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Three days ago, the Charlotte Hornets couldn’t buy a bucket at home against the Atlanta Hawks, finishing with a season-low 91 points. Safe to say, they’ve re-found their offensive rhythm and a whole lot more as evidenced by an astonishing 158-126 road win over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.
Kelly Oubre Jr. snapped out of a recent funk to record a season-high 39 points, breaking the franchise record for most points by a Hornets reserve that he set back in November. Oubre also tied the franchise’s single-game record for made 3-pointers (career-high 10) and became just the fourth different player in NBA history to hit double-digit threes off the bench.
After Terry Rozier’s 3-pointer at the end of the second quarter gave the Hornets a 71-70 halftime lead, they then opened the third on a 20-6 run to go up by 15. Charlotte would win the frame, 42-24, to take a 19-point advantage into the fourth, then won the closing 12 minutes, 45-32, to completely blow the doors off an Indiana squad missing Malcolm Brogdon, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner.
“We shot it well. We got hot,” said Hornets Head Coach James Borrego afterwards. “We were due for one of these games. We just told our guys before the game to shoot it with confidence, let it fly. We believe in our shooters. We’re one of the best shooting teams in the NBA. It was just a matter of time before we saw it drop. We just got rolling one guy after another.”
Added Oubre, “It feels good to have a good showing. It feels even better to have the win. We just kind of got into this zone in the third quarter and we didn’t look back. When shots started falling, guys started running up and down. We were able to play in transition and play to our strengths. Obviously, the numbers don’t lie. We have a talented team all the way down the line.”
LaMelo Ball racked up 29 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists for his fifth career triple-double, moving him into a three-way tie with Nic Batum and Larry Johnson for second place on the franchise’s all-time leaderboard. Miles Bridges (22) and Terry Rozier (20) also had 20-point performances in the victory.
When all the dust finally settled, Charlotte’s 158 points shattered the franchise record for scoring (143 at Houston on Nov. 27, 2021). The 87 second-half points were also a new franchise record for any half (77 in the first half vs. Washington on Jan. 17, 2018) and the most by any NBA team in a second half since the Rockets had 94 in Denver on Jan. 10, 1991. The Hornets shot 24-of-45 from 3-point range (53%), tying the franchise record for 3-point makes set earlier this month at home against Detroit.
This victory gave Charlotte its first win in the second game of a back-to-back this season and marked the franchise’s first-ever four-game season-series sweep of Indiana. The team’s recent success against the Pacers was probably extra sweet, given that the Hornets saw their 2020-21 season end in Indianapolis in the NBA Play-In Game last May.
Said Oubre, “It’s never easy to close out a series against a team, but today was a big confidence booster for us to do that because of what happened last year. Mason and I were talking about it on the sideline about how we felt the energy in the first game we played the Pacers. Like ‘Alright we’re in this brotherhood. They feel some type of way about how last season ended, so now let’s carry on that energy.’ So, that’s what we did and now onto the next.”
And next up for the Hornets will be an all-Los Angeles, two-game homestand starting on Friday, Jan. 28 against the Lakers beginning at 7:30 PM ET.