The Charlotte Hornets visit the hallowed halls of Moda Center to battle the Portland Trail Blazers on Blazer’s Edge Night, Tuesday, March 10 at 7 PM Pacific.
While these two teams have similar records with each seemingly trying to decide if it wants to stay on the right side of .500, Charlotte has been on an absolute heater in 2026. The team has posted an impressive 22 double-digit wins, beating teams such as Cleveland, San Antonio, Houston, Oklahoma City and Boston in style.
The Hornets pasted the
Blazers in their only other game this season. Deni Avdija watched that Feb. 28 contest from the bench. Though Charlotte had an off-shooting night, the Blazers didn’t put up much of a fight, and the Hornets won 109-93.
But the Blazers won’t let that happen, riiiiiiight? Portland is as healthy as it has been all season. Joe Cronin’s team is as assembled as it’s gonna get. Deni Avdija will be in the house, and good things happen when he is leading the Portland attack. The vets are doing vet things, and Scoot Henderson just had a good game. If the team is serious about making a playoff push, it’s time to knuckle down and build consistent, winning habits.
Recent history indicates the key to victory may be for the Blazers to get feisty. Charlotte has dropped two consecutive games. Miami and Phoenix each got physical with the Bugs to disrupt the young Hornets’ flashy, fast-paced attack.
What you Need to Know
Charlotte Hornets (32-33) at Portland Trail Blazers (31-34) Tuesday, Mar. 10 – 7pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network
How to stream: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
How to listen: Trail Blazers Audio Network
Trail Blazers Injuries: Damian Lillard, Shaedon Sharpe (Out). Jayson Kent, Caleb Love, Chris Youngblood (Questionable).
Bugs injuries: Liam McNeely, Tidjane Salaun, Coby White (Out).
Kit: The Blazers will take the floor in its classic white Association Edition home jerseys. Charlotte will wear its traditional teal Icon Edition unis.
Recently:
Trail Blazers: W at MEM, L at HOU, W vs. IND
Hornets: W at BOS, L vs. MIA, L at PHX
Stat Leaders:
Trail Blazers: Points, Avdija (24.3 per game). Rebounds, Clingan (11.5). Assists, Avdija (6.7). Steals, Thybulle (1.8). Blocks, Williams tie (1.5).
Hornets: Points, Miller (20.6 per game). Rebounds, Diabaté (8.7). Assists, Ball (7.3). Steals, Ball (1.1). Blocks, Kalkbrenner (1.5).
Tale of the Tape
Trail Blazers: Offensive rating: 112.7 (23rd place) Defensive rating: 115.4 (19th place)
Hornets: Offensive rating: 117.7 (4th place) Defensive rating: 114.2 (16th place)
Storylines:
This is Our Night:
As loyal readers know, tonight will also be the largest Blazer’s Edge night in history. Readers of the site and community members have purchased 2,617 tickets that were distributed free of charge to young people and the teachers and coaches who work with them. Thank you, Rip City!
A win tonight would earn the Hornets a sweep of its season series with Portland for just the fourth time in history. But, our own Dave Deckard will be in the house. He reports that the Blazers are most often victorious on ‘Edge Night.
Karma Cleanse:
Because Terry Rozier is being investigated as part of an illegal gambling probe, the Charlotte Hornets will send a 2026 second-round pick to the Miami Heat to settle a dispute, league sources confirmed to The Charlotte Observer on Monday. Miami will receive the more favorable of Golden State and Denver’s second-round selections, the rights of which belong to the Hornets.
What they are Saying:
Slippery Knueppel Stealing ROY:
In an interesting bit of Blue Devil-on-Blue Devil violence, Noah Weber at The Smoking Cuban says Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel is emerging as a dark horse candidate who could just nab Rookie of the Year honors and edge out his former Duke teammate, Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks. The reason? Knueppel’s team is playing winning basketball, while Dallas is not.
They went from being expected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA to a team that no team in the Eastern Conference will want to see once the playoffs come around. Knueppel has spearheaded this unexpected rise from the ashes, and this could lead to the panel of voters siding with him to win Rookie of the Year over Flagg.
Good Habits:
Portland won’t be the only team seeking to string together consistent success. Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer reports that Hornets head coach Charles Lee will encourage his team to trust the process.
“We’ve just got to continue to stay together, focus on the right things,” Lee said, looking ahead to Tuesday’s game against the Blazers. “Focus on all the great habits that we have built and we just kind of let go of it a little bit (Sunday) in some of the more adverse situations. Our group always responds, so looking forward to getting after it in the next game.”
A Recipe for Blazers Success?
The Blazers need big, physical games from the whole roster to disrupt the Hornets faced-paced barrage of threes. Schuyler Callahan at SI wrote that Lee practically said it out loud as he explained the Hornets’ Sunday loss at Phoenix:
“I actually thought the whole night, they really amped up their physicality. I thought early in the game we had a nice rhythm going, and then all of a sudden, as they got down, they started being a little bit more active. They got their hands on a lot of our passes as we’re driving — some deflections, some steals. In the third quarter, I think we had seven turnovers, and they made us pay for it. I think their overall defensive activity was the thing that bothered us the most tonight.”
Blazermaniacs, what do you want to see from your squad tonight?
