Russell Westbrook had 29 points (16 in the paint) and 10 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied from 19 points down in the third quarter to beat the Charlotte Hornets 111-107.
The Thunder trailed 66-47 with 7:20 left in the third quarter. Their chance to win fell to 3% with 6:41 left in the third quarter, and they outscored the Hornets 64-41 the rest of the way.
Dennis Schröder’s 3-pointer with 1:12 left made it 106-102, and Paul George’s free throw with 5.2 seconds left put it away at 111-107.
During clutch time, the Thunder outscored the Hornets 17-9. Westbrook (No. 8 in clutch points, 2018-19) scored 9 of the Thunder’s 17 on 4 for 5 shooting and 1 for 1 at the line. In the fourth quarter, George had 3 of his 4 steals, one of them leading to Hamidou Diallo’s driving dunk that tied the game at 88, and the Thunder scored 2 points off them.
Alex Abrines scored a career-high 25 points (15 in the third quarter) on 9 for 15 shooting off the bench, and Schröder added 21 points off the bench. The Thunder had 3 20-point scorers.
For the Hornets, Kemba Walker had 21 points and 6 assists, and Jeremy Lamb went 1 for 7 from 3. Malik Monk scored 21 points off the bench. Tony Parker scored 17 points off the bench.
The Hornets committed 18 turnovers to the Thunder’s 10 and outscored them 31-15 on the fast break. The Thunder outscored the Hornets 35-16 in 12 minutes with Westbrook, George, Schröder, Adams and Abrines on the floor together.