It was a battle between two of the most disappointing teams in the NBA.
Miles Bridges did everything he could to get his team back on the winning side of things. He was two assists shy of a triple-double with 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to help the Charlotte Hornets snap a five-game losing streak with a 110-106 victory over the visiting Utah Jazz on Monday night.
Bridges, who came into the game ice cold from 3-point range, knocking down just 3 of 30 in his previous four games, broke out of his long-distance shooting slump going 3 of 6.
Mark Williams added a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while four other players, Josh Green (14), KJ Simpson (10), Tidjane Salaun (12) and DaQuan Jeffries (10) cracked double figures for the Hornets (19-56).
The Jazz continued their free fall, losing for the sixth consecutive outing and for the 16th time in their last 17 games. Utah (16-60) reached the 60-loss mark for the first time in franchise history and surpassed the inaugural New Orleans (23-59) squad for most losses.
Keyonte George scored a team-high 20 points for the Jazz, who were shorthanded to say the least, having nine players on the injured list.
One bright spot for the Jazz was Isaiah Collier braking Hall of Famer John Stockton’s franchise rookie assists record dating back to 1984-85, by dishing out seven dimes to go with 17 points and three steals. He now has 419 assists this season.
Embed from Getty ImagesKyle Filipowski finished with 14 points and 13 boards for his 11th double-double, and Brice Sensabaugh scored 19 for Utah.
The Hornets built and nearly lost two double-digit leads.
Charlotte raced out to a 14-point advantage, 25-11, in the first quarter before Utah answered back with a 15-3 run to make it a two-point game in the second quarter.
The Hornets then went on a 14-3 spurt to increase their lead to 13, 42-29. The Jazz closed the gap to seven by halftime and narrowed the deficit to one point, 56-55, after Sensabaugh buried two 3-pointers in an 8-2 run to open the second half.
After Charlotte went ahead by seven in the third quarter, the Jazz made another move and eventually knotted the game, 78-78, after a George 3-pointer.
The Hornets used a 7-1 run to go up by six early in the fourth quarter only to see the Jazz get back within one with a 5-0 run with 5:34 remaining.
After the Jazz pulled within one halfway through the fourth quarter, Williams scored four points in a 6-0 run to give the Hornets a 101-94 lead with 3:59 left on the clock. With less than 30 seconds left, Filipowski missed a crucial 3 that would have tied the game, and George missed an easy putback. Green calmly sank two free throws with 18.3 seconds left at the other end.
Green contributed 14 points for Charlotte, which won on the tail end of a back-to-back after losing in New Orleans on Sunday night.
Both teams are on the road Wednesday night with the Jazz visiting the Houston Rockets and the Hornets at Indiana taking on the Pacers.
