Hornets Use 3rd Quarter Surge to Ignite Comeback Victory Over Pacers
CHARLOTTE, NC - The Charlotte Hornets kicked off the 2021-22 season with an exciting come from behind 123-122 win over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.
Indiana's gameplan was very clear early on - attack the paint. The Pacers ran their offense through big man Domantas Sabonis and went right at new Hornets center Mason Plumlee early and often. In fact, five of the first six possessions went towards Plumlee. Sabonis notched 14 of the Pacers' first 23 points on the night and had 22 at the half.
Indiana's Chris Duarte started in place of the injured Caris LaVert and had an efficient start in his NBA debut. He finished the night shooting 9/15 with 27 points including a three at the buzzer to end the first quarter.
Trailing by eleven (38-27) early in the 2nd quarter, the Hornets needed a boost offensively and received that boost from guards LaMelo Ball and Ish Smith. Ball got things rolling with back-to-back threes which cut the Pacers' lead to 38-33 and forced Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle to call timeout. Smith went 5/7 from the floor in the first half of play chipping in ten points off the bench.
Unfortunately for the Hornets, that was about as close as they could keep things in the first half. Indiana drained three after three which helped them get out to a lead as big as 17. Charlotte's defensive rotations were not as smooth as James Borrego would like to see and that led to ten made threes by the Pacers.
The third quarter was a completely different story as the Hornets went on an incredible 23-0 run over a six-minute span to take their first lead of the game, 85-84. LaMelo Ball heated up hitting a pair of threes and started hearing the MVP chants during a trip to the free-throw line during the run.
Indiana finally found something offensively as Malcolm Brogdon and Damontas Sabonis alone went on a 14-3 run to give the Pacers a 110-109 lead around the five-minute mark. A few minutes later, Gordon Hayward banked in a three to tie things back up at 116 apiece.
Sabonis was fouled on the next trip up the floor but just made one of two from the charity stripe. The Hornets went right back to Hayward who had Brogdon beat on the drive but stopped on a dime and made a mid-range jumper. Brogdon answered on the other end with a three to take the lead right back, 120-118. The Hornets took the lead back with four seconds left when P.J. Washington was fouled at the rim. He hit both free throws and then he made the stop on Sabonis on the other end to secure the win for Charlotte, 123-122.
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