Undersized Charlotte Hornets run past Bulls in Chicago, end three-game losing streak

The city of Charlotte needed a pick-me-up after the Panthers blew another chance at securing a playoff berth and winning the NFC South, so naturally, the Charlotte Hornets delivered.

After a slow start, the Hornets rallied to dominate the Bulls for the final three quarters of tonight's contest. Down all three centers on standard NBA contracts and emergency fill-in center Tidjane Salaun, Charlotte played tonight's contest with all nine of their players standing at 6'8" or shorter.

However, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog, right?

Despite the major discrepancy in size, Charlotte won the rebounding battle 52-43, and nearly matched Chicago's scoring production in the paint (46-52). All things considered, it was a truly astounding effort on the second night of a back-to-back, and everyone donning the Hornets' logo on the sideline tonight deserves some credit.

Below is a series of thoughts, stats, and highlights from the game bundled into a neat package I like to call the four-point play.

1 Highlight of the Game

This game resembled more of a street fight than a headline title bout in Vegas as there weren't a ton of flashy highlights to choose from.

In that spirit, we'll make this defensive possession from the third quarter tonight's highlight as I believe it is emblematic of how the Hornets pulled out a victory in Chicago.

Great defensive possession for the undermanned Hornets here.

Multiple efforts from everyone involved, well-communicated switches, physicality, etc.

Exactly how you have to play when Miles Bridges is the biggest player in the lineup. pic.twitter.com/qhvhpi6c6W
— Matt Alquiza (@malquiza8) January 4, 2026

The connectivity of the switches, the physicality on the perimeter, the pass deflections, and the overall effort shown on this play is everything 'Hornets DNA' is about. Size deficit be damned, Charlotte wasn't going to go down without a fight tonight and their win was spearheaded by this level of intensity on defense.

2 Game-Defining Statistics

Chicago's 15.4% offensive rebounding percentage
Chicago's 11.6 free throw rate

To add some context to those numbers, the Bull's OREB percentage was in the 4th percentile of all NBA games played this season, and their free throw rate was in the 7th percentile.

By those numbers alone, you would think that Chicago was the team playing without their four of their top five center options.

The Hornets defensive rebounded 84.6% of the Bulls’ misses tonight - a truly dominant performance on the glass all things considered.
— Matt Alquiza (@malquiza8) January 4, 2026

The Hornets' were a well-oiled machine on defense after a second quarter tune-up. Charles Lee's squad struggled with the Bulls' lightning-quick pace and relentless siege on the paint in the game's first twelve minutes, but once the Hornets caught their wind, Chicago had no answers.

Charlotte varied their defensive coverages, playing their preferred drop coverage in pick and rolls for stretches, mixing in heavy-switching on the perimeter, and even dropping into zone for possessions at a time, all in an effort to muddy the game up and force Chicago's offense to play late into the shot clock.

The Bulls' had the league's seventh-highest frequency of transition possessions coming into the game, and the Hornets held them well below their per-game average tonight.

3 Players of the Game

Miles Bridges - 26 points, 14 rebounds, 1 steal, 11/18 shooting
Brandon Miller - 22 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 8/19 shooting
LaMelo Ball - 17 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 7/15 shooting

Bridges was awesome in this one.

Forced to play the majority of the contest as a (super) small-ball center, Bridges looked comfortable on both ends tonight. He held his own as the primary defender on noted Hornets-killer Nikola Vucevic, and when Charlotte switched on defense, Bridges swallowed Chicago's guards with supreme physicality.

On offense, he took what was given to him, and rarely forced up shots out of the flow of the Hornets' offense.

Miller got red hot late in the third quarter and continued his bender into the fourth. His hot shooting freed him up to operate as a playmaker, and the Hornets fed off of Miller's gravity down the stretch. Miller was impactful on defense too, squelching Chicago's fast-paced ball movement with multiple efforts and deflections across his 36 minutes of action.

Brandon Miller is on one right now.

Gets Buzelis dancing and drops this sweet dime to PJ Hall who does a nice job working the dunker spot. pic.twitter.com/4j1ysKiKqN
— Matt Alquiza (@malquiza8) January 4, 2026

Lastly, LaMelo Ball was the ultimate conductor tonight.

He came out of the gates with his eyes on facilitating, dishing passes all over the court to his open teammates. He eventually got busy as a shooter, bending the Bulls' defense to his will by knocking down jumpers in the unsuspecting eyes of Chicago's defenders.

Most importantly though, Ball continued to make winning plays on the glass and on defense, looking as engaged of a two-way player as he has in recent memory.

4 Takeaways from the Win

1. Charlotte valued the basketball

Turnovers have been Charlotte's bugaboo for the majority of the season, but they didn't succumb to their bad habits tonight. The Hornets only turned the ball over 11 times in the game, which was key in keeping the Bulls out of the open floor.

2. Collin Sexton is as fun as he is maddening

The Collin Sexton experience is quite the roller coaster.

He's a talented shot maker that is at his best when he can get downhill and touch the paint. However, when he gets there, Sexton suffers from tunnel vision and fails to make plays for his teammates when they're available, opting for contested two-point shots instead of eagled-eyed kick outs.

When Sexton is right, though, he is a delight.

He is an absolute pest in the most complimentary of ways, evidenced by the possession in which he drew a loose ball foul on Nikola Vucevic. The Hornets really value Sexton's offense at times, as his veteran savvy is key in cutting through stagnant possessions.

Sexton's name is likely to come up in rumors ahead of the trade deadline, and I can totally understand both sides of the argument to either trade him or keep him around in Charlotte.

3. Charlotte is red hot from deep

LaMelo Ball sunk Charlotte's 15th three of the contest late into the fourth quarter, which caused an uproar from the incomprable Eric Collins.

Collins opined that Ball's corner three-pointer made tonight's game the seventh in a row that the Hornets have made at least 15 three-pointers, a franchise record.

It is no coincidence that Ball, Brandon Miller, and Kon Knueppel have played in the majority of those contest, as Charlotte's offense is one of the best in the league when those three are available.

4. Kon Knueppel's winning impact

Kon Knueppel had a rough shooting night.

He only made four of his fourteen field goal attempts in the game, and just two of his six three point attempts. The marker of a great player is an ability to impact the game even when their shot isn't falling, and Kon did so by getting to the line nine times and making eight free throws, both career-highs.