CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA (AP) – LaMelo Ball made six three-pointers before breaking his right ankle in the third quarter, and the Charlotte Hornets held on to beat the Detroit Pistons 117-106 yesterday for their fifth straight victory.
Terry Rozier scored 22 points, Gordon Hayward had 19 points and rookie Mark Williams added 15 points and 11 rebounds for Charlotte, which is still second-to-last in the Eastern Conference standings – ahead of only Detroit.
Ball finished with 18 points on six-of-seven shooting from three-point range, his fifth straight game making at least five threes.
He was hurt on a non-contact play in the third, and the Hornets announced after the game that X-rays revealed a fracture to his right ankle.
Hayward said Charlotte’s players didn’t find out about the severity of the injury until after the game, with most of them figuring Ball had just tweaked something.
Ball’s other ankle has been bothersome this season – he’s sprained his left ankle three ties, limiting him to 36 games.
