Charlotte Hornets

2023-12-08

Hornets Recover From Blowing 20-Point Lead, Squeak Out Last-Second Win

Sam Perley, NBA.com/Hornets

Four Charlotte Players Score 20+ PTS; Rozier Makes Big Shot, Free Throws in Final 22 Seconds

What once looked like possibly the first blowout win for the Charlotte Hornets this season quickly started spiraling towards disaster halfway through the fourth quarter. Fortunately, the hosts righted themselves just in the nick of time, then held on for a 119-116 home victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night at Spectrum Center.

Gordon Hayward (24), Miles Bridges (22), Terry Rozier (21) and Brandon Miller (20) all notched 20-point performances, becoming the first Hornet quartet to all score 20-or-more points in the same game since Feb. 13, 2023, per Stathead. Rozier also dished out a career-high-tying 13 assists for the second time in four outings, good for his second double-double of the year.

Charlotte was clicking from the get-go, allowing a season-low 22 first-quarter points to take a season-high 13-point lead through the opening 12 minutes. That advantage spiked to 20 in the second quarter, but Toronto pulled itself right back in it with six takeaways in the frame and entered halftime down by 12. Behind 13 entering the fourth, the Raptors roared into the closing quarter on a 24-6 run to flip the script and take a five-point lead with six minutes to go.

The Hornets regrouped following a timeout, sparking an 8-2 stretch to retake a 104-103 lead. Still up one a few minutes later, Miller splashed a 27-footer from the left wing to make it a four-point game. An overturned offensive foul on the next possession and a Rozier jumper with 22 seconds continued to keep the Hornets out in front. Toronto got a break though, thanks to a so-so Rozier shooting foul on Scottie Barnes’ late 3-point attempt. He would make just two of three freebies, Rozier countered with two of his own, and Barnes had a clean 3-point miss to end it.

“To me, that was the most impressive thing,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford, when asked about the team regrouping in the fourth. “They had momentum. [We kept] good composure, made a lot of big plays. They’re hard to play against. They’re long, they’re quick, they’ve got a bunch of really good individual defenders, and they create turnovers.”

Added Hayward, “We hit some big shots. That settled us a little bit and we were able to get some stops to close the game. Certainly not the way we wanted to win. When you’re up that big, you want to close out the game, but they have veteran guys that have been through it, so they weren’t going to give up. Just a gutsy win by us, happy that we got the win.”

Nick Richards had a near-season-high 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench, while PJ Washington added 11 points and had the key one-on-one stop on Barnes’ 3-point attempt at the final buzzer. Charlotte shot a season-best 55.7%, went 52% from 3-point range (13-of-25) – its second-best mark of the campaign – and was nearly perfect from the line (18-of-20; 90%).

Barnes came a point away from tying his career high, finishing with 31 on 12-of-18 shooting, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists for his third NBA triple-double and second of the year. Pascal Siakam notched 25 points – 14 in the second quarter – while Precious Achiuwa totaled a season-high 17 points and a season-high-tying 10 rebounds off the bench for his second yearly double-double.

Both sides had dropped four of five coming into the game. For Charlotte, the win snapped a four-game losing streak to Toronto in the head-to-head series (swept in all four contests last year by an average of 15.5 points) and was just its fourth over the Raptors in 14 meetings.

The Hornets will have the weekend off before taking on the Miami Heat on Monday, Dec. 11 starting at 7 PM ET at Spectrum Center. Catch all the action on Bally Sports Southeast and WFNZ 92.7 FM.