Brandon Miller scored 31 points and the short-handed Charlotte Hornets defeated the visiting Atlanta Hawks 110-107 on Wednesday night in the final game for both teams prior to the All-Star break.
LaMelo Ball provided 24 points and six assists as the Hornets won for the 10th time in 11 games.
Charlotte played the first of four games without center Moussa Diabate and forward Miles Bridges, who were suspended by the NBA for their roles in a Monday night brawl with the Detroit Pistons. Ryan Kalkbrenner and Grant Williams moved into the starting lineup, and they scored seven and five points, respectively.
Kon Knueppel contributed 18 points and PJ Hall, who hadn’t played in an NBA game in more than a month, turned in 11 points and 10 rebounds in 17 minutes as Charlotte won despite sputtering on offense over the final 5 1/2 minutes.
Dyson Daniels led the Hawks with 21 points, Jalen Johnson posted 19 points and 13 rebounds, Onyeka Okongwu had 18 points and CJ McCollum supplied 17 points.
Both teams go into the break with 26 victories.
Ball finished with seven 3-pointers and Miller made five from deep as Charlotte hit 19 of 51 (37.3%) from long distance. The Hawks were 10-for-36 (27.8%) from beyond the arc.
The Hornets maintained a double-digit lead for much of the second half, but the Hawks got within 108-100 on Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s 3-pointer with less than three minutes to play.
A basket from Daniels and three free throws from Okongwu made it 108-105 with 1:39 left, and the margin was sliced to one when Johnson drove for a hoop with 59.6 seconds to go. The Hawks regained possession with a chance to go ahead before Okongwu committed a turnover.
Knueppel canned two free throws with 19.4 seconds remaining, and Okongwu missed a potential tying 3-point shot at the end.
Charlotte held a 58-49 halftime lead, buoyed by Miller’s 15 points and the team’s 19 bench points.
With Knueppel connecting on four 3-pointers in the first quarter, the Hornets built a 10-point lead. Hall and Ball each had six points in the opening quarter, which ended with the Hornets ahead 35-27.
Charlotte’s margin grew to 17 points in the second quarter, but the Hawks got rolling and closed within 58-49 by halftime.
