Immanuel Quickley’s 3-point basket at the buzzer lifted the visiting Toronto Raptors to a 97-96 victory against the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night.
Quickley’s basket, which was launched just left of the top of the 3-point arc, delivered the final points in a back-and-forth sequence down the stretch.
RJ Barrett led the Raptors with 28 points, Quickley finished with 21 and Scottie Barnes scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half.
LaMelo Ball’s drive for a basket with 1.6 seconds left broke a tie for the Hornets. Each team called a timeout before the Raptors inbounded the ball for the last shot, which was the seventh successful 3-pointer on Toronto’s 34 long-range attempts, with Quickley going 3-for-11.
Collin Sexton’s 22 points off the bench led the Hornets, who were trying to build off their conquering of NBA-best Oklahoma City on Monday night.
Ball had 15 points, Miles Bridges posted 12 points and Kon Knueppel, who shot 4-for-17, had 11 points for Charlotte, which shot 39% from the field.
The Raptors avenged two earlier losses to Charlotte. Toronto’s Collin Murray-Boyles pulled in 15 rebounds, though the Hornets had a 50-42 edge on the boards.
Sexton’s 3-pointer pushed the Hornets to a 92-89 lead. Barrett’s three-point play at the 56.4-second mark pulled the Raptors even at 92-92.
After Bridges sank two free throws, Barrett hit a short jumper with 20 seconds to go before Ball gave the Hornets the lead again.
Quickley and Barrett both had fourth-quarter stretches of five straight points as the Raptors surged to an 82-81 lead, wiping out what had been Charlotte’s 10-point edge earlier in the quarter.
Barrett made back-to-back baskets again as Toronto went up 86-83 with about five minutes left.
Charlotte’s 50-45 halftime lead was achieved largely by shooting 10-for-21 on 3-point attempts. The Raptors were 2-for-19 in the half, though they went on to recover from a 13-point hole.
The Hornets withstood 12 first-half turnovers, finishing with 18 giveaways.
The Hornets used a 16-5 run to begin the second quarter to build a 38-30 lead.
