In their black Mint City jerseys, the Charlotte Hornets were able to hold on for a 110-108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was the Hornets’ second win at home this week, previously beating a depleted 76ers team Wednesday. Charlotte is pretty banged up themselves, but they gutted out a win over a Wolves team that has high expectations after making the playoffs last season.
The Hornets were led by Kelly Oubre, who scored 28 points on 10-21 shooting from the floor. Terry Rozier chipped in with 22 points and PJ Washington scored 16 points.
Charlotte got some much needed help from its bench and some of its young players tonight. Theo Maledon was solid in the backup point guard role, scoring 14 points, but has to make Hornets fans most excited was what they saw from Kai Jones and James Bouknight.
Kai Jones almost had his first career double-double, scoring 9 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Jones brought a lot of energy to the Spectrum Center crowd, catching an alley-oop from Terry Rozier after a spectacular block by Nick Richards on Rudy Gobert.
James Bouknight has been in a rut, but it was nice to see him contribute in the third quarter. Bouknight checked into the game and gave Charlotte 8 points. Hopefully that will give him a confidence boost and he can continue to develop in his second season.
It was good to see both of the Hornets first round picks from last season contribute to this win.
Charlotte will have some time off before their next game Monday against the Boston Celtics. The Celtics currently have the best record in the NBA at 14-4.