CHARLOTTE, N.C. — D’Angelo Russell was the star of the game. Caris LeVert shook off his struggles to make the play of the night.

Russell carried the Nets on his back offensively, but LeVert smothered Kemba Walker on the final play, credited with a block on his 3-point attempt at the buzzer. The Hornets didn’t get the call and the Nets got the 117-115 win, sprinting off the Spectrum Center court as the sellout crowd of 19,158 booed and booed and booed.

The Nets blew a 19-point lead, trailing 113-107 with under two minutes left. But Russell — on his 23rd birthday and returning to the site of his first All-Star appearance — carried them back in it. He poured in a career-high 40 points, including every single Nets point in a 10-2 run to close the game.

“Mentally we’re just so strong we feel like we can win any game,” said LeVert, who elevated and blocked Walker’s shot with his right elbow, turning and immediately running off the court followed by his jubilant teammates.

“Must-win,” Russell added. “Must-win game for us. We looked at it as a big game for us.”

Clearly. Coming in having dropped six of their past eight, the Nets (31-30) were on the brink of having the Hornets pull even in the standings and ahead in the loss column. Now the Nets sit sixth in the East with a 1 ½ game lead on Detroit, and two full games ahead of Charlotte (28-31). Orlando and Miami sit 3½ back, thanks to some more late-game magic.

Having led 69-50 early in the third quarter, the Nets trailed 111-103 with three minutes left in the fourth before closing on a 14-4 run.

“That’s a big win. That’s like two for one. It was a huge win, just showed a lot about our team. In the beginning of the year we don’t win those games,” DeMarre Carroll said. “When it got to nut-cutting time we got stops that we needed, and D’Lo carried us on his back.”

Russell, who put the Nets ahead for good on a 3-pointer with 39.8 seconds to play, outdueled Kemba Walker (32 points).

“I feel like when you have that All-Star badge on you, you’ve got to be aggressive. Teams respect it already, but teams game-plan now. They’re trying to stop you, and I feel like I can’t be stopped,” Russell said. “The confidence as well gets me over the hump. You’ve got to be aggressive every night because guys are trying to gearing their game plan to shut it down.”

The Nets conceded a 24-4 Hornets run to flush a 19-point cushion. Walker, who had just four points first-half points on 2-of-9 shooting, erupted for 28 after the break of 10-of-19 from the floor.

Joe Harris (19 points) tried to staunch the bleeding, but the Nets fell behind 105-98 on a 3 by Nic Batum (14 points) with 5:06 left. And a floater by Marvin Williams left the Nets in a 113-107 hole with 2:06 to play.

But that’s when Russell personally outscored Charlotte 10-2 to close the game.

Walker’s driving layup put Charlotte back ahead 115-114 with 48.8 left. But Russell drilled a 3-pointer to make it 117-115, and when Walker missed a 3 with a half-minute left, Jarrett Allen (11 points, 11 boards, three blocks) snatched the rebound.

Russell did miss a long 3 to give the Hornets a last look with 6.2 seconds to play. But LeVert took it away, blocking Walker with what may have been contact.

“I haven’t seen it yet, but I felt like it was clean,” LeVert said. “I think my elbow hit it and then time ran out.”

And the Nets ran out with it, right off the court and down the tunnel.