The Charlotte Hornets experience nothing but trouble in Portland and they aim to end a 14-game skid in the Rose City when they visit the Trail Blazers on Monday night.
Charlotte last won in Portland on March 29, 2008 when the team was known as the Bobcats and Emeka Okafor was the squad’s high scorer with 21 points. Trail Blazers icon Damian Lillard was a high school senior.
The Hornets will take another shot at ending the skid during the fifth contest of a six-game road trip that ends Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors.
Charlotte is 2-2 on the excursion after outlasting Los Angeles Lakers 134-130 on Friday. The Hornets have won two of their last three games after losing their previous eight contests.
Gordon Hayward scored the tiebreaking points with 6.3 seconds left and P.J. Washington added two free throws to seal it.
Washington led the Hornets with 24 points while Rozier and LaMelo Bell scored 23 points apiece. Ball also had eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
Charlotte coach Steve Clifford also liked the play of Hayward, who scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Portland is returning home from a 2-4 road trip in which it dropped its last three games.
The Trail Blazers lost a pair of games to the Oklahoma City Thunder before finishing the trip with a 120-107 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Lillard was not pleased with the team’s performance on the excursion.
The Trail Blazers were outscored 35-16 in the third quarter to trail by 13 points and the Nuggets extinguished their attempts to get back in the game in the final stanza.
Coach Chauncey Billups is frustrated with the in-game inconsistency of his squad.
Lillard had 34 points and eight assists to continue his strong month. Lillard is averaging 29.9 points and 7.2 assists in 10 games since returning from a calf injury.
Lillard contributed 26 points and seven assists when Portland posted a 105-95 victory in Charlotte on Nov. 9. Ball missed that contest with a left ankle injury.
The Hornets are reportedly working toward a deal with restricted free agent Miles Bridges, who averaged a team-high 20.2 points last season in his fourth campaign with the team. Once Bridges signs, he will likely receive a league suspension after recently pleading no contest to a domestic violence charge.
