While Charlotte has won eight of its last 10 games, New Orleans has dropped four of its last five.
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Now, others are getting in on the act, too.
The Charlotte Hornets beat the New Orleans Pelicans 122-113 on Wednesday for their fifth win in a row, the longest active streak in the National Basketball Association, and Walker is leading the charge.
Walker shot 9 of 18 from the field and had five 3-pointers for his fourth-straight 30-point game.
“Our offense right now is good”, Clifford said. “Tonight we were balanced, which is what we need to be, and that’s the big thing”.
Overshadowed by Walker, Anthony Davis had a superb game in the Pelicans’ loss, scoring 40 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Tobias Harris added 19 points for Detroit, which won its 33rd game – one more than all of last season. It’s important to note what Lin’s doing for Charlotte, because he remains an important factor on a Hornets squad headed for the playoffs.
But the Pelicans could never get the lead.
Andre Drummond had 25 points and 17 rebounds for his league-best 54th double-double. He was made 12 of 16 free throws. “I’m trying to be as confident as possible. This is probably the best I’ve ever shot the ball, so hopefully I can just keep on shooting like this”. “One through 5, we just run”. “We have to work together”. Again, maybe it’s a matter of finding rhythm and once he gets that his shot will be back to around 42-45%, but he’s been shooting 30% from the field in March, with his 3-of-10 in this game keeping him right on track.
Charlotte (35-28) improved to 11-2 in its past 13. To make matters worse, they’ve lose five of their last six games.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 14 rebounds, and Anthony Wiggins added 25 points for the Timberwolves, who were up 55-51 with 9:25 left in the third quarter. Johnson had five points and two turnovers in 20 minutes.
The Pelicans got little else, though.
Charlotte pulled ahead 100-85 on Williams’ 3-pointer with 3:50 left in the fourth quarter.
Seven players scored in double figures for the Hornets against the Pelicans, who have come to terms with the bad season they’re having.
“He’s a different shooter, ” coach Steve Clifford said.
“But the effort was there. I think we show it this year”. Obviously, defensively we weren’t very good at all. “The whole team, we gave it our all”. The Hornets have more home games coming up although against a tad more hard teams. 500 for the first time since April 12, 2010 when the then-Bobcats were 44-37 due to the combination of Walker and Batum. The Hornets went into the game with 645 3-pointers this season, a franchise record. Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry is a native of nearby Shelby, N.C., and graduated from Appalachian State.
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The Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets clash early Friday night at the Time Warner Cable Arena. They play at Memphis on Friday and at Milwaukee on Saturday.
