Pistons Erase 12-Point Deficit, Hand Hornets 97-89 Loss
Brandon Miller put up 31 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals and still ended up on the losing side. Detroit erased a double-digit second-quarter hole to beat Charlotte 97-89, with Cade Cunningham matching Miller nearly point-for-point at 30 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals.
Charlotte came out swinging. Naz Reid opened the scoring with a 28-foot three and followed it with an 8-footer, both assisted by Sion James, and Miller added a running layup and a free throw to push the lead to 8-0 before Detroit got on the board. The Hornets kept building — Miller's 24-foot three made it 13-4 — but Cunningham refused to let Detroit get buried, chipping away with a driving layup, a free throw, and two Cunningham-assisted buckets from John Collins to tie it at 16. The quarter ended with Charlotte clinging to a 22-21 edge after Royce O'Neale hit a 27-foot running jumper off a Grayson Allen feed.
The second quarter is where Miller took over — and where Charlotte's lead peaked and then evaporated. He scored 12 straight Hornets points across a stretch that included two driving dunks, a 25-foot three, and a turnaround jumper, pushing Charlotte to 40-28 with six minutes left in the half. That 12-point cushion looked commanding. It didn't last. Detroit's supporting cast — Paul Reed, Daniss Jenkins, Duncan Robinson — ground the deficit down through the rest of the half and kept grinding through the third and fourth quarters. The Pistons' collective defense, led by Robinson's 4 steals and Reed's 3 steals and a block, appears to have been the difference-maker when Charlotte's offense cooled.
The single play that best captured the swing was Daniss Jenkins' 34-foot jump bank shot with 0.4 seconds left in the second quarter, assisted by Kevin Huerter — Detroit's win probability moved from 25% to 35% on that one shot. It looks like a small number, but the psychological weight of a half-court banker going in right before the break is hard to overstate. Jenkins finished with 14 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals; Robinson added 13 points on top of those 4 steals; and Reed contributed 16 points, 3 steals, and a block off the bench. The story of the night was Detroit's depth overwhelming Charlotte's reliance on Miller. When Miller was cooking, Charlotte led. When Detroit spread the scoring load across four contributors all finishing in double figures, the Hornets had no answer. Final: Detroit 97, Charlotte 89.