On the night before his 22nd birthday, Brandon Miller reached an NBA career scoring high with 38 points in the Charlotte Hornets’ 123-121 overtime victory against the Detroit Pistons on Monday night.

Hornets guard LaMelo Ball scored 35 points as he and Miller became the first Charlotte teammates to score at least 35 points apiece in the same game. But when Ball fouled out one second into the extra period, Miller scored eight of the Hornets’ 14 overtime points.

“Obviously, LaMelo fouled out at the end, and I think it was just an opportunity to be more aggressive,” Miller said of his overtime output. “I think as a competitor, as a winning teammate we want to do everything to go out there in 48 minutes and win a ballgame.”

Miller made 15-of-26 shots, including 8-of-12 on 3-pointers, to account for his points. The eight 3-pointers also were a career high for the former Alabama star, who made two in overtime on consecutive possessions with 69 and 52 seconds to play.

Miller’s previous career best had been 35 points in a 115-99 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Feb. 4.

“I didn’t know tonight was my career high,” Miller said. “I was just playing basketball, going out there to win a ballgame in front of a great home crowd.”

An oddity about Miller’s performance: He became the 30th player in NBA history to score at least 38 points without attempting a free throw in the game.

Miller also had seven rebounds, four assists, four steals and one blocked shot on Monday night.

“He’s a winner, and he wants to win,” Hornets coach Charles Lee said. “And sometimes he’ll sacrifice some of his own scoring to make sure he’s impacting winning, however he needs to do that. He does want to get everybody involved, which is a great thing, and at times, we have to say, ‘Hey, B, like right now, though, end of shot clock, we need you take this ball, get us to our spacing and go make a play.’ And so, he embraces that. When you remind him, he has no problem going to get a shot.”

An injury in the season-opener for second NBA campaign caused Miller to miss four games. In 11 games this season, he has averaged 18.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.7 steals. Only seven other players in the NBA can match Miller’s per-game output in those four categories.

With a 6-9 record, Charlotte plays the Milwaukee Bucks at 7 p.m. CST Saturday at Fiserv Forum Arena in Milwaukee.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.