The Portland Trail Blazers continuing their winning ways on Wednesday as they beat the Charlotte Hornets 105-97. The Blazers improve to 12-3 on the season, while the Hornets fall to 4-12 and have lost nine of their last ten games. Portland also wins the season series already 2-0 against Charlotte. They have now increased their winning streak to nine games.
After two rocky games that made Blazer fans nervous for when this team finally faces real competition, Portland got back into the swing of things somewhat on Wednesday. Portland recently beat Charlotte back at the Moda Center coming from behind the defeat them after having to scrap and fight through a 23-point deficit. This game was pegged as a “revenge” game of sorts for Charlotte. They let the game slip away from them in Portland and they felt like they should have won.
Charlotte is a better team than their record shows. Over this stretch of games, the Hornets have suffered some heartbreaking defeats at the hands of good teams. The Hornets lost to the Heat 94-93, but could have easily won as big man Al Jefferson barely missed a shot in the closing seconds. They lost to Indiana 88-86. They lost to Orlando 105-100. There are three games in that span that could have easily been won, but the Hornets just got the bad end of the deal in all of these cases. This team should be, record-wise, around 7-9. So, coming into this game for Portland, this team can make some noise. The issue is youth, chemistry and mental fortitude late in games.
Charlotte has a record of 1-5 when leading after three quarters. Think about that for a second. This stat is all mental. Once a team gets into a pattern such as that, it can snowball quickly. While Charlotte was not leading after three in this game, there was a sense of defeat and weariness coming from Charlotte even as the second half began.
The first quarter saw both teams shoot a decent percentage. Portland shot 44% from the field and 50% from three. Charlotte shot 48% from the field, but just 33% from three.
Portland jumped out to an 8-0 lead squashing the idea that Portland was going to be rocky offensively. However, Charlotte quickly adjusted and made it a game as Portland did not score for about two minutes in the first, which allowed the Hornets to get within three halfway through the quarter.
Brian Roberts, of all people, led the way for Charlotte. He had six points on 2-for-2 shooting, 1-for-1 from three. Lance Stephenson also provided six points on 3-for-4 shooting in the quarter. The usual suspects in Jefferson and Kemba Walker combined to go 3-for-11 with just six points. Defensively, Portland was getting to the weapons that Charlotte normally uses, it was just the fact that other members of the team were stepping up.
Portland’s backcourt did most of the damage early and, as you will see, throughout. Wesley Matthews and Damian Lillard combined to go 6-for-9 from the field, 2-for-4 from three with 15 points. LaMarcus Aldridge went 1-for-6 and had one of the worst shooting nights seen by Blazer fans in a long time.
It was very balanced scoring, but Portland only took a two-point lead to the second quarter. Portland outscored Charlotte 28-26.
The second quarter was all Charlotte’s . They outscored the Blazers a whopping 30-17, mainly because Portland went ice cold from the field. They shot 24% from the field and 17% from three. The only effective person in the quarter was Nicolas Batum who had four points on 2-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 from three. The bench struggled in this quarter as Chris Kaman had four points on 1-for-4 shooting and Joel Freeland had two points on 1-for-3 shooting. Not a whole lot of offensive firepower present for the Blazers and Charlotte took advantage.
Charlotte shot 50% from the field and 50% from three (1-for-2). The Hornets made an effort to get Jefferson his touches and it showed. He had ten points in the quarter on 5-for-8 shooting and took the most shots out of anyone in the quarter. Roberts could not miss. He had nine points on 4-for-5 shooting, 1-for-1 from three and was swishing every jumper.
Not the best quarter for Portland, obviously. Defensively, the Blazers got out of sync slightly as the Hornets were able to get some easy shots at the basket and some short jumpers. However, some shots were just flat out hard to make and the Hornets were making them. There is not much a team can do in that situation, but similar to the Hornets game in Portland, Charlotte shot well pretty much the entire first half, but then cooled off immensely. The same thing happened here.
