By Sam Perley, hornets.com
The Hornets got back to their winning ways as they pulled away late from the Brooklyn Nets to notch a 116-111 win on Wednesday, Nov. 18, in Charlotte, which is the team’s fourth-consecutive home win. After a difficult loss in New York City the previous night, the Hornets put together an impressive effort against the resilient Brooklyn Nets as they notched their sixth win in nine games to move their record back to .500 at 6-6. Nicolas Batum led seven Hornets players in double figures with 24 points while Thaddeus Young put up a season-high 27 points for Brooklyn in the loss.
Turning Points Things stayed relatively tight at Time Warner Cable Arena until the fourth quarter, which opened with a 13-4 Hornets run, putting them ahead 99-90 with 8:40 remaining in the frame. A little over two minutes later, the Nets would finish off a 9-1 run of their own to cut Charlotte’s lead to 100-99 with 6:15 remaining in the game. The Hornets would then pull away again on a 10-3 run to go up by eight with just over three minutes remaining in the game. Both teams went back and forth the rest of the way and it wasn’t until Marvin Williams sunk a pair of free throws with 17 seconds remaining that Brooklyn’s fate was ultimately sealed as they lost in Charlotte for the first time in three attempts.
Inside the Box Score Nicolas Batum led the Hornets in both points (24) and assists (eight)… Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker also scored in double figures, finishing with 18 points apiece… Marvin Williams chipped in 14 points and a team-high-tying nine rebounds… Jeremy Lin was impressive off the bench yet again, tallying 13 points, a season-high nine rebounds and four assists… Spencer Hawes finished with 12 points for his second-consecutive double-digit scoring performance… rookie Frank Kaminsky netted a career-high 11 points… Thaddeus Young tallied a season-high and game-high 27 points for the Nets… Brook Lopez (23), Joe Johnson (16) and Jarrett Jack (16) all scored in double figures for Brooklyn… Jack would finish just shy of a triple-double, grabbing a team-high-tying eight rebounds and dishing out a team-high nine assists… Charlotte won the battle on the boards, 49-37, and also held the Nets to just five total offensive rebounds (zero in the first half)… The Hornets connected on 11-of-25 shots from three-point range (44.0 percent) while the Nets were successful on 5-of-15 attempts from long distance (33.3 percent)… Brooklyn had just nine giveaways while Charlotte turned the ball over 15 times… The Hornets shot 27-of-36 from the free-throw line (75.0 percent), which was a season high for both attempts and made free throws. The Nets were successful on 18-of-22 free-throw attempts (81.8 percent).
Hornets Player of the Game Nicolas Batum rebounded from a tough outing at Madison Square Garden, finishing with a team-high 24 points and also tied a season high with eight assists to lead the way for Charlotte in the win. Batum, who shot 7-of-12 from the field (3-of-6 from three-point range), has now scored 20-or-more points in four of his last five games for the Hornets.
Nets Player of the Game Thaddeus Young put together one of his most impressive performances of the season, tallying a game-high and season-high 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting and also pulled down a team-high-tying eight rebounds for the visiting Nets. Young’s 27-point outing would have also been his third-highest scoring performance overall of the entire 2014-15 NBA season.
Game Notes P.J. Hairston missed his second-consecutive game for the Hornets (quad)… The visiting team was a perfect 3-0 in the season series last year between the Hornets and Nets…These teams will meet again in Brooklyn on Feb. 21, 2016 for the second of four meetings this season.
Next Up The Hornets will take on the Philadelphia 76ers at 7 P.M. on Friday, Nov. 20 in Charlotte. The game can be seen on FOX Sports Southeast or heard on WFNZ or on the official Charlotte Hornets mobile app.
Frank Kaminsky Postgame Twinterview Following the win against the Brooklyn Nets, the Hornets Frank Kaminsky sat down to answer your Twitter questions for a post game “Twinterview”
