ATLANTA — Miles Bridges scored 32 points and the Charlotte Hornets, without four players, leaned on their best 3-point shooting game of the season to beat the Atlanta Hawks 130-127 on Sunday night.
Bridges made each of his four shots in the fourth quarter when he scored 13 points. “I feel like that’s a statement game, let people know that we’re here,” he said.
The Hornets were missing leading scorer LaMelo Ball, starting guard Terry Rozier, starting center Mason Plumlee and forward Jalen McDaniels in Sunday’s contest. All four players are in the NBA’s health and safety protocols and will be sidelined for at least 10 days.
Kelly Oubre Jr. was one of several Hornets who made up the difference as he splashed six 3s and scored 28 points for Charlotte. The Hornets made a season-high 17 3s as a team.
“It was about who wanted it more and we have some guys on our team who are just dogs and wouldn’t be denied,” Oubre said. “It was a blessing for us to go out and just compete and hold it down for our brothers.”
Hawks coach Nate McMillan said the Hornets, even when short-handed, are “probably the best catch-and-shoot team in the league.”
“We just really weren’t able to get stops when we needed to,” McMillan said. “We scored 127 points. That’s more than enough to win the game. It comes down to defensively being able to stop them and we weren’t able to do that.”
The Hawks, who stormed back from an 11-point deficit early in the third quarter, led 89-87 before the Hornets regained momentum with a 12-0 run late in the quarter. Cody Martin had eight points, including two 3s, in the run.
Atlanta stormed but again but Bridges’ 3 with 4:26 remaining gave Charlotte a 115-113 lead that it didn’t relinquish. Oubre added another key 3 to push the lead to 122-116.
The Hornets improved to 14-11 on the season while the Hawks fell back to 12-12.
The Associated Press was used in this story.
