PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 26 (Ticker) -- The New Orleans Hornets were heading toward another tight finish until David West and Rasual Butler came up big down the stretch.

West scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and Butler added eight of his 13 in the final period as the Hornets pulled away for an 88-75 over the Portland Trail Blazers.

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The Hornets were coming off of a nail-biting 100-95 win at Utah on Saturday which was not decided until pair of free throws by rookie Chris Paul with 25 seconds left and a steal by P.J. Brown with just over five seconds to go.

Sunday's game also was a tight affair as neither team led by more than seven points entering the fourth quarter. That changed midway through the period, when the Hornets put their stamp on the contest.

Leading 67-66, the Hornets took control with an 8-0 charge thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Butler followed by West's jump shot at the 5:58 mark that made it 75-66.

"Coach (Byron) Scott told me to make sure I stayed aggressive after I turned down a couple of shots," Butler said. "Thats what I did. I looked to see if I was open, took the shot and tried to hold my follow through a little longer. After that, they closed on me a little bit and we were able to swing it over to (West) for a big bucket."

Zach Randolph, who scored 23 points, tried to get the Blazers back in it by scoring the next three points, but West responded with a jumper and a pair of free throws.

"I was just trying to go out there, play comfortable and do what I can do," said West, who shot 8-of-14 from the floor. "My guys have a lot of confidence in me. I wanted to start picking my spots and just make some positive plays out there. What ever happens after that happens. I just wanted finish as hard as I could."

West, who scored all but two of the Hornets' final 14 points, put away the game when he followed a miss by Brown with a dunk that gave the Hornets an 83-71 advantage with just over two minutes to go.

"The fourth quarter is when it's time to make plays," West added. "I was able to get open and knock a few down. Guys started finding me and that shows you how we play as a team. We find the guys that are doing a good job and we get them the basketball."

Darius Miles scored 22 points for the Trail Blazers, who made just 10-of-24 free throws and suffered their fourth straight loss.

"I guess if you get right to it, we're not playing with a sense of urgency," Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "We've got to start to get it together and start working harder. As a pro, if you shoot poorly at the free throw line, you stay after practice and work on your shot. We don't have that commitment right now. We've got to get it together and start working harder."

"Personally, I've never shot free throws this bad," said Randolph, who made only 3-of-8 from the line. "I've never seen anything like that. I guess it's contagious."

The Hornets started the game sluggish, making just four of their first 15 shots (27 percent) and falling behind 18-10. A baseline 3-pointer by Butler with one second left made it 21-16 after one period.

"I didn't think in the first we were here and we were just kinda going through the motions," Scott said. "At halftime I didn't look very happy. We had a much better effort and did a heck of a job on the defensive end in the fourth quarter. We had a different attitude."