CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Kemba Walker and Nicolas Batum are the heart and soul of the Charlotte Hornets.

As the Hornets start to make a late-season push for the playoffs, coach Steve Clifford is hoping that his stellar backcourt will lead the way.

That was certainly the case on Monday night as the Hornets led by as many as 24 points and rolled past the Indiana Pacers 100-88 at the Spectrum Center.

Walker led the way with 28 points, five rebounds and eight assists, and Batum added 21 points, four rebounds and four assists as the Hornets won for the third time in their last four games.

"They set the tone obviously tonight," Clifford said. "They have been really aggressive lately, and that's how it's got to be. The ball's going to be in their hands, and if we get on a run here, it's going to have to start with those two guys."

Batum and Walker each acknowledged that the pressure is now on them. Batum scored 14 of his points in the first quarter, as the Hornets jumped out to a 27-16 lead after one, and then Walker heated up in the second quarter to push the lead to 58-37 at halftime.

"We're going to have to (produce) now," Batum said. "We're still in a race to get a playoff spot, so Kemba and I got to step up. Everybody got to step up. We did a good job tonight."

"I played well, and Nic played well," Walker said. "We're the two best players on the team, so we wanted to set the tone early on, and that's what we did. Everybody followed along, and that was a huge win for us."

The Hornets (28-35) remain three games behind No. 8 Detroit in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with 19 games remaining, and they have already lost the tie-breaker to Detroit so they in essence are four games back.

Clifford didn't want to read too much into Monday's performance, but it is clear that the Hornets have righted the ship since a stretch last month when they lost 12 of 13.

"We'll see if we can get on a roll," Clifford said. "We were better tonight, so we'll see. But any team in the league can do what we did tonight. That's not what the league's all about. You've got to do it night after night and put days together, weeks together, months together. That's what it's all about."

The Hornets, who were missing Frank Kaminsky, Miles Plumlee and Ramon Sessions with injuries, also got 14 points off the bench from Jeremy Lamb. Cody Zeller finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

"We had good energy in the first half, which is the biggest thing I was worried about coming off the trip," Clifford said. "I thought our guys had good readiness. So it was a good win. We're playing more consistently. Since the All-Star break, except for one game, we've been playing well."

The Pacers (32-31) were dreadful early, playing with no energy on the final game of a five-game road trip. They had pulled out an emotional 97-96 win at Atlanta on Sunday.

"We started this game flat, not a lot of energy at all," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "We dug ourselves a deep hole. I thought we fought our way out of it and in the second half we started to get some stops and get aggressive, found some energy. But we didn't have enough to really get back into the game."

Paul George led the Pacers with 36 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. CJ Miles scored 16, Monta Ellis scored 12, and Jeff Teague scored 10. But the Pacers committed 15 turnovers and were outrebounded 50-41. They had only three free-throw attempts all night, another sign of their lack of aggressiveness.

"I'm not sure why we did come out flat," George said. "No reason for it. We knew this was going to be a tough game, and we still got off to a slow start."

NOTES: Hornets G Kemba Walker was named the Eastern Conference player of the week on Monday. He averaged 27.7 points in three games last week, two of them wins. It's his first such honor this season and the fifth of his career. ... The Hornets signed F Johnny O'Bryant to a second 10-day contract on Monday, two days after he scored 15 in a win at Denver. ... The Pacers are now 3-11 on the second night of back-to-backs this season, including 0-7 on the road. ... The Hornets committed just one foul in the first quarter, two in the second, and two in the third. .... The Hornets were returning from a seven-game road trip. This game started a stretch in which 12 of their final 20 games are at home. ... The Hornets will play at Miami on Wednesday. ... The Pacers will return home to host Detroit on Wednesday.