Brandon Miller combined a strong start and key late-game offense for 26 points as the Charlotte Hornets defeated the visiting San Antonio Spurs, 111-106, on Saturday afternoon for their sixth consecutive victory.
The game’s starting time was moved up three hours to noon because of a winter storm impacting the area.
Collin Sexton poured in 21 points off the bench, LaMelo Ball supplied 16 points, Miles Bridges had 14 points, Kon Knueppel notched 13 points and Moussa Diabate chipped in 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets, who held on after building a 20-point lead in the third quarter.
Dylan Harper paced San Antonio’s seven double-figure scorers with 20 points off the bench. Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama each finished with 16 points while Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie both ended with 13 points.
The Spurs stormed back from a 69-49 hole to close within 100-98 with five minutes to play. A 7-0 spurt completed that rally.
But from there, the scoring rate slowed considerably before Bridges hit all three free-throw attempts at the 1:07 mark to extend Charlotte’s lead to 109-104.
Harrison Barnes sank two foul shots for the Spurs before Miller missed a 3-point attempt. Wembanyama’s tying 3-point try was off the mark with 27 seconds left, then Miller drained two free throws with 10.6 seconds to go.
Sexton was 5-for-5 from 3-point range for a 7-for-8 mark overall from the field.
San Antonio shot 48% from the field compared to Charlotte’s 44%. The Hornets did the job on the boards for a 51-36 rebounding edge as Ball had eight rebounds and eight assists. Miller was 9-for-9 on free throws as the Hornets were 20 of 22 from the line.
Charlotte led 61-47 at halftime, breaking away from a 43-41 deficit with about four minutes left.
San Antonio was trying to finish January with a winning record on the road, but Saturday’s loss gave the Spurs a 4-5 mark.
