Mashburn Inspires Hornets in Game 3

When all else failed, the Charlotte Hornets went back to what they do best: playing solid defense and crashing the boards.

Jamal Mashburn scored a career-playoff high 36 points and the Hornets held Ray Allen to six points in the second half in a 102-92 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 3 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series Thursday night.

Milwaukee still has a 2-1 lead in the series. Game 4 is Sunday at Charlotte.

“He was the difference,” Allen said of Mashburn. “Every time we came back, he kept knocking us right back down. He really carried them and our attention to defensive detail was just not there.”

The Hornets, burned by Allen for a total of 54 points in two losses, clamped down on him Thursday and held him to 20 points on seven-for-18 shooting.

“Ray had killed us, and he was the only one we really trapped tonight,” Coach Paul Silas said. “That took him out of his rhythm a little bit. We extended our defense and I think that’s the reason we came away with the victory.”

The Hornets also capitalized on Allen’s misses with an aggressive rebounding effort, beating the Bucks, 57-35, on the boards while scoring 44 points in the paint.

“We went back to the basics,” said P.J. Brown, who tied his career-playoff high with 16 rebounds. “We limited their second-chance shots, which you have to do to beat them, and we played great defense. I don’t think the Bucks want to play defense with us as much as they say they do. We can be pretty good at that.”

Glenn Robinson led Milwaukee with 23 points.