CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — LaMelo Ball had 27 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 13 of his 26 points in the decisive fourth quarter and the Charlotte Hornets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 125-113 on Sunday night.
Miles Bridges added 19 points and a career-high nine assists, and P.J. Washington had 17 points to help give coach James Borrego his 100th career victory.
Charlotte finished 20 of 42 from 3-point range.
C.J. McCollum had 25 points for Portland, and Jusuf Nurkic had 13 points and 14 rebounds. The Blazers had won two in a row.
Damian Lillard, coming off a season-high 25 points in a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night, had 14 points and 12 assists for Portland. He was 5 of 20 overall and 2 of 14 from 3-point range.
Ball broke out of a mini-slump by making 10 of 20 shots from the field, including four 3s. He was 1 of 10 from 3-point range in his previous two games.
The Blazers got four 3-pointers from Anfernee Simons in the first half to build a 60-53 lead.
But the Hornets began to take control early in the fourth quarter making nine of their first 15 shots behind Oubre, who scored 10 quick points including two 3-pointers and a dunk off an offensive rebound. Oubre added another 3 with 2 1/2 minutes to play to push the lead back to double digits after the Blazers had cut it to six. Oubre had six 3-pointers,
P.J. Washington put the game away with a short turnaround jumper in the lane to beat the shot clock and block at the other end.
TIP-INS
Trail Blazers: Cody Zeller received a warm welcome from the crowd at the Spectrum Center when he was introduced in the first quarter. Zeller spent eight seasons with the Hornets before signing with the Trail Blazers this past offseason.
Hornets: Terry Rozier got the start after missing the last four games with a sprained right ankle. Rozier finished with 14 points on 4 of 10 shooting. … This was the first game of the season the Hornets did not fall behind by at least 10 points. Their biggest deficit was eight points.
