NBA: Hornets extend winning streak to 4, defeat Mavericks
Miles Bridges #0 of the Charlotte Hornets dribbles the ball in the fourth quarter of the game against the Toronto Raptors at Spectrum Center on February 25, 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images/AFP
Miles Bridges scored 23 points and P.J. Washington had 22 as the Charlotte Hornets put on a dazzling display of long-range shooting in a 129-108 romp past the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night for their fourth consecutive victory.
The Hornets (36-35), who sit ninth in the Eastern Conference, made 20 shots from 3-point range. Five players connected on three or more of the treys, led by Washington and LaMelo Ball with five apiece.
.@MilesBridges AT THE BUZZER‼️#AllFly pic.twitter.com/B4isBaxEEH
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) March 20, 2022
Terry Rozier notched 18 points and Ball finished with 17 points and seven assists for the Hornets, who launched 42 shots beyond the arc. Kelly Oubre Jr. (17 points), Montrezl Harrell (13) and Isaiah Thomas (11) led the production from Charlotte’s reserves.
The Mavericks’ Luka Doncic poured in 37 points on 13-for-20 shooting, including 8-for-12 on 3-pointers, before sitting out the fourth quarter. Frank Ntilikina was next with 12 points, Jalen Brunson and Marquese Chriss each had 10 points and Maxi Kleber scored nine.
In its previous game, Charlotte held high-scoring Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks to a season-low nine points. The Hornets didn’t put the clamps on Doncic, but that didn’t matter.
Doncic had 34 points with three minutes still remaining in the third quarter, but the Mavericks (43-28) trailed 87-77.
Then, the Hornets closed the quarter on an 11-0 run across the last 90 seconds, building their lead to 102-80. Charlotte kept it going by scoring 12 of the first 14 points of the fourth quarter, sparked by a pair of 3-pointers from Ball.
Those were the Hornets’ 19th and 20th made 3-pointers of the game with more than 10 minutes remaining.
This outcome avenged Charlotte’s 24-point loss in Dallas from December.
The Hornets went ahead on an Oubre 3-point basket with less than two minutes to play in the first half and never trailed again. This came after the Mavericks had wiped out a 13-point Charlotte lead from earlier in the second quarter.
Dallas won the first three games of a five-game road swing, but then lost to Philadelphia and Charlotte on back-to-back nights.
