Hornets hold off Timberwolves, 115-108

The Charlotte Hornets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves Tuesday night, 115-108, in large part thanks to yet another stellar game from Kemba Walker. Walker finished with 30 points, six assists, five rebounds, and five steals.

Both teams came out strong to start the game, with the Wolves leading by one point at the end of the first quarter. However, the Wolves made a run in the second quarter thanks to shoddy shooting and what seemed like an inability to rebound the basketball from the boys in teal. The Hornets were down by 14 by the break.

But everything changed in the second half.

The Hornets made 25 of their 38 field goal attempts in the second half while limiting the Wolves to 34.9 percent shooting from the field. Frank Kaminsky scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half, leading all bench scorers.

The win advances the Hornets to a 7-3 record on the season, tying them with the Toronto Raptors for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. They’re also 3-1 on the road.

The Hornets struggled against the Eastern Conference’s top teams over the weekend and don’t have much of a window to clean up their record in the coming weeks. Their next four games are against the Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlies, and San Antonio Spurs — all decent teams — and to make matters worse, they’re playing their next eight games in just 12 days.

If Walker keeps up his outstanding play, the Hornets should come out of this stretch of games with a solid record and distance themselves from the bottom half of the Eastern Conference. Walker is behind only Stephen Curry in 3-point field goals per game, at 3.4.

The Hornets play the Hawks on Friday.