Brandon Miller scored 26 points as the Charlotte Hornets snapped an eight-game losing skid by beating the Indiana Pacers 113-109 on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Miller, who also had six rebounds and five assists, iced the drought-breaking victory with two free throws with 7.2 seconds left in regulation.
Vasilije Micic had 18 points and nine assists, Cody Martin scored 14 points and Nick Richards combined nine points with 14 rebounds.
T.J. McConnell came off the pine to post a career-best 30 points for the Pacers, while fellow reserve Jarace Walker had 15 points.
McConnell hit 14 of 19 shots from the floor and had six assists, piloting a 60-point haul from Indiana’s bench.
Miller’s finger roll with 59 seconds left gave the Hornets a 110-104 buffer before the Pacers responded with successive buckets, Tyrese Haliburton hitting a pull-up and Bennedict Mathurin stealing Martin’s inbound pass and converting to make it 110-108.
After Josh Green hit 1 of 2 free throws for Charlotte, Haliburton was fouled with eight seconds remaining.
He hit his first from the stripe before a deliberate miss on the second was rebounded by Miller.
Indiana missed its first six shots of the night, allowing Charlotte to leap ahead 9-0.
McConnell and Obi Toppin injected some life into the Pacers, who briefly captured the lead, but the Hornets finished the period strongly, Green’s dunk before the buzzer giving them a 28-24 cushion.
McConnell, who had 14 first-half points in less than 10 minutes, was the chief architect of Indiana’s season-best 38-point second quarter.
At the other end, Micic had 13 points and four assists in the first half and Charlotte led 63-62 at that interval after hitting 68.4 percent in the second period thanks to some defensive lapses from the Pacers.
Indiana pinched the lead early in the third on a Pascal Siakam jumper, which Haliburton followed with his first score for the evening.
Seth Curry and Miller combined to put the Hornets back in front 83-76 before McConnell led a 6-0 Pacers burst to finish a 20-all third period to trim the margin to one point with a quarter to play.
–Field Level Media