For the second game in a row, the Hornets came down to the wire against the Raptors and, for the second game in a row, Charlotte came up short on Saturday, falling 116-113.
Much like Thursday, the Hornets had a shot to tie the game late and again squandered the opportunity. Terry Rozier’s effort with 3.4 seconds left was short and though it looked like he may have been fouled on the play, the officials did not make a call, allowing Toronto to in-bound the ball with 0.4 seconds left to end the game.
Charlotte jumped out to an early 12-2 lead on the night but quickly found itself down double digits early in the second quarter. Terry Rozier helped pull the Hornets back into the game with six points in the final 10 seconds of the first half and Charlotte took a lead early in the second half with the first six points.
After leading for much of the third, Toronto grabbed the lead back and the two sides traded advantages throughout the remainder of the second half with the lead never growing larger than five points. In total, the game had nine lead changes and six ties.
Gordon Hayward (25), Terry Rozier (24) and Devonte’ Graham (20) all reached at least 20 points on the night. Norman Powell scored 24 for the Raptors while Chris Boucher had 20.