The winning run of Charlotte Hornets reached a fifth straight victory when they defeated Detroit Pistons 117-106 on Monday.
However, the win was marred by the news of Hornets guard LaMelo Ball having a fractured ankle after he seemingly twisted it in the third quarter of the game. He did not return to the court after that.
Ball finished the game with 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc.
Terry Rozier led the Hornets with 22 points as the team won its season-high fifth straight. Following Ball's lead, Charlotte shot 13-for-26 from 3-point range. The Pistons were 3-for-26.
Gordon Hayward added 19 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. joined ball with 18 points for Charlotte. Mark Williams provided 15 points and 11 rebounds.
James Wiseman scored 23 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the field for the Pistons, who have lost five games in a row. Hamidou Diallo's 23 points and Marvin Bagley III's 21 points gave Detroit some scoring punch off the bench. Alec Burks had 17 points and Killian Hayes provided 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Pistons tried to make it interesting by closing within 92-86 when the Hornets went more than 3 1/2 minutes without scoring to begin the fourth quarter.
Three-point plays from Hayward and Oubre in the span of 30 seconds helped get Charlotte back on track.
Williams later scored for the Hornets and Oubre's 3-pointer at the 3:35 mark pushed the lead to 109-99.
Even though Charlotte committed 16 turnovers to just nine charged to the Pistons, the long-range shooting more than made up for those mistakes.
The Hornets finished with a 46-39 rebounding edge. Dennis Smith Jr. came off the Charlotte bench to contribute a team-high seven assists.
The Hornets were leading 65-46 at halftime.
(With agency inputs)
