Three Takeaways from the Hornets Victory Over the Portland Trail Blazers

On a chilly Saturday afternoon in Charlotte, the Portland Trail Blazers came to town to take on a white-hot Charlotte Hornets team, which had its first clean injury report of the entire season.

The Trail Blazers, on the other hand, would be missing their All-Star Deni Avdija, who was announced out shortly before the game after being marked as doubtful headed in. The Blazers had won seven of their last eleven, and would be the barrier between the Hornets and being within one game of .500 for the first time since they were 3-4 on November 2nd.

While the game remained close with the Hornets holding leads between 6-10 throughout, Charlotte took over in the fourth quarter to eventually take hold of the game. With a dominant fourth quarter, the Hornets were able to take home a 109-93 victory over the Trail Blazers.

The Hornets extended their win streak to four games, marking their second time this season with a win streak of four games or longer. It's the first time they have done so since the 2021-22 season, and only the third season where it has happened this decade.

Brandon Miller

After warming up in moose antlers, Miller put together another impressive performance during Saturday's victory. Miller has started to come into his own as of late and has been the Hornets' best scorer since the calendar changed to 2026.

Miller scored 26 points while shooting 6-11 from deep and grabbed seven rebounds to go along with it. He's breaking out in front of our eyes, and it has been spectacular to watch.

Coby White

Coby White put together the scoring performance that fans were excited about when the Hornets dealt for him at the trade deadline. While his shooting splits were not fantastic, the guard recorded 20 points, marking his highest scoring game as a Hornet.

The Hornets have been excellent with the guard on the court this season, and he continues to look like a phenomenal trade deadline addition from Jeff Peterson. Even when White is not scoring, his playmaking has been a difference maker off the bench, something the Hornets were missing up until this point.

The three point shooting (somewhat) came back to Earth

In their three games heading in, the Hornets were shooting 48.3% from deep, hitting 72 threes over that timeframe. While it was an incredible watch, it was always clear that water would find its level at some point, and Saturday afternoon was that point.

The Hornets still shot 38.5% from deep, hitting 15 total threes instead of the 24.0 per game average that they have done over their three wins headed in.