Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum and Marco Belinelli each had 17 points as the Charlotte Hornets ended a seven-game losing streak with a 111-107 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night.
Charlotte (24-28) had not won since a Jan. 21 triumph over Brooklyn. In this game, the Hornets’ balanced offense included double-digit scoring from seven players and an early lead that ballooned to as many as 17 points in the second quarter.
Brooklyn lost its 10th straight game with the Nets last victory coming on Jan. 20 at New Orleans. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 22 points and Brook Lopez added 20 for the Nets (9-43).
Jeremy Lamb added 16 points for the Hornets, while center Frank Kaminsky recorded 12 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
ROCKETS 128, MAGIC 104
The Rockets had led by as many as 23 before the Magic begin chipping away at the lead. Serge Ibaka made a turnaround jump shot midway through the fourth quarter to cut Houston’s lead to nine points. Harden grabbed a bad pass from Evan Fournier not long after that and dished to Eric Gordon, who finished with a 3-pointer. Trevor Ariza added a 3-pointer for Houston to extend the lead to 112-97 with about four minutes remaining to put the game away.
Patrick Beverley made seven points after that to help extend the lead to 120-99 with less than two minutes left and send Houston’s starters to the bench.
It is Houston’s second straight win and the 10th loss in 13 games for the Magic.
Ibaka had 28 points for the Magic and Evan Fournier added 21.
TRAIL BLAZERS 114, MAVERICKS 113
DALLAS (AP) C.J. McCollum scored 32 points, the last two on a runner in the lane with 0.9 seconds left to give the Trail Blazers a win over the Mavericks.
McCollum’s shot capped a final minute in which the two teams traded leads six times and Dirk Nowitzki hit two clutch 3-pointers, the second a potential game-winner with 3.9 seconds left. McCollum scored Portland’s last seven points.
Damian Lillard added 29 points for the Blazers, who tied their season series with the Mavericks at 2-2 each team winning twice on the others’ home floor.
The two teams, battling for the eighth and final playoff spot, see-sawed through a tense fourth quarter, trading 13-0 runs at one point. Portland led 101-89 before the Mavericks answered the Blazers’ run with one of their own.
Neither team led by more than two points after that.
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