Charlotte, North Carolina — Anfernee Simons scored 17 of his 27 points in the second half, Jerami Grant added 22, and the Portland Trail Blazers upset the Charlotte Hornets 102-97 on Friday night, their fourth straight victory.
Deni Avdija scored 18 points and Dononvan Clingan grabbed 13 boards as the Blazers beat the Hornets 29-22 in the fourth quarter.
Nick Smith Jr. scored 17 points and Josh Okogie added 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Hornets, who lacked offensive power without LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges, or Brandon Miller.
The Hornets led 75-73 going into the fourth quarter, but the Blazers swiftly took control. After Portland grabbed two offensive rebounds on the same possession, Simons hit a three-pointer to give the Blazers the lead .
Trail Blazers: The Trail Blazers put together another strong defensive performance on the second night of a back-to-back. Portland shut down Orlando with a 101-79 road win on Thursday and extended that momentum against the Hornets, holding Charlotte to 41% shooting.
Hornets: With Miller out for the season due to wrist surgery, the Hornets will need some other players to step up their 3-point shooting. They didn’t receive much of that against the Blazers, and the offense had no one to rely on in the fourth quarter.
Key moment
After the Hornets trimmed the lead to five, Grant nailed a baseline jumper with just under a minute remaining to seal the victory.
BLAZERS 102, HORNETS 97: Camara 5-10 0-1 11, Grant 7-18 4-4 22, Clingan 2-4 0-0 4, Avdija 3-6 11-14 18, Simons 8-16 7-9 27, Walker 1-5 1-4 3, Banton 0-4 2-2 2, Henderson 1-3 0-2 2, Sharpe 5-13 2-3 13. Totals 32-79 27-39 102. CHARLOTTE (97): Green 5-9 2-2 14, Martin 0-3 0-0 0, M.Williams 6-12 3-4 15, Micic 4-13 3-3 12, Smith Jr. 6-18 3-3 17, Diabate 3-6 0-0.
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