Miles Bridges had nine of his 26 points in a key third-quarter run, LaMelo Ball and Kon Knueppel combined for 11 3-pointers and 54 points and the visiting Charlotte Hornets rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat the Sacramento Kings 117-109 on Wednesday night.
In a contest matching teams that had won 24 hours earlier, Ball finished with a team-high 30 points, Knueppel chipped in with 24 and Brandon Miller added 20 for Charlotte, which won for the eighth time in its last 10 games.
DeMar DeRozan poured in a season-high 39 points for the Kings, who saw a rare two-game winning streak come to an end.
Down by five at the half then tied at 73-all in the sixth minute of the third period, the Hornets took the lead for good with an 11-2 burst. Bridges got the run going with a layup and a 3-pointer, then eventually increased the visitors’ lead to 84-75 with a pair of layups.
The Kings got within five early in the fourth quarter and hung within 99-94 with still 8:20 remaining before Knueppel’s layup and 3-pointer opened a double-digit advantage the Hornets retained much of the rest of the way.
Ball shot 6 of 13 on 3-pointers and Knueppel went 5 of 8, helping the Hornets connect on 19 of 40 (47.5%) and outscore the hosts 57-24 from beyond the arc.
Bridges, Ball, Knueppel and Miller combined for 100 of Charlotte’s 117 points.
Moussa Diabate was the game’s leading rebounder with 10, six coming on the offensive end.
DeRozan’s 39 points were two more than he ran up against the Detroit Pistons in December. He hit 17 of his 22 shots on a night when the Kings outshot the visitors 54.2% to 45.6%.
Nique Clifford backed DeRozan with 18 points to complement a game-high seven assists, while Precious Achiuwa had 14 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds. Daequon Plowden chipped in with 13 points and Killian Hayes 11 for Sacramento, which was attempting to win a third straight game for just the second time this season.
–Field Level Media
