Charlotte Hornets remain perfect in Summer League play

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Nick Smith Jr. has led the Charlotte Hornets in scoring in both Las Vegas Summer League games, including 21 points in an 80-66 win Tuesday against Denver.

The Bugs can’t be stopped.

Charlotte, which improved to 5-0 (2-0 Vegas) in Summer League play with an 80-66 win against Denver, outscored the Nuggets in three of four quarters, and after leading by just three points at halftime, dominated the second half.

Acting head coach Josh Longstaff was pleased with the team’s performance, and even more so their preparation and willingness to improve.

“We want to be obsessed with daily improvement and these guys are improving every day,” he said. “We want to be relentless competitors. They’ve competed through being up, being down, practice, games, and done a great job with that. And we want to be the most together team and I think it's really shown the last two games. I thought we handled the end-of-game situation today better than we did against New York.”

With star forward Brandon Miller limited to one game this summer, it left a starting spot open for first round pick Tidjane Salaün, who got off to a slow start but finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 4-of-8 in just over 19 minutes.

Miller had 23 points in his sole Summer League game, one point shy of tying teammate Nick Smith Jr. With the Hornets’ front office knowing Miller will be an asset in the regular season, they likely don’t want to risk injury in the Summer League.

Smith had the best showing against Denver with 21 points as well as grabbing six rebounds. Besides teammate Zavier Simpson, Smith had the second most minutes of anyone on the roster and has shown versatility.

He has been Charlotte’s leading scorer in both Las Vegas games going into tonight’s contest against Boston (1-1).

One thing that has stood out to Lonstaff is the sense of unity the new ownership want to instill.

“It really starts from the top,” he said. “Our ownership had a dinner last night for the vets that are all here; the whole team was there. It was unique, like I'd never seen it, and I've been in the league 15 years. Those things matter. A lot of people speak like they want to do it the right way, I really think that the Hornets are trying to do it the right way and show that they care. It really starts there.”

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