Charlotte Hornets: Batum works magic on Wizards
The Charlotte Hornets got the second night of a back to back by letting Nicolas Batum play his beautiful game.
For the Charlotte Hornets, it really does matter whether people are healthy or not. Tonight’s situation did not look great, what with the disappointing loss to Miami the night before and having to play another divisional foe with playoff aspirations. The Hornets needed someone to step up and bring them back, especially when the Washington Wizards built a good first half lead.
It was a lead built off the back of Otto Porter, not Bradley Beal. Porter had eighteen points in the first half and just two in the second.
Fortunately the Hornets did find someone to carry them through 108-104. That person was Nicolas Batum. The Hornets starting shooting guard looked like he was finally over the toe injury that had held him back in recent games. He brought the team through with a near triple double. He had twenty-six points, eleven rebounds, and nine assists for the team.
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The team came with him too. Kemba Walker overcame his late game struggles against the Heat to hit big shots when the Wizards tried to mount their own comeback late in the game. He served as the counterbalance to John Wall as his twenty-three points negated Wall’s own twenty-three points.
Being without Al Jefferson did not mean a lack of good post play, especially against a Wizards team missing Nene at the moment. Marvin Williams kept up his stretch of solid play with another double-double (13 pts 10 rebs). Spencer Hawes contributed fourteen points off the bench.
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Finally there was the contribution of Jeremy Lin. Despite not having a big scoring night, Lin came on for a big three pointer to give the Hornets a four point margin that the Wizards could not break late.
The Hornets notched another victory sending their record to 25-26 and again putting them just on the cusp of a .500 record. It seems every time they have been in this spot, they take a step backwards. Fortunately they put the Wizards a little further behind them in the playoff chase.
The Hornets get the Bulls on Monday to see if they can build some momentum toward a winning record.