Ball, Oubre lead Hornets past Blazers

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – LaMelo Ball had 27 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and Kelly Oubre sparked the Charlotte Hornets by scoring 13 of his 26 points in the decisive fourth quarter in a 125-113 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

“He has been fantastic,” said James Borrego, who won his 100th game as head coach of the Hornets. “This why we brought him here. We believe in him. We believe there is a major role for him on the team.”

Miles Bridges added 19 points and a career-high nine assists, and P.J. Washington had 17 points and some big plays down the stretch to help Charlotte improve to 5-2.

Oubre provided 10 quick points, including two 3s and a dunk off an offensive rebound.

He also helped the Hornets step up their overall defensive effort with a steal out near the top of the key as Charlotte limited the Blazers to 25 points in the fourth quarter.

Oubre had another 3 with 2 1/2 minutes to play to stifle one Blazers rally and push the lead back to double digits.

Washington sealed the win with a turnaround jumper in the lane to beat the shot clock and a block at the other end. “He is a difference maker out there,” Hornets guard Terry Rozier said about Oubre. “He and Miles Bridges do the same thing. He just turns it up out there.”

“This is pretty much the most fun I have had in my career playing basketball,” Oubre said. “We all have the same goal in mind. We want each other to eat and succeed and as long, so as we have that mindset I think we will have more and more fun throughout the year.”

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.

Charlotte finished 20 of 42 from 3-point range after entering the game as the league’s second-best 3-point shooting team at 40.2%.

“I thought we got caught up kind of playing their style,” said Blazers coach Chauncey Billups. “They kind of just get up and down and run and play like you´re at the park and it´s easy to get caught up like that because that´s fun. It´s fun to play that way. I thought we got caught up there.”