By Matt Rochinski, hornets.com
Charlotte’s UConn connection came through in the fourth quarter on Dec. 1 at Spectrum Center as Kemba Walker (eight) and Jeremy Lamb (seven) combined for 15 points in the final frame to lead the Hornets to a 97-87 win over Dallas. Walker finished with a game-high 18 points while Lamb led Charlotte’s reserves with 12 points in 19 minutes off the bench.
Up by two with four minutes remaining, it was “Kemba Time” again for the Hornets as they leaned on their leader to pull away from the Mavs. Walker injected Charlotte’s offense with some life at the 3:51-mark, knocking down a three-pointer from the left side with the shot clock on his back to put Charlotte up 83-78. Jeremy Lamb next converted an old-fashioned three-point play following a Hornets stop on the other end to extend the lead to 86-78 with 3:24 to go, and after back-to-back buckets from the Mavs to cut Charlotte’s advantage to 86-83, Walker took control again. Needing a key bucket, Walker blew by Jonathan Gibson on the right side and was able to lay one up over the outstretched hand of Dallas center Salah Mejri. Lamb followed with two free throws after a Harrison Barnes jumper and Walker’s trey from the right side with 41.9 seconds remaining pushed Charlotte’s lead to 93-85 and it put the game away at the charity stripe in the waning moments.
Kemba Walker did it again for Charlotte, leading five Hornets in double figures with 18 points, including eight in the final 3:51 to lead his squad to its 11th victory. Walker added five assists, three rebounds and one steal in the winning effort and his steal moved him past David Wesley for fifth all-time in franchise steals with a total of 552.
Harrison Barnes tallied a team-high 17 points, including six in the fourth quarter to keep the Mavs close on the road. Barnes was also one rebound shy of a double-double (nine), swiped two steals and handed out one assist.
Charlotte is now 8-0 when holding opponents under 100 points… Charlotte held the Mavericks to an opponent season-low-tying 14 points in the first quarter… The Hornets reserves outscored Dallas’ 46-35… Charlotte outscored Dallas in the paint 40-26… How important is the first quarter for the Hornets? Charlotte is now 6-1 when outscoring its opponents in the first quarter, 2-7 when getting outscored in the first and 3-0 when tied after the first 12 minutes… Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had 14 points, his 10th double-figure scoring outing of the season… Dallas outrebounded Charlotte on the offensive glass 9-4 and outscored them in second chance points 12-6.
“We could make a lot of excuses. We have to start winning at home. We have to start winning on the second night of back-to-backs. We just didn’t do enough things to win tonight.” – Cody Zeller
The Hornets close a three-game homestead at Spectrum Center on Dec. 3 with a 7 p.m. tip against Minnesota. Watch the game on Fox Sports Southeast or listen on the Hornets App or WFNZ.
