National Basketball Association
Charlotte 98, Memphis 92
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 26, 2015
Where: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina
Officials: #16 David Guthrie, #38 Michael Smith, #66 Haywoode Workman
Attendance: 19091

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Charlotte Hornets have enough balance this season that guard Kemba Walker doesn't always need to be the leading scorer.

But Walker is still capable of taking a game over down the stretch, and that's exactly what happened on Saturday night.

Walker scored 11 straight Charlotte points, including a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute, that allowed the Hornets to pull out a 98-92 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The veteran point guard finished with a game-high 22 points, including four 3-pointers, to go with six rebounds and eight assists.

"I just try to make plays," Walker said. "On any given night, it could be myself, Nic (Batum), J-Lin (Jeremy Lin), whoever, it doesn't matter. But whenever my time comes, I try to step up. I was able to get fouled and make some free throws and a big 3-pointer, so that was big. I was just trying to take advantage of what the defense was giving me."

The win allowed the Hornets (16-13) to snap a three-game losing streak. They had lost five of their previous six.

"We needed it pretty bad," Walker said. "We had lost three in a row and we just wanted to get back on track. I thought we came out with great intensity. We had a little bad stretch, but then we made some huge plays at the end. That was a good team we beat."

The Hornets also got 20 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and two blocked shots from Batum. Guard P.J. Hairston scored 14 points, Lin had 13 and forward Frank Kaminsky added 10.

The Hornets finished with 14 3-pointers after hitting seven in the first quarter and eight of their first 10 attempts. They were 28 of 32 from the free-throw line and finished with a whopping 30 fast-break points. Many of those points came on pull-up 3-pointers.

"We're going to frame this," Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said. "It's going to go up in the locker room. We always talk about wanting to run late, and we were able to do that. Obviously, Kemba made some huge plays and our defense was really good down the stretch."

Walker's putback of his own miss gave the Hornets the lead for good at 89-88 with 1:55 remaining. Then his clutch 3-pointer put the Hornets ahead 92-88 with 39.9 seconds left, and he followed with two free throws with 22.7 seconds left for a 94-89 lead.

Memphis hit just one of its last six shots from the field during the same span, although it got as close as 94-92 on guard Mike Conley's 3-pointer with 10.4 seconds left. But Lin tacked on four free throws in the final 9.9 seconds to push the final margin back to six.

"It wasn't a completely beautiful game to watch, but it was a very competitive game," Memphis coach Dave Joerger said. "Hats off to them. They've got a good team with a lot of fight in them, and they've got a lot of shot makers. It seemed like they scored on every one of our turnovers."

Conley led the Grizzlies (16-16) with 19 points. Center Marc Gasol and forward Zach Randolph scored 18 each, and Randolph also had 12 rebounds.

The Grizzlies were just 11 of 21 from the line after coming into the game leading the NBA in free-throw percentage.

Joerger said his team continues to search for its identity after going to a "small" lineup eight games ago with forward Matt Barnes starting and Randolph coming off the bench.

"Tomorrow is the end of a rough month," Joerger said. "We haven't had a chance to spend a lot of time practicing. We have no offensive identity without playing the two bigs (Gasol and Randolph). Right now, we don't know what we are offensively."

NOTES: The win completed a season sweep for the Hornets. They also won at Memphis 123-99 on Dec. 11. ... Hornets C Spencer Hawes was a late scratch because of back issues. He warmed up but could not play. ... Hornets C Al Jefferson was back after missing the previous 11 games. He missed six games with a strained calf and then served a five-game suspension for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy. Jefferson played 17 minutes, was 1 of 8 from the field for two points and fouled out. ... Grizzlies F Matt Barnes was a Hornet this summer for all of 10 days. He came to Charlotte from the LA Clippers along with Hawes in a deal for G Lance Stephenson, then was shipped on to Memphis for G Luke Ridnour. The Hornets then traded Ridnour to Oklahoma City for G Jeremy Lamb. ... The Grizzlies lead the NBA in free-throw percentage at .812. ... The Hornets average the fewest turnovers in the league (13.0 ppg) but had 20 on Saturday night. ... The Grizzlies will return home to face the LA Lakers on Sunday afternoon. The Hornets were playing the second game in a four-game homestand. They face the Lakers on Monday and the LA Clippers on Wednesday.
Top Game Performances
 
Memphis   Charlotte
Mike Conley 19 Scoring Kemba Walker 22
Mike Conley 7 Assists Nicolas Batum 8
Zach Randolph 12 Rebounds Nicolas Batum 11
JaMychal Green 4 Free Throws Made Jeremy Lin 7
Mike Conley 3 Steals P.J. Hairston 2
Matt Barnes 2 Blocks Marvin Williams 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Memphis 92 41.1 7-19 11-21 21 48 5 9 14
Charlotte 98 40.6 14-32 28-32 21 43 13 11 20
Upcoming Games
  • Charlotte will play their next game at home against L.A. Lakers. The Hornets have a W/L % of .533 after a win and .571 after a loss.
  • Memphis will play their next game at home against L.A. Lakers. The Grizzlies have a W/L % of .438 after a win and .562 after a loss.