The Charlotte Hornets had lost three consecutive games coming in to Saturday’s match-up with the Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta, having already clinched the Eastern Conference’s number one seed took the opportunity to rest four of their starters, while Jeff Teague was out of the lineup due to injury, meaning the entire starting line for the Hawks was sitting this one out. Charlotte was also without a key player in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who was replaced in the starting lineup by Jeffery Taylor.
While Atlanta’s makeshift lineup hung around for the duration, being without five players proved to be too much for the Hawks as the Hornets cruised to a 115-110 victory behind a game-high 21 points from Kemba Walker, albeit on seven of 19 shooting as well as an efficient 20 points from Gerald Henderson on nine of 10 shooting. Mo Williams also chipped in 18 points at an efficient rate of 6 of 9 despite leaving the game briefly in the first half, likely due to aggravation in the knee that caused him to be questionable coming in. PJ Hairston also contributed, as he’s been back in the lineup recently to the tune of 12 points on 4 of 4 shooting.
Atlanta’s B-team played well led by 20 points from Kent Bazemore and 18 points from Mike Muscala.
The Hornets next take the court on Monday night at home against the Boston Celtics. Look for no shortage of guard-play in this one, with Kemba Walker and Mo Williams leading the back-court charge offensively for Charlotte. On the other side, expect Isaiah Thomas to fill the scoring column for Boston off the bench.
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