The Charlotte Hornets played shut-down defense in the fourth quarter for their first road victory of the season, 104-99 over the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum.
Hornets point guard Kemba Walker (27 points and six assists) dribbled through a Grizzlies press late, feeding small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist for a dunk with two seconds left. The Hornets improved to 4-3. The Grizzlies dropped to 5-2.
Hornets guard Jeremy Lamb (17 points and eight rebounds) made three of four free throws in the last 30 seconds.
The Hornets went on a 15-4 run, completed on a Kidd-Gilchris layup with 3 minutes, 41 seconds left, also off a Walker assist. That gave the Hornets a 94-93 lead, after Charlotte once trailed by as many as 15 points.
Memphis' Tyreke Evans' 3-pointer with less than two minutes cut Hornets' lead to one. But his teammate, Mike Conley, missed an open 3-pointer, then fouled Walker with just over a minute left. Walker made both free throws.
This was the Hornets' third consecutive victory in Memphis. The Hornets lost their previous two road games this season, at Detroit and at Milwaukee.
