Magic Pull Away in Second Half to Hand Hornets Another Tough Loss.

The Charlotte Hornets fell to the Orlando Magic 123-107 at home Thursday night, continuing to expose the glaring hole that the loss of Brandon Miller leaves. 

Charlotte got off to a rocky start, allowing Orlando to build a 38-31 lead after the first quarter and extend it to 71-58 by halftime. The Hornets showed a brief push early in the third quarter, pulling to within 88-85, but a key run by the Magic regained control and Charlotte never seriously challenged after that. 

Charles Lee continues to show he's all about experimenting with his rotations especially with Brandon Miller out. Charlotte went with three rookies in the starting lineup. There was the typical spots for Kon Knueppel and Ryan Kalkbrenner, but Sion James got into a starting role tonight, as well.

Charles Lee has been showing a lot of trust in Sion James since opening night and James has absolutely made the most of it. Tonight he finished with 8 points and got about 28 minutes of play.

Ryan Kalkbrenner also continues to look very comfortable in the starting center role. He finished with a season high  17 points, tonight. So far, he's scored double digits in every game expect for the win at Washington on Sunday night.

LaMelo Ball delivered 17 points and 13 assists, marking his third double-double of the season. While his efforts kept the team in moments of contention, it wasn't enough to offset the rest of the roster’s uneven performance and the defensive breakdowns that plagued the Hornets all night.

Head coach Charles Lee acknowledged postgame that the team’s defensive execution “was not good enough,” highlighting struggles in the paint, too many second-chance points allowed, and a lack of stops in transition. Without consistent stops, Charlotte struggled to get a pace going offensively.

 This was just Orlando's second win of the season. The magic had very balanced scoring, led by Franz Wagner with 21 points and Paolo Banchero with 18 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

For Charlotte, the main takeaway seems to be continuing to figure out who they are without Brandon Miller and trying to develop a better defensive foundation so their offensive fire power can keep up with some of the top tier offenses in the NBA.

The Hornets will host an Anthony Edwards-less Minnesota Timberwolves team on Saturday night. Even without Ant, it'll still be a good test for Charlotte.