Heart-attack inducing game, already. Could we have not waited at least another week before having a game like this? For the sake of Portland fans, our hearts need a break.

The Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night looked to be in a horrible spot and on a night where Portland should really be gaining some steam in the regular season. Well, Portland persevered and completed a 23-point comeback as they defeated the Charlotte Hornets 102-100 in a scrappy game.

I’ll start by saying that Charlotte is not an awful team. In fact, I would even go far as to say that they can be a decent-to-good team in stretches. They have Al Jefferson in the middle who is always going to be effective offensively. They have Kemba Walker who is a good point guard, but is not the greatest shooter and the recently acquired Lance Stephenson who can be explosive in more ways than one and is dynamic. But, Portland is just the better team. They have better players, better personalities, and are just deeper bench-wise.

So, you can imagine my frustration when Charlotte outscored Portland 35-21 in the first quarter and shot 64% from the field, including going 3-for-3 from three point land. These were not easy lay-ups either. Charlotte was hitting mid-range jumpers, fadeaway jumpers and everything in between. Portland shot 40% from the field and went 0-for-4 from three. Damian Lillard got it going quick as he went 4-for-5 in the quarter and had eight points. The rest of the Blazers, however, did not really follow suit. LaMarcus Aldridge went 1-for-5 in the quarter, but had seven points as he went 5-for-5 from the FT line. Again, though, Portland woke up after getting gut punched by Charlotte. Now, it was a game of catch up.

The second quarter saw a much better Portland team offensively and defensively. Charlotte’s FG% dropped to 47% and Portland’s increased to 42%. They outscored Charlotte 30-29 in the quarter and the feeling was that Portland had a big run in them. Charlotte was starting to miss those ridiculous shots and were not hitting their mid-range shots as consistently. The defense was tightening up on Portland’s end, but there were still some issues, mainly centering around Jefferson. He was still able to get to the rim and get his points. The Hornets were always able to keep Portland at bay whether it be a minor hot streak from three-point land or just by playing great defense. Either way, Charlotte was battling and taking the punches that Portland was giving.

The backcourt did it for Portland in the second quarter. Lillard continued to be hot offensively as he went 3-for-6, 2-for-3 from three in the quarter and had eight points, five assists and two rebounds. Wesley Matthews shot 3-for-7 from the field, 1-for-3 from three and had eight points. Chris Kaman went 2-for-4 with four points and two rebounds. He also collected three fouls and a technical foul in almost four minutes of play. Impressive work to get all of that in under five minutes.

The third quarter was more of the same from Portland. Offense was alive, but the defense was not quite there yet. Charlotte still shot 45% in the quarter, 50% from three as they mainly rode Jefferson who went 3-for-5 and had six points in the quarter. Again, they were getting timely shots that just gave them an extra possession or two to defend and keep Portland back. The big difference, though? The FT line. Portland went six times in the quarter, while Charlotte only went twice. To compare, Charlotte went to the line 12 times in the second quarter and five times in the first. Portland stopped fouling on defense. I think that is something that may not be noticeable at first, but is huge down the stretch and in terms of making a comeback.

Lillard, once again, went 3-for-5, 2-for-2 from three and had eight points in the quarter. Matthews, as well, provided eight points on 2-for-5 shooting, 1-for-3 from three. The backcourt was finally getting free of Charlotte’s defense and getting open looks. And, the ball was finally going in.

The wheels fell off for the Hornets in the fourth quarter. Portland shot 50% from the field, while Charlotte shot 21% going 3-for-14. Only three made FGs in the quarter; I would say Portland’s defense shaped up. Aldridge, after struggling to get any shot in the basket, came alive in the fourth. He went 4-for-5 and had eight points along with five rebounds and two assists. He had a couple key rebounds and an offensive rebound that really sparked the comeback.

Charlotte still had a shot to send it into overtime. After securing a bucket and Portland failing to score on their end, the Hornets had 3.5 seconds remaining to make something happen. Gary Neal got a clear shot to the basket and attempted to dunk the ball. Well, at first it looked like Neal got it in the basket before time expired, but after the officials reviewed the play, the call was overturned and the game was over. It was an interesting decision by Neal to attempt to dunk the ball. He should have tried to float it in or release it at some point on the drive. He also thought he was fouled on the play, but no whistle was blown.

Portland shot 43% from the field for the game, while Charlotte shot 47%. Honestly, that seems a bit high for their shooters. Stephenson went 5-for-10, 2-for-4 from three. He usually does not shoot that well. Whatever the case was, the Blazers weathered the storm and stole a game back from Charlotte.

I want to talk about Steve Blake, again. This guy was a stud tonight on the defensive end. He kept Walker in check for most of the second half. He held Walker to just 2-for-11 shooting with seven points in the second half. To compare, Walker was 4-for-5 from the field in the first half with nine. Blake was being a defensive stopper for Portland. Not to mention our first “they forgot about Blake” moment. In a sequence in the fourth quarter, Blake somehow got open on the wing for an open three-pointer and knocked it down giving Portland their first lead of the game. There will be plenty more of these and it just seems to happen with Blake.

Portland’s highest scorer was Lillard who had 29 points on 12-for-21 shooting, 5-for-8 from three. He also had seven assists, four rebounds and two steals. Even in Lillard’s scoring slump, he was filling the stat sheet. I would keep watch over the other stats to see how that progresses. Aldridge provided his usual night. He finished with 25 points on 10-for-21 shooting and had 14 rebounds. In the first half, everything was difficult for LA. The lid was on the basket, but in the fourth quarter he found his stride and it was needed.

Kaman finished with 12 points on 6-for-10 shooting and seven rebounds. Just pencil him in for this stat line.

Allen Crabbe got the start at small forward as Nicolas Batum is going to be out for a little bit with a right knee contusion. It should not be terribly long as he is looking to aim for a return on Monday against the New Orleans Pelicans. This will be a good test of the depth of Portland. Last year, the starters were the healthiest group in the NBA. Fans cannot expect that to happen again. There will be injuries and it is just a matter of how Portland deals with them. Just be happy that it was not anything more serious.

Well, that was the first big comeback game of the season for Portland. I expect this will not be the last one. Portland does not have time to celebrate as they head to Denver to face the Nuggets once again tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. PST. This is a tough back-to-back, especially with a mentally and physically exhausting game tonight. Denver will be playing two games in just six nights so they will be well rested for Portland. I expect it to be a different than Sunday. Stay tuned!