Portland loves the third quarter. They outscored the Hornets 34-20. The Blazers shot a blistering 57% from the field and 67% from three, while the Hornets fell to 40% from the field. The backcourt for Portland were both on fire. Lillard had eight points on 3-for-3 shooting, 1-for-1 from three. Matthews, who was the main offensive weapon for most of this game, had 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting, 3-for-3 from three. That was all Portland needed. The backcourt did not miss a single shot in the third quarter. Robin Lopez provided five points on 2-for-2 shooting as well as energetic defense on Jefferson. A case could be made that Lopez wore out Jefferson over the course of this game. As they game went, Jefferson seemed to be getting slower and not as effective around the rim. LA, however, was 2-for-8 and continued to struggle. However, he corralled six rebounds.
Gerald Henderson was the leading scorer for Charlotte as he had six points on 3-for-3 shooting. The statistic I mentioned above comes into effect. While this team was leading at halftime, the moment Portland made a run, it snowballed. The ball movement and the aggressive defense that Charlotte had in the first half was non-existent in the second. Hero ball started becoming the majority of options and shots that were going down were starting to rim out. Because their offense was withering, their defense got clumsy. Matthews and Lillard both had open three-point shots for the majority of the quarter.
Portland outscored the Hornets 26-21 in the fourth quarter. Portland shut the door once again. Matthews continued his torrid streak by having nine points on 3-for-5 shooting, 2-for-3 from three. He swished a three right as the fourth quarter got going and that set the tone for the rest of the game, in my opinion. Kaman had four points and three rebounds. Kaman’s fourth quarter contributions have been fantastic throughout the early goings of this season.
The youth of Charlotte showed quickly. Walker went 2-for-8, 1-for-3 from three and had six points. Jefferson only attempted four shots. Roberts cooled off and had five points on 2-for-6 shooting, 1-for-2 from three. Portland shot 44% from the field and 44% from three, while Charlotte shot 35% from the field and 43% from three.
Portland’s highest scorer was Matthews who finished with 28 points on 10-for-15 shooting, 6-for-9 from three. Lillard finished with 22 points on 8-for-17 shooting, 4-for-8 from three and had seven assists, four rebounds and one steal.
Aldridge did not reach double-digit points. He finished with nine points on 3-for-18 shooting, but contributed with 14 rebounds, two assists and three blocks.
Lopez had a silent double-double. He finished with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting and had 10 rebounds, two assists and three blocks.
Kaman finished with 12 points on 5-for-12 shooting and had seven rebounds and two assists.
This was a streaky game. Portland had the lead and then Charlotte promptly took a 13-point lead in the second quarter at one point. The Hornets need to deal with their late game woes. I was concerned with the fact that Walker attempted eight shots, while Jefferson only had four attempts. This could be chalked up to good defense by Portland on Jefferson I suppose, but the fact remains that their biggest weapon was not getting the ball a whole lot in the fourth quarter when they needed points the most.
This team hinges on confidence. The moment it starts turning the other way, this team falls apart in all areas and that is why their record is what it is. Stephenson, their biggest free-agent acquisition, was benched for the entire fourth quarter. I am not going to talk about what my opinion is on him or whether that was a good idea or not, but Charlotte has some issues to figure out. Walker and Roberts played the whole fourth quarter, while Jefferson and Henderson played eight minutes. I do not know whether the benching of Stephenson was because of lack of effort or the fact that Roberts was having a good offensive night, but when one of your biggest additions is on the bench in the fourth quarter, that team might want to look at what is going on.
For Portland, this was a great win and furthered their streak along. While Blazer fans would probably like to see Portland come out strong and not have to come from behind, it has been reassuring to see that Portland does not panic and does not seem to get shaken when facing a deficit. This will come in handy down the stretch of the season and in the playoffs, but fire is being played with right now.
Portland gets a day off to enjoy some turkey, but then it is back to business on Friday as they take on the Memphis Grizzlies for the first time this season at the Moda Center. The Grizzlies are 13-2 and have been on a tear through the league. Marc Gasol has been having an MVP-type season early on and this team is scary. Portland has had their fun with lower competition. Now, it’s time to see what they can do against a great Western Conference team. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m. PST at the Moda Center. Stay tuned!