NBA: Hornets survive tight fourth quarter to beat Jazz
Miles Bridges #0 of the Charlotte Hornets celebrates his three-point shot in the first half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on January 17, 2022 in New York City. Elsa/Getty Images/AFP
Miles Bridges scored 26 points and Terry Rozier had 25 points as the Charlotte Hornets defeated the visiting Utah Jazz 107-101 to revive their playoff hopes Friday night.
LaMelo Ball added 21 points for the Hornets (38-36), who were trying to atone for a home loss to the New York Knicks that ended a five-game winning streak.
L👀K OUT! ✈️@MilesBridges | @Drpepper pic.twitter.com/E3utF96vXu
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) March 26, 2022
Donovan Mitchell poured in 26 points and Jordan Clarkson finished with 19 points for the Jazz (45-29).
In a back-and-forth fourth quarter, the Hornets continually made enough plays down the stretch after grabbing the lead.
Utah made nearly as many threes (17) as it did twos (21). The Jazz were just 8-for-11 at the free-throw line.
Mason Plumlee and Bridges both grabbed 11 boards to help Charlotte to a 45-38 edge on the glass despite Rudy Gobert’s 19 rebounds. The Hornets also showed efficiency with only nine turnovers.
The backcourt tandem of Rozier and Ball launched a total of 42 shots from the field, both making nine of those. Rozier finished 5-for-8 on 3-pointers.
BACK-TO-BACK BUCKETS!@isaiahthomas x @T_Rozzay3#AllFly | @HornetsOnBally pic.twitter.com/w4MW9CztiM
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) March 26, 2022
The teams played more than a 5 ½-minute stretch that included part of the fourth quarter without a margin of more than two points.
Mitchell seemed willing to try to carry the Jazz, going 10-for-21 from the field. He and Juancho Hernangomez both made four 3-point shots for Utah. Gobert, Michael Conley and Eric Paschall all had 11 points for the Jazz.
Rozier’s 3-pointer with 6:26 left in the fourth quarter gave the Hornets a six-point edge.
But Mitchell led the Jazz back to within one before Bridges and Rozier both made two free throws in the final minute.
After giving up 40 first-quarter points to the Knicks on Wednesday, the Hornets were locked in better defensively. They led 54-51 at halftime.
The Jazz fell to 1-3 on what will be a six-game road trip. Utah and Charlotte split the two-game season series.
