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The Charlotte Hornets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night's nationally televised game 117-114. The Hornets were clicking on all cylinders early, scoring easy in transition, getting stops, and out hustling the Lakers all over the floor.
They ended up being up by double digits at the half and held Russell Westbrook to five points. The second half, though, was a whole different story. Westbrook exploded for 30 points, which is the most since Kobe Bryant's final game back in 2016. He sparked a ridiculous run to claw back into this game.
Westbrook's half brought the Lakers to within two points. They had the ball with nine seconds left and Westbrook took matters into his own hands. Miles Bridges was guarding him on that last possession and gave Westbrook a little bit of space to shoot a three-pointer. Thankfully, he missed it and the Hornets won the game.
Hornets fans were probably holding their breath for a second. Westbrook had just nailed two three-pointers with under a minute and thirty seconds left in the game. He had a decent look at it too.
In the postgame, Bridges commented on that nerve racking shot:
“They were on a back-to-back, so I knew that Russell Westbrook did not want to go overtime, so I knew he was shooting that. I tried to get a good contest. He made a couple in the fourth, so I was kinda scared when it went up, but he missed the shot and PJ got the rebound.”
Westbrook might have a rough stretch this shooting the ball, but he did invoke fear into some defenders on Friday night. The Lakers were without their two other stars in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, so he took matters into his own hands. Nonetheless, the Hornets survived the storm and improved to 28-22 on the year.
