Washington’s Late Shot-Making Seals Hornets’ Win

Playing at home the past few weeks, the Charlotte Hornets have struggled in a couple different areas, mainly defense and closing out clutch-time games. On Wednesday night, they checked both boxes in emphatic fashion to knock off the Atlanta Hawks, 116-106 at Spectrum Center.

LaMelo Ball (22) and Montrezl Harrell (20) both had 20-point showings in the victory, marking the latter’s first such performance since Feb. 25. But the star of the show ended up being PJ Washington, who scored 13 of his 16 points in the final 4:20 to tip things in Charlotte’s favor.

Charlotte played from behind for much of the game until early in the fourth quarter, when two Ball free throws put the squad ahead, 87-85.…