The Portland Trail Blazers and Charlotte Hornets met in an early Saturday matchup today. Each carried identical 29-31 records into the game on the back of plucky hustle with lineups still in process. The contrast between the two could not have been greater once the ball went up. Though defenses remained largely intact, Portland’s offense remained on the team plane. The Blazers shot 41% percent in the game. Couple that with the home team showing consistent effort and Portland playing only intermittently, and you get Charlotte walking away with a 109-93 victory.
In the absence of All-Star Deni Avdija and second-leading scorer Shaedon Sharpe, Portland’s veterans keep coming through. In their last game Jerami Grant picked up the scoring load. Today it was Jrue Holiday providing 25 points on 9-16 shooting. Let’s get real. The Blazers are cobbling together an attack out of bits and pieces. Only a couple of guys on the roster are used to coming through night in and night out under every circumstance because they’ve seen it all. Holiday is one of them.
Matisse Thybulle also provided a nice two-way spark off the bench, continuing the theme.
It’s got to be three-point shooting. The Blazers were abysmal in the first half, hitting only 5 of 22 attempts beyond the arc. They finished the game 11-47, 23%. Charlotte shot 38% beyond the arc. Everything else combined wasn’t enough to overcome that kind of deficiency.
At the very beginning of the season, the Blazers were prospering by generating extra possessions over the opponent. In the dicey middle sections, they ended up even in that department. Now they’re just giving away looks. Portland committed 16 turnovers, allowing the Hornets an incredible 20 offensive rebounds on top. It’s hard to win that way, especially for this team.
The Blazers travel to Atlanta to face the Hawks tomorrow afternoon with a 3:00 PM, Pacific start.