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\n![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Brandon_Miller_shot.jpg\"\/)
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\nCharlotte Hornets guard Brandon Miller drives to the basket in their 118-100 loss to Detroit April 10, 2026 at Spectrum Center. The loss relegated Charlotte (43-38) to the ninth or 10th seed in the Eastern Conference postseason.\u00a0
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It wasn\u2019t the regular season home finale the Hornets wanted.<\/p>\n
After a competitive first three quarters, Charlotte lost 118-100 to the Eastern Conference top seed Detroit Pistons. The Hornets (43-38) scored just 10 points in the fourth quarter and never found a way to match the Pistons\u2019 (59-22) physicality. With a game left in the regular season, Charlotte will finish ninth or 10th in the East and will have to win two play-in games to advance to the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we gave a good effort for a large portion of the game,\u201d Hornets coach Charles Lee said. \u201cIt got tough, it got physical, and we didn\u2019t do a good enough job executing coverages at times, and really just the theme of trying to protect the paint. When you look at the box score, 62 points in the paint, they got 16 offensive rebounds. You just feel like you left a lot of money on the table and you let them get to what they want to get to, and that\u2019s what they\u2019re good at. They\u2019re good at being physical and getting to the paint.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turnovers plagued Charlotte, especially in the fourth quarter when the score got out of hand.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSometimes it was our execution, sometimes there were some good shots out there that we just weren\u2019t able to convert,\u201d Lee said. \u201cThere were a couple of possessions where we\u2019re trying to take the ball out of the basket and we turned it over, so it\u2019s a number of things. I wish I could tell you it was one specific thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee said executing the offense is something the Hornets can control \u2014 and they have to for a full game to beat top teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we go back and watch the film,\u201d he said, \u201cthe ones that I want us to be able to get back are some of the careless turnovers; the lack of execution, the lack of screening, some of the other stuff. You\u2019re going to fumble the ball at times, it happens when you\u2019re playing through physicality, but we can control the execution we have on every possession.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hornets forward Brandon Miller credited Detroit for imposing its will, but confident Charlotte will be fine moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we know that Detroit is obviously going to be a physical team,\u201d he said, \u201cand that goes into us not making shots, which was another big piece. [We need to] just focus back up on the right things and we\u2019ll be fine.\u201d
While forward Grant Williams may not be a starter, he is a leader. He was brutally honest in comparing scenarios like tonight to the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[Detroit] went on a 10-0 run there,\u201d Williams said, \u201cand rather than us rallying together and understanding that 10 points is nothing in the NBA, I think we went the opposite way. I think the group didn\u2019t necessarily commit to understanding that however long is left in the game, playing till the last minute and we ended up going from down 10 to looking up and being down 18 to 20, and that can\u2019t happen. Especially in moments and games like this, in a playoff scenario, that is how you lose a series.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams said the locker room message was simple: control what they can, and the rest will work itself out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith us, it\u2019s one game at a time,\u201d he said. \u201cWe go to New York and whatever happens in New York, we play that game the best we can possibly play. You do that so you\u2019re playing good basketball going into that one-game scenario in the play-in. Then, protect home court, hopefully, if we are the nine seed.\u201d<\/p>\n
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