The Portland Trail Blazers ran into one of the hottest teams in the NBA this morning (well, it was morning in Portland, anyway) and should have treated themselves to brunch instead. The Charlotte Hornets beat Portland 109-93 behind Brandon Miller’s 26 points. Jrue Holiday scored 25 for the Blazers.
Here are a few observations from the game:
Threes, Anyone?
The Hornets came into this game shooting three-pointers like free throws (more than 90 makes in their last four games), but the Blazers outshot them from distance
47 to 43. Oh, wait, that was just the attempts: Charlotte made 16 threes (38%) compared to 11 for Portland (23%). This contrast was one of the main factors determining the outcome.
Free Throws
The Blazers made 12 shots from the charity stripe in 19 tries (63%). That fell short of the mark both in number of attempts and makes, particularly when Portland couldn’t make a three-pointer. Charlotte was only 68% from the line. These are numbers that would embarrass a middle-school team, but one team could afford them and the other could not.
Kon Game
One source of a lot of pre-game hype for the Hornets is rookie Kon Knueppel, who has people talking from one end of the NBA to the other. His numbers this game: 29 minutes, 10 points on 4 for 11 from the field, 2 for 7 from three, 0 for 3 from the free-throw line, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 turnovers and an assist. Not a lot to talk about there, except his plus-minus of +24 suggests his team was cooking when he was on the floor.
Speaking of Rebounds
The Hornets snatched 55 rebounds in this matchup, the Blazers 39. Offensive rebounds read: Charlotte 20, Portland 11. Moussa Diabate was the leading contributor for the winners with 11. Donovan Clingan claimed 8 for the Blazers. It’s hard to rebound long misses off of those threes, but one team did it a lot better than the other.
Who Should Play?
One of the biggest debates in Rip City is around the issue of which players should actually be playing, the old guys or the young guys. The fact that Jrue Holiday played 33 minutes and Jerami Grant 32 in this game will no doubt rub many Blazers fans the wrong way, even though Jrue’s 25 points came with 4 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 turnovers plus a steal. Jerami added 21 points. Scoot Henderson, one of the lightning rods in this debate, played 23 minutes and produced 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 turnovers. Proponents of either side of the debate can find ammo in these numbers, but an argument can be made that none of them should have played if you consider the final score.
Up Next
The Blazers now hop to Atlanta for the second half of a back-to-back. Game time is 3:00 PM, Pacific.
