Hornets DESTROY Nets 136-117! | Brandon Miller’s 25 PTS & LaMelo’s ALLEY-OOP Fest | Rookies START 🤯
What a beautiful game to watch. The Hornets started the season with a dominant 136-117 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, a performance that earned them a standing ovation in the renovated Spectrum Center. That 136-point total is a new Hornets franchise record for a season opener, and the offensive crispness was a night-and-day difference from last season.
The story of the night was the connection between LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. Miller led all scorers with 25 points and seven assists, and LaMelo (who finished with 20 points) fed him three spectacular alley-oops. Miles Bridges also picked up right where he left off, posting a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. The scoring was incredibly balanced, with nine of the ten players who touched the floor reaching double figures.
We also have to credit the rookies, as Kon Knueppel and Ryan Kalkbrenner both got the opening night start, with Zion James also seeing 16 minutes. The bench was fantastic, fueled by Moussa Diabaté’s energy (13 points, 9 rebounds) , Collin Sexton’s aggressive driving, and Trey Mann’s 6 assists. While the team took this game seriously, we must also acknowledge the negatives—17 turnovers and too many fouls.
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23 Comments
I’m excited for this year, I do believe we can make the play-in or possibly be the 8th seed situation this year which would be moving in the right direction
Rookies looked good! Especially Kalk! Going to be a presence down low!
If you can only do one game, Opening night is always the best game to go to. The energy, the crowd, and the atmosphere are all at peak levels.
That was some of the best ball movement I have ever seen from a hornets team. The amount of times I saw Brandon miller or Lamelo pass up a good 3 to a guy for a wide open 3 is something we hadn’t seen the past couple years! I love that and hope it continues!
Also love b miller getting a few shots in the mid range again, I hope coach Lee allows him to put up 4-5 of his shots there as that’s the most efficient part of his game!
4:27 at this point, there is no evidence that the 2025-2026 Charlotte Hornets can do anything other than win like this
I spoke Ryan into the Starting Lineup FOR THE HORNETS since last year before the College Season ENDED please go back and look.
NBA CUP Championship 🏆 here we come 💪🏾
If they can clean up the fouls and make their free-throws, that would be great! Other than that, this was a great opening night!
Great game, but I don't want to peak in october and I am not convinced that the Nets are really a team that proves anything. Will be really interested to see how we do when our shot isn't falling and what kind of defense and grit this team has for real competitive basketball.
Go Hornets, great game, great win, and also I have never been happier that we traded Terry when we did WHEW 🥵
I can always says “I was there” when things changed
Have never had an NBA team, but may become a Hornets fan. Miller and Sexton being my main reason why (im an Alabama fan, we dont have much in the NBA lol)
Please take the team off of FanDuel Network and put on local TV. Watch the fanbase respond.
with the wrist injury, Bmill should be the point guard over lamelo. lamelo plays more efficiently and more winning basketball off the ball. And Bmill can take less 3 pts and harms the team less.
Pleeeeeease let this be a foretelling of things to come!! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🐝
Put that hat back on, be the real Branson, a real person
Its really hard to listen to this podcast at work…Sexton, kalkbrenner, kneuppel in succesion just got me the side eye from the boss.
Fun game to watch, cant ask for more than that effort lastnight.
I was absolutely delighted to watch that game. Very impressive display from well everyone.
We have talent we have depth and seem to have good team chemistry and long may it continue.
Great podcast Doug 🙌🏻, what a performance and a brilliant way to start the season 😃. It was great to see the new players on the roster have solid games and also our big 3 looking sharp 🙌🏻. Everyone played well and it was good to see 8/9 guys having a big impact on the game. The likes of Tre Mann and Colin coming off the bench is lethal especially with the 2nd unit, Kon and Kalk brilliant debuts 🏀. Was great to see Brandon driving to the basket and showing some playmaking ability 👍🏻, let’s go Hornets 🙌🏻
Good to have you back Doug. The Stella’s were flowing from the new bars in the concourse. The offense was fluid and shots were draining right there with em. Hugo was in sicko mode playing master of ceremonies. What an incredible evening.
Biceps don't get rebounds, it's the base and back. In the preseason, Miller was boxing out bigs and Miles and Melo would fly in from the perimeter and grab the board. I agree that Miller's lack of rebounding could be scheme but it also seems he's doesn't want to fight teammates for stats. It was one of the most entertaining Hornets games in a long time. Great podcast too.
And mind you, a sniper and aggressive player like like McNeely didn't even play. This speaks to how deep this team is.