We are still waiting for the real breakout game from Miles Bridges. 17 points doesn’t seem like a lot for him, because he’s developed a reputation (at least in my eyes) as an extremely solid rookie contributor for a playoff-esque-ish-like team. But can you believe it’s his second highest point total of the season? And his highest is only 20, which happened a week ago, and I would never consider a mere 20 points a “breakout game” for a role-player of his caliber. Maybe if he was named “Briles Midges” and sucked in the G-League for 5 years before scoring 20 during a 10-day contract experiment, then that would be a breakout game.
The Hornets are still technically in the playoff picture. Their chances aren’t good to get the ever-coveted 8th seed, but the chances are still there and way above zero, so I assume the Hornets are going to keep fighting until the end. Which means that if we get any chances at all to see a true “tanking” lineup from the Hornets, it will only be one or two games at most.
Those tanking games would be the best chance to see a breakout game from Bridges. In normal circumstances, he just doesn’t get enough ball time to do a ton of damage. He doesn’t get to create his own offense. He doesn’t get to shoot whenever he wants to shoot. Basketball-reference is telling me that he’s shot and made some midrange jumpers this year, which I don’t believe, since I don’t remember any such shots. A theoretical breakout game from him would feature some of those theoretical midrange shots.
I want this to happen. I want this to happen concurrently with De’v’onte’ ‘Gr’aham scoring 20. And I definitely want to see J.P. Macura for the second time this season. Man, this season would be a lot more fun for the Hornets if they just gave up trying to win games about a month ago.