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Hornets Knock Off Wizards to Open Homestand

By Sam Perley
The Hornets kicked off a four-game stretch at Spectrum Center in ideal fashion as they rallied, then held on for a 123-110 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday, Feb. 22 in Charlotte. The victory moved the season series between the two sides to 1-1 and bumped the visitors to 4.5 games back of the Hornets in the Eastern Conference standings.

Kemba Walker paced the hosts with team highs in points (27) and assists (11) to go along with five rebounds in the victory. This is Walker’s fifth double-double of the season and 20th career game with at least 20 points and 10 assists.

Trailing by 11 at the end of the first, the Hornets outscored the Wizards, 69-49, over the next two quarters, marking their second-largest combined point differential over the second and third frames of any game this season. Washington trimmed the deficit to five with 10:49 left in the fourth, but a quick 9-2 run gave the Hornets enough cushion to pick up the win.

“I think defensively we really picked our energy up,” said Walker on the team’s post-first-quarter adjustments. “That’s really all it was. We had a mindset coming into the game, kind of a slow start, but we picked it up in that second quarter and never looked back.”

Nic Batum rattled his season high with 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Marvin Williams (13 points, 9 rebounds) and Cody Zeller (11 points, 9 rebounds) just missed double-doubles. Miles Bridges totaled 14 points, six rebounds and three steals in his first career start and Jeremy Lamb chipped in another 16 points and a career-high-tying four steals off the bench.

“I wanted to balance the two groups a little bit, let Lamb come off and give us a little more scoring off the bench,” said Hornets Head Coach James Borrego. “I just like the mixture of starting Miles and what it does for both of our units… I think Lamb was fantastic tonight. He’s handled it great.”

Bradley Beal exploded for Washington with a season-high 46 points, which was the second-highest output of his career. Jeff Green (16 points), Tomáš Satoransky (15 points) and Trevor Ariza (10) also scored in double figures, while Bobby Portis double-doubled off the bench with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Charlotte outscored Washington in second-chance points, 21-8, and held a 53-43 edge in rebounding. The Hornets also shot 13-of-33 from three (39.4 percent), compared to the Wizards, who knocked down just 10-of-39 long-distance attempts (25.6 percent).

The Hornets now close out an all-home back-to-back set tomorrow night as they host the Brooklyn Nets starting at 7 p.m. ET in Charlotte.