SALT LAKE CITY — Miles Bridges had 26 points and 14 rebounds, Grant Williams scored 24 points and the Charlotte Hornets shot past the Utah Jazz 115-107 on Thursday night for their fourth straight victory.
Brandon Miller added 16 points and Tre Mann had 13. The new-look Hornets made 20 of 42 3-pointers and upped their record to 14-41.
“The biggest thing in the game was the 3-point shooting. Grant hit three 3s in five or six possessions and then Miles hit two huge 3s in the last four minutes,” Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said.
With Charlotte down 94-88, Nick Richards highlighted a 14-0 run with an emphatic follow dunk and Williams made two free throws to lift the Hornets to a 102-94 lead with 5:16 remaining.
“Earlier in the season we would have gave up and let them run away with it,” Bridges said. “But you know, we got veteran guys in our locker room now — winning players — and we got it done.”
The Jazz got to 111-107, but Bridges made back-to-baskets to clinch the game for the Hornets, who lost 10 straight before their current winning streak.
“We didn’t let our offense dictate our defense. We got key stops,” Bridges said about the Hornets keeping the Jazz without a field goal the last 3:33 of the game.
Charlotte snapped a 16-game losing streak in Utah. The last win for the Hornets over the Jazz on the road was a 104-89 victory on March 1, 2006.
“That’s big for this team.” Williams said. “Everybody just plays the right style of basketball. Everybody here, you can tell, wants to win. We have that mentality of doing all that it takes.”
Lauri Markkanen scored 21 points for Utah. Collin Sexton added 17 and Keyonte George had 16. The Jazz have lost five in a row and 11 of 14.
“When you have a night of 19 turnovers and you compound that with it being a night that we really struggled shooting the ball from three, it’s a hard game to win,” Utah coach Will Hardy said. The Jazz shot 9 of 39 from 3-point range.
In his first start, Utah rookie Taylor Hendricks had career highs of 12 points and nine rebounds but didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
The Jazz have pivoted to playing their young players after three rotation players (Kelly Olynyk, Ochai Agbaji and Simone Fontecchio) were traded this month.
The Jazz rookies sparkled in the third quarter as Hendricks, George and Brice Sensabaugh, who had a career-high seven points, combined for 25 of Utah’s 38 points and the Jazz took a 90-85 lead.
But the fourth-quarter collapse with many of their veterans on the court dropped the Jazz to 12-1 at home and 20-2 overall when leading after three quarters this season.
Charlotte began winning once predeadline trades brought Mann, Williams, Vasa Micic, Seth Curry and Davis Bertans.
The Hornets agree Williams, who had six 3-pointers in the game, has been a primary catalyst.
“In these four games that he’s been on the floor, we’ve been really good,” Clifford said. “He creates a lot of offense for his teammates with his shooting … and then he’s like the middle linebacker back there and organizes your defense. He also plays with great physicality.”
The Hornets play at Golden State on Friday night.
