MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A little more than four minutes into the game, the Charlotte Hornets were losing by 11 points. Charlotte would trail by as many as 14 points in the first quarter.

Playing the playoff-tested Memphis Grizzlies on the road, the young Hornets might have panicked.

Instead they turned it around.

Guard Kemba Walker scored a game-high 33 points as Charlotte rallied from its early deficit to defeat Memphis 123-99 Friday night.

"As a team in the huddle we just turned to each other and said, `We gotta do better," Walker said.

With guard Nicolas Batum adding 20 points, Charlotte (14-8) matched its season-high four-game winning streak. The Hornets have won nine of their last 11 with the only losses coming to Cleveland and Golden State. The Hornets sit atop the Southeast Division and they are now 4-5 on the road.

"We're evolving pretty well," Walker said.

"Our last two road games, we played really well," said coach Steve Clifford, referencing the Hornets? Dec. 5 win at Chicago. "To have a good year, you've got to be able to win on the road."

Leading by five at halftime, the Hornets blew the game open in the third quarter and led 93-73 going into the fourth quarter. In the fourth, the Hornets led by as many as 31 points.

Charlotte's bench poured in 59 points. Guard Jeremy Lin led the reserves with 16 points, rookie forward Frank Kaminsky added with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists, and guard Jeremy Lamb had 10 points.

"The bench did a great job to put us back in the game," Batum said. "Then the starters came in to finish the job."

Walker, who also had six assists and five rebounds, scored 11 points in the third quarter and Batum also scored 11 in the third. For the game, Batum and Walker each knocked down 5 of 8 shots from 3-point range.

Memphis (13-11) is 4-4 in its last eight games and all the losses have come at home and have not been close: by 15 to Atlanta, by 20 to San Antonio, by 37 to Oklahoma City and now by 24 to Charlotte.

"It's embarrassing," point guard Mike Conley (16 points) said of the blowout losses. "There's no excuse for it."

Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger didn't reach for an excuse or even a detailed explanation for what happened Friday. He was blunt.

"They're a better team," he said. "It didn't happen by accident. If they beat you by 30, it's like it just wasn't our night."

Asked if he agreed, Conley said: "Right now, they are playing better. I can't say anything other than that."

Center Marc Gasol led the Grizzlies with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Power forward Zach Randolph had 13 points and seven rebounds.

Charlotte shot 50 percent from the floor and went 18 of 37 from 3-point range (48.6 percent). Memphis finished at 40 percent from the field and went 7 of 20 from distance (35 percent). But several of those 3-pointers for the Grizzlies came late, when the game was out of reach.

The bigger concern for the Grizzlies was their defense, once their trademark and now a consistent issue.

"We can't defend the basketball," Joerger said. "People just keep going by us over and over and over."

The Hornets had good ball movement, something that's been improving as players get used to one another.

"I feel like we have a high ceiling because we just started playing with each other," Lin said, "Right now, we seem to be figuring stuff out, and being able to allow each player to kind of do what they do best."

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies, with a core that has been together several years, have much to figure out.

"Everybody has to be accountable and strong," Gasol said. "We have to own our own stuff."

NOTES: F Matt Barnes bailed Memphis out in Detroit on Wednesday when he sank a shot from beyond half court with 1.1 seconds left in the game. The Grizzlies won 93-92 despite poor shooting at the free-throw line -- 7 of 13 for 53.8 percent -- and their usual struggles from long range: 4 of 15 for 26.7 percent. Barnes finished with eight points and a season-high 11 rebounds. He had eight rebounds in the fourth quarter alone. ... Last season, Charlotte was 30th in the NBA in 3-point shooting. It entered Friday's game 13th in 3-point accuracy at .35.1 percent. "We knew we had to get more shooting on the floor," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. ... Grizzlies PF Zach Randolph is now 51st in NBA history with 8,846 rebounds. Next up on the list: Larry Bird, with 8,974. ... Charlotte is third in the Eastern Conference in offensive rating at 103.8.