Brandon Miller scored six points on 2-of-14 shooting last Friday. The next night he scored 34. Then 39. And on Wednesday in Detroit, Miller put up 31 points and 12 rebounds for his third straight 30-point game, something he had never done in his career, The Hornets still lost 97-89 to the Pistons.
The Brandon Miller 30-point streak is a startling turnaround, and a revealing one.
Brandon Miller 30-Point Streak: 24 Points in Two Games, Then 104 in Three
Through his first two games, Miller had scored 24 points in total, 18 against Brooklyn on 7-of-21 shooting and the six against Atlanta.
Then came Saturday, when he scored 34 on 10-of-29 with 11-of-12 at the free-throw line in a 115-110 win over Miami.
On Monday he scored a career-high 39 on 15-of-28 shooting with five threes in a 110-103 win over Washington, topping his previous high of 38, and became the second-fastest player to reach 500 made threes, doing it in his 170th game. The Washington game was the fourth time he’d hit 30 in back-to-back games, but he’d never done it three games running.
The Detroit game made it 37-of-83 from the field across the streak. He is scoring on volume, not efficiency, and doing it with Coby White and Kon Knueppel and top reserve Grant Williams all still out.
Why Detroit Won Anyway
Miller had 21 points by halftime as Charlotte built a 51-44 lead. Then the Pistons won the third quarter 32-19, with Duncan Robinson and Paul Reed each hitting two threes. Miller scored four points in the final 15 minutes and missed five of his seven shots in the fourth.
The Hornets also turned it over 25 times to Detroit’s 14, and Dennis Schröder’s 14 points were the only other double-figure total on the team. Cade Cunningham scored a season-high 30 for the Pistons, who were coming off a loss at New York and played without Jalen Duren and Isaiah Joe.
Naz Reid, who had seven points and six rebounds in 13 first-half minutes, did not play the second half after Hornets coach Charles Lee said he “didn’t meet our standards.”
A Streak Built on a Lot of Shots
Here’s my read. A 30-point streak this long is a testament to Miller’s confidence, especially five days after what looked like a nightmare. It’s also a sign of how much weight Charlotte is asking him to carry.
He took 83 shots in three games and Charlotte still lost the one where he also grabbed 12 rebounds. The Hornets are 3-2 with two starters and their top reserve missing, which says the Miller-centered plan works more often than it doesn’t.
The loss in Detroit shows the ceiling. When the turnovers pile up and nobody else scores, even 31 and 12 isn’t enough.
Brandon Miller 30-Point Streak Began the Night After a 2-of-14 Disaster