Hornets beat Nets 123-112 to move into eighth place in East

Kemba Walker scored 25 points as the Charlotte Hornets took control in the second quarter and recorded a 123-112 victory over the host Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. Walker led seven players in double figures as Charlotte avenged last Saturday's home loss to the Nets and prevented Brooklyn from clinching the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Hornets also won for just the third time in their last 10 games and moved a half-game ahead of idle Orlando into eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Walker made 12 of 20 shots and hit eight straight shots at one point as the Hornets shot 53.2 percent. Walker scored 10 points and went 5-for-5 in the second quarter when Charlotte outscored the Nets 37-18 and seized a 68-50 lead by halftime. The Hornets briefly let the lead slip under double digits in the fourth quarter before finishing it off.

Reserve Jeremy Lamb added 22 for the Hornets while Nicolas Batum scored all 17 of his points after halftime. Frank Kaminsky, who was a candidate to be bought out by the Hornets, added 15 while Tony Parker and Cody Zeller finished with 12 apiece. D'Angelo Russell scored 22 points with nine assists but the Nets lost for the ninth time in 14 games and fifth time in their last eight. Russell shot 9 of 24 and missed six of seven 3-point attempts.

DeMarre Carroll added 20 and Spencer Dinwiddie contributed 15 in his return from missing 14 games with a right thumb injury as the Nets shot 51.2 percent and committed 15 turnovers. The first half featured 11 lead changes and nine ties but Charlotte closed it out strong by capitalizing on nine Brooklyn turnovers in a 23-6 run over the last 6:44 to extend a one-point lead to 68-50 by halftime.

Charlotte took a pair of 21-point leads in the third but the Nets closed out the quarter on a 10-2 run and cut the deficit to 98-86 entering the fourth. Russell scored seven straight Brooklyn points and cut the deficit to 104-95 with 8:49 left by hitting three foul shots, but consecutive 3-pointers by Batum pushed Charlotte's lead to 110-97 with 7:32 remaining and the outcome was never in doubt the rest of the way.