Charlotte Hornets pick up an impressive road win by beating the Denver Nuggets 112-102 to finish a 5-game road trip. Center Cody Zeller was back in the starting line-up for the Hornets, it’s the first time since February first since Cody was a starter. Backup center Miles Plumlee was out again due to a right calf strain while Frank Kaminsky was out and is expected to miss several games with a sprained left shoulder, an injury he suffered in the fourth quarter of the Phoenix game. He was averaging 17 points a game since the beginning of February. Denver came out flat this game, after having two impressive road wins early in the week. Late in the first quarter, Charlotte went on a 17-0 run to take the lead for good. The Hornets would score the first ten points of the third quarter and would lead by as many as 20 in the third quarter. Denver would make a run to get it under ten on a Mason Plumlee three-point but Marco Belinelli would answer with a corner three. The Nuggets would cut it to four with four minutes left but Hornets scored nine straight to go back up 13 and closed it out on the free-throw line.
The MVP for the Hornets this game would be Johnny O’Bryant who came off the bench and scored 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, was 1-of-2 from the three-point line and grabbed 6 rebounds. O'Bryant signed a 10-day contract with Charlotte on Feb. 24 after playing under two 10-day contracts with Denver. O’Bryant looked good with the Hornets, was aggressive, made good decisions when the ball was in his hand, has a good jumper especially from a big man, sets some good screens, does needs to work on his defense. But overall O’Bryant looked good, just hope he plays like that daily. The Hornets beat a very good team by scoring the ball and playing good defense late in the game. Hornets shot 45% from the field, shot 58% from three and six Hornets scored in double-digits in tonight’s win. And when the Nuggets cut the lead to four late in the game, the Hornets started playing tougher defense, forcing Denver to shoot difficult shots and grabbing the rebound to not allow the Nuggets anymore opportunity’s that possession. The leading scorers for the Hornets were Kemba Walker with 27 points, Nicolas Batum with 21 points 9 assists, Marvin Williams with 14 points 12 rebounds, Jeremy Lamb with 12 points, Cody Zeller with 11 points and 8 rebounds. The leading scorers for the Nuggets were Nikola Jokic with 31 points 14 rebounds, Danilo Gallinari with 22 points, Jamal Murray with 14 points, Will Barton with 9 points. The Charlotte Hornets (27-35) will host the Indiana Pacers Monday night on TNT.
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