Brandon Miller connected on six 3-point shots as part of his game-high 26 points as the Charlotte Hornets beat the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 109-93 on Saturday afternoon.

Coby White, in his delayed Hornets home debut after a trade from Chicago and time off with an injury, racked up 20 points — 10 in each half — off the bench.

LaMelo Ball provided 15 points and eight assists, Miles Bridges posted 14 points and Moussa Diabate supplied 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Hornets won their fourth in a row.

Miller went 6-for-12 on 3-point attempts. Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel, in his first game since setting the NBA season record for 3-pointers by a rookie, shot 2-for-7 from long range and finished with 10 points.

Jrue Holiday led the Trail Blazers with 25 points and Jerami Grant provided 21 points. Grant has reached the 20-point level four consecutive games for the first time this season. Toumani Camara added 12 points for Portland, which shot 11-for-47 on threes — with reserves combining to go 2-for-18 — and 40.7% overall from the field.

The Trail Blazers pulled within 84-77 with 8:26 remaining before Bridges nailed a 3-pointer to ignite a 10-0 spurt. Portland, on the second stop of a five-game road trip, managed just two points in nearly a four-minute span.

Portland finished with 17 turnovers with 22 assists.

After building a 15-point lead, Charlotte settled for a 51-43 halftime lead. The Trail Blazers were 5-for-22 (22.7%) on 3-point launches.

Bridges and Diabate played in their first home game since being suspension for roles in a Feb. 9 brawl with the Detroit Pistons. They combined for 19 rebounds to help the Hornets to a 55-39 edge on the boards.

Donovan Clingan started and played 26 minutes with seven points for the Trail Blazers after missing Thursday’s victory at Chicago because of illness.

–Field Level Media

Tre Carroll scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, Roddie Anderson III added 21 points and Xavier powered past Georgetown 91-84 on Saturday in a Big East Conference game at Cincinnati.

Filip Borovicanin added 18 for Xavier (14-15, 6-12 Big East), which beat Georgetown for the eighth time in nine meetings while winning for just the third time in 11 games overall.

Georgetown (13-16, 5-13) dropped its sixth straight while playing its first game without its starting point guard and leading scorer KJ Lewis, who is out for the season with a left ankle injury that occurred in a loss to Marquette earlier in the week.

Kayvaun Mulready led the Hoyas with 19 points while Malik Mack added 17.

Jeremiah Williams replaced Lewis in the starting lineup and scored 10 points while making his second start of the season, and first since the Big East opener. Williams scored seven points and dished out four assists in the first half as Georgetown took a 39-38 lead into the break.

Xavier withstood a five-minute scoring drought in the first half and ended the first half on a 12-5 run that cut Georgetown’s eight-point advantage to one.

Borovicanin opened the second half with a 3-pointer and then a steal and a breakaway dunk on the next possession to cap off Xavier’s 10-0 run bridging the end of the first half and the end of the second half while putting the Musketeers up 43-39.

Following a Julius Halaifonua layup to bring Georgetown within one at 45-44, Carroll scored Xavier’s next 12 points. Isaiah Walker’s mid-range jumper broke the run but put Xavier ahead 59-53 with 11:34 remaining.

Anderson knocked down a 3-pointer with 8:08 left to put Xavier ahead 70-61 prompting a timeout from Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley.

Xavier led 73-63 on a Borovicanin three-point play with 6:58 left before Georgetown closed within 75-72 on a Vince Iwuchukwu three-point play with 4:38 left. Xavier built the lead back to 10 on a Borovicanin 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining.

–Field Level Media

The Minnesota Timberwolves wrap up a three-game road trip at the Denver Nuggets on Sunday afternoon with a chance to improve their seeding in the Western Conference playoff picture.

Minnesota has won the first two games of its trip and now faces a tough task against its Northwest Division rival.

Denver already secured the tiebreaker in the season series by winning the first three matchups. With both teams holding identical 37-23 records, the winner of Sunday’s game will have sole possession of fourth in the Western Conference standings.

The Nuggets have lost three of their first five games out of the All-Star break, including a 127-121 overtime setback at Oklahoma City on Friday night. Sunday’s game gives them a chance to get back some momentum.

The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic appears to already have a postseason mindset after mixing it up with the Thunder during the loss.

Jokic was knocked down when Luguentz Dort hit him with his hip in the fourth quarter and then confronted the Oklahoma City forward. There was pushing and shoving before Dort was assessed a flagrant-2 foul and ejected.

Jokic, who leads Denver in points (28.7), rebounds (12.6) and assists (10.5), has a casual and deliberate demeanor on the court that belies his competitive nature.

“I think he was reacting to what was being done to him,” Denver head coach David Adelman said. “And his reaction’s not going to be to cower away. He’s competitive.”

Playing Minnesota again should keep that fiery spirit alive for Jokic and the rest of the Nuggets. The teams have forged a rivalry over the last four seasons, including two playoff series.

There is no question about the fiery nature and competitive spirit of Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.

Edwards missed the first game against the Nuggets this season but is averaging 35.0 points in the two games between the teams. That includes a 44-point performance on Christmas night before he was ejected in overtime for arguing foul calls.

Edwards, who leads the Timberwolves in scoring at 29.6 points a game, doesn’t confine his arguments to opponents and officials. He got into a verbal exchange with head coach Chris Finch after hitting a 3-pointer to seal a 94-88 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday.

It is a feature of their relationship, according to teammates.

“They go at it. Honestly, they do,” Timberwolves guard Mike Conley said. “They go at it… They have days where they’re getting ready to fight, and then after the game they hug each other.”

Finch confirmed that in an interview on Fox Sports Radio.

“We’re both fiery competitors. It’s been part of our relationship since Day 1. … We say these things to each other and we move on,” Finch said. “We don’t take it personally.”

The task of stopping Jokic will fall mainly on Rudy Gobert, who leads Minnesota in rebounds (11.4) and blocks (1.7). Nobody could stop Jokic when the teams met on Christmas, with the three-time MVP recording a 56-point triple-double, including 18 points in overtime.

Jokic has averaged 36.0 points 15.7 rebounds and 12.0 assists in the three games against the Timberwolves.

–Field Level Media