By Sam Perley, hornets.com
Some strong fourth-quarter play and a few big shots down the stretch keyed another Hornets win as they downed the Brooklyn Nets, 112-105, on Saturday, Jan. 21 in Charlotte. Ramon Sessions and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist each finished with a team-high 17 points as five other Charlotte players scored in double figures in what was arguably one of the team’s more well-rounded performances as of late. This is also Charlotte’s third-consecutive victory and its ninth win in its last 10 appearances at Spectrum Center.
Trailing 98-97 with 3:21 left in the game, a four-point play and three-pointer by Nicolas Batum followed by another made three-pointer by Kemba Walker fueled a 10-0 Charlotte run in just over a minute of play to open up a nine-point lead over Brooklyn. The Nets managed to trim the deficit to as little as five points in the final minute but couldn’t get back out in front as they lost their third-straight road game to the Hornets.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist tallied a team-high-tying 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, a game-high and season-high-tying 14 rebounds (career-high-tying six offensive boards) and two blocks in the win. This is the ninth double-double of the season for Kidd-Gilchrist, which is the second-highest total on the team.
Brook Lopez managed a game-high 24 points on 10-of-21 shooting to go along with five rebounds, four assists and two blocks in the loss. Lopez has now scored 20-or-more points in seven-consecutive games, matching the second-longest streak of his career (March 20-31, 2015).
Ramon Sessions finished with a season-high 17 points (8-of-8 from the free-throw line) and a career-high-tying three made three-pointers… Nicolas Batum added 16 points, nine rebounds, a game-high-tying six assists and a season-high-tying four steals… Kemba Walker also finished with 16 points and six assists… Marco Belinelli (14 points), Cody Zeller (12 points) and Frank Kaminsky (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Hornets… Charlotte outscored Brooklyn in second-chance points, 11-2… Both teams finished with 13 turnovers… The Hornets won the rebounding battle, 47-40…. Charlotte knocked down 20-of-22 free-throw attempts (90.9 percent) while the Nets hit 12-of-15 shots from the line (80.0 percent).
“So obviously the best thing is 31-24 . We made the plays that we needed to do. It’s a really good way to end the week. That was a really good win for our team.” – Hornets head coach Steve Clifford
The homestand continues for the Hornets as they’ll play host to the Washington Wizards starting at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 23 in Charlotte. The game can be seen on FOX Sports Southeast or heard on WFNZ or on the official Charlotte Hornets mobile app.
