Miles Bridges poured in 25 points and once the Charlotte Hornets got rolling, they cruised to a 127-107 victory against the visiting Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.
Kon Knueppel scored 20 points and Coby White racked up 19 points off the bench, while Brandon Miller supplied 17 points and LaMelo Ball provided 15 points and 11 assists as the Hornets (41-36) won for the seventh time in their last nine games to continue pushing for a guaranteed spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Grant Williams added 10 points.
Jalen Green finished with 25 points and Devin Booker scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half for the Suns (42-35), who attempted only six free throws until late in the game. Dillon Brooks and Grayson Allen each had 13 points and Mark Williams posted 12 points.
After the Hornets had defensive troubles early in the game, they cranked up the offense for 69 points in the middle two quarters and led 102-87 going to the fourth. They kept pouring it on as they enjoyed a double-digit margin throughout the final period on the way to avenging last month’s result in Phoenix.
Bridges was 10-for-16 shooting with four 3-pointers. Charlotte shot 51.6% from the field.
The Suns have lost six of their last seven road games.
Phoenix made 15 of its first 20 shots and led 36-27 just over nine minutes into the game. The gap was 41-33 by the end of the first quarter and 46-36 early in the second quarter.
Using a 9-0 spurt to end the first half, the Hornets went ahead 66-60 at the break. Charlotte made half of its 50 first-half shots from the field, including 12-of-29 shooting from 3-point range (41.4%).
The Hornets carried that finish into the second half, opening on a 14-6 run to open an 80-66 lead with 9:11 left in the third quarter.
Williams, a former Hornets center, played 20 minutes off the Suns bench. A tribute video was played to honor the Charlotte franchise’s former first-round draft pick.
