What stood out most in Hornets’ NBA Summer League loss to New Orleans
Christian Anderson’s evident expression summed up the moment.
With the Charlotte Hornets trailing the New Orleans Pelicans by three points in the waning seconds of their NBA Las Vegas Summer League matchup, a scramble ensued. The ball found its way to Anderson and the Hornets’ rookie scanned the floor and tried to throw a pass inside the paint for an easy bucket.
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Anderson’s pass wound up being a turnover and ended the Hornets’ final gasp.
“(It’s about) just staying poised and composed during the stretch of the game,” Anderson said after the Hornets’ 95-91 loss at Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday. “A lot of our turnovers. It wasn’t bad reads, just bad passes. I feel like (it’s) just going into the next game knowing that we need to stay a little bit more calm, and not rush and kind of control the game when we’re up that much.”
Handling ball pressure was a tad bit difficult for the Hornets and that could be a slight concern given Charlotte must tap someone to be the backup point guard behind starter Coby White with LaMelo Ball off to Minnesota. Sion James is getting a long look at the position and has had his struggles, including turning the ball over on the play prior to Anderson’s pass not landing at its intended target.
New Orleans dialed up the intensity on the defensive end in the fourth quarter and sealed the Hornets’ first loss in the desert since 2024 — along with ending the Pelicans’ own 12-game losing streak in summer league — thanks to outpacing the Hornets 18-3 in the final minutes.
“I think this game is (about) just take care of the ball, just play with more control,” rookie big man Hannes Steinbach said. “We were up the whole game, then just kind of give it away in the end. So just play with control. Don’t give the ball away.”
Chalk it up as those inevitable growing pains.
“Yeah, we got to help them a little bit,” Hornets summer league coach Blaine Mueller said. “Get our 5s up there, give them a little screen, early screen with early step ups to try to create some of that space. And some of it’s on them. In terms of getting to our spots, understanding where we’re trying to go with the ball and be able to dictate where they’re going to make that entry pass is a big part of. Big part of it.”
Of course, Anderson and fellow rookie Steinbach are learning on the fly, still embroiled in a whirlwind of sorts after getting drafted and officially becoming pros less than a month ago.
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Even during summer league, which doesn’t feature the biggest of bruisers that will be on the court during the NBA season, the players have more mass and are bulkier. That takes some getting used to, as the newcomers begin to find out rather quickly, when they feel as if they were on the court in a bumper car.
“It’s a lot more physical,” Anderson said. “It’s kind of like a fight. Every single possession, the holding and grabbing, you’ve got to be in super shape for it all. I told my coach, it was like a boxing match. You’ve got to think, you’ve got to be physical, you’ve got to know what you want to do.
“So, just making that jump from college to this level, I’ve just got to get stronger and just be ready for it all. Because these are the best athletes in the world. So you’ve just got to do the fights.”
The key is also turning those pains into gains.
“I just think we’re getting better as we go on,” Anderson said. “As a team, we lost this game, but I felt like the whole game we were doing good and we were putting the pressure on them. But we just had a little bit of mistakes at the end that cost us the game. But I feel like as a team I think we’re getting better.
“We’re grasping concepts a little bit better. So, I think we’re just overall improving, and I think myself (it’s) just keep getting more feel for it and just keep doing better than that.”
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