished with 36 points in just 22 minutes. He was 11-of-11 from the field and 7-of-7 from three. He’s surely earned himself a contract somewhere, hopefully with the Hornets/Swarm.

Zavier Simpson gets a shoutout alongside Morgan for the tremendous summer league guard play. He finished with 18 points, eight assists, four steals, and two blocks. One of those steals was him straight ripping the ball away from a Blazer as he went up for a fast break layup attempt. Another player that will hopefully stick around the organization.

Tidjane Salaün had several non-box score plays that impressed me. He has good ideas and great physical tools, which is a great starting point for a young player. He had some heady tips to teammates and snappy passes. He used an in and out dribble from a standstill to attack the basket. It was far from a perfect performance, but the flashes were there.

Jake Stephens had a really good game. He’s limited as an athlete, but his positioning was really good in this one, which mitigated his athletic disadvantages. He’s been a very good offensive presence more often than not, and playing defense like he did tonight makes him a good player. 14 points, three made 3-pointers, and three assists are hard numbers to get from a center.

The Bad

Nick Smith Jr.’s shooting came crashing all the way down. He didn’t make a shot from the field until the middle of the fourth quarter and finished the game with four points on 1-of-11 shooting. There were moments where it looked like he had directives to be aggressive, because a couple of those misses were very forced outside the flow of the offense.

While he showed flashes Salaün also had a number of plays that suggest he’s not quite ready to be a regular contributor for the Hornets. He was sped up and seemingly nervous. He bobbled some passes and fumbled a rebound out of bounds. He attempted a pull-up three off the dribble that had some bad footwork and missed about a foot to the right. He shot an awkward floater from the elbow as well. He, like Smith, was probably encouraged to hunt for his own shot, but that didn’t turn out well all that often. Like I said above, the flashes of talent were there and he has the mind to be a good player. He just needs to corral his exuberance.

Leaky Black didn’t score, again. Brandon Slater played nine minutes, attempted zero shots, and turned the ball over three times. James Banks had some really rough shot attempts, hitting the bottom of the rim on a layup attempt, and nearly banking in a three he shot about three feet to far.

What’s Next

The Hornets have one more game on Sunday at 6:30 Eastern against the Nets.