Brandon Miller scored 27 points and the Charlotte Hornets rallied from 18 points down in the second half to defeat the host Atlanta Hawks 115-114, spoiling the return to action of star guard Trae Young on Wednesday night.
The Hornets scored the game’s final four points in the last 30 seconds, with Miller sinking two free throws and then Miles Bridges scoring in the lane with 3.8 seconds left. Charlotte’s Tre Mann stole the ball from Trent Forrest to seal the stunning outcome.
The Hawks (36-44), who have lost four games in a row, had Young back in the lineup after the team went 12-11 while he was out following finger surgery. He amassed 14 points and 11 assists in 21 minutes during his first game since Feb. 23.
Bridges finished with 18 points. Mann and Grant Williams each had 16 points and Aleksej Pokusevski posted 10 points for Charlotte (20-60), which played in the first of three road games to close the season.
Bogdan Bogdanovic and Vit Krejci led Atlanta with 19 points each, Clint Capela added 15 points, Dylan Windler supplied 12 points, Kobe Bufkin had 11 points and Garrison Mathews finished with 10 points. Forrest scored all six of his points after Charlotte went ahead late in the game.
This was Atlanta’s home finale. The Hawks, who have two games remaining, fell 1 1/2 games behind the Chicago Bulls in the race to earn home-court advantage in an Eastern Conference play-in game next week.
Bogdanovic went 5-for-10 on 3-point attempts, moving past Young for the Hawks’ single-season 3-point record. Bogdanovic has 235 this season.
Atlanta was without forward Jalen Johnson because of an ankle injury sustained Tuesday night against the Miami Heat, so Krejci was in the starting lineup with an expanded role.
Atlanta led by as many as 18 points in the third quarter, but the margin shrunk to 97-92 with less than eight minutes to play. Krejci hit 3-pointers on the Hawks’ next two possessions.
But the Hornets surged again, tying the score at 107-107 on two Bridges free throws with 3:10 to play and going ahead on two Williams foul shots.
With less than two minutes to play and Charlotte up 111-108, Forrest scored the next six points.
The Hawks scored at a brisk pace in the first half, but the Hornets stayed within range, trailing 61-55 at the break.
–Field Level Media
