105
97
The early-season struggles have been taking a toll for the Charlotte Hornets as their losing streak now sits at 7 games, thanks to Wednesday's 105-97 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers at Time Warner Cable Arena. The Hornets still find themselves in last place in the Southeast Division with a 4-12 mark, and are nearing the cellar in the Eastern Conference standings.
Entering the game on Wednesday, the Trail Blazers were looking for their 9th straight win, and they got in resounding fashion, thanks to Wesley Matthews, the big surprise in the game on Wednesday for the Blazers, as he would lead the way with 28 points in the win for Portland, which had 4 other players reach double figures, including Damian Lillard(22 points), Robin Lopez(15 points/10 rebounds), Chris Kaman(12 points), and Nicolas Batum(10 points), as the Blazers would finish the game with a 42.4% field goal percentage.
Charlotte was led in the loss by Brian Roberts, who had 24 points in the loss. It will be another tough challenge tonight for the Hornets, as they finish up their three-game homestand against Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and the Golden State Warriors tonight at Time Warner Cable Arena for a 7:00 p.m. start, before they make the trek down I-85 South to square off against the Atlanta Hawks tomorrow night at Philips Arena.
Portland Trail Blazers(11-3) vs. Charlotte Hornets(4-11)
Time Warner Cable Arena
Wednesday, 7:00 p.m.
Television: SportSouth
Radio: WFNZ-AM(610 The Fan)
Last meeting: Portland 102, Charlotte 100(November 11th at Portland)
Series history(since original Hornets first season in 1988-89): POR leads series 35-14
It's a battle of a team that's getting hot against a team that is currently cold, as the Portland Trail Blazers enter tonight's game with a 8-game winning streak, while the Charlotte Hornets are in a midst of a 6-game losing streak as the two teams square off tonight at Time Warner Cable Arena. The last time these two teams met was a few weeks back at the Moda Center at the Rose Garden, as the Hornets thought they had tied the game to force it into overtime, but Gary Neal's shot was ruled no good, giving the Blazers a 102-100 win on November 11th, as the Hornets are hoping to not only get some revenge from that loss, but to end this long 6-game losing skid in the process.
Scouting the Blazers
The red-hot Portland Trail Blazers are on a roll over the last few games, as they are sitting atop the Northwest Division with a 11-3 mark and are currently on a eight-game winning streak. The reason behind this: LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard, two of the best players on the Trail Blazers roster, as Aldridge leads the team with a 22.2 points per game average, while Lillard isn't that far behind with a 19.9 points per game average. Portland is looking for their 9th straight win with the two leading the way as they come into Charlotte tonight to face a struggling Hornets team.
Scouting the Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets are of course, struggling in these first couple of months of the 2014-15 season, struggling with closing out games, holding on to leads, and of course, early season injuries that have contributed to this 6-game losing skid. Charlotte dropped arguably one of their worst games of the season at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers back on Monday night at the Hive, but they do have one thing on their minds: revenge. They hope to get some payback from that November 11th game tonight as they welcome in the surging Trail Blazers to "The Hive" for this match-up on the night before Thanksgiving.
Next 4 games for the Hornets(Home games in Purple, Road games in Teal)
Friday: Golden State Warriors vs. Charlotte(7:00 p.m.)
Saturday: Charlotte @ Atlanta Hawks*(7:00 p.m.)
Next Wednesday: Chicago Bulls vs. Charlotte(7:00 p.m.)
Next Friday: New York Knicks vs. Charlotte(7:00 p.m.)
*-Southeast Division game
NOTES: All SportSouth telecasts begin with "Hornets Live" 30 minutes before tip-off; All Hornets games can be heard locally on flagship station WFNZ-AM(610 The Fan) and throughout the Carolinas on the Hornets Radio Network.
100
102
For the first three quarters of last night's game in Portland at the Moda Center, the Charlotte Hornets had all things going their way, but with less than 5:00 left in the game, the Portland Trail Blazers would storm their way back with a frantic comeback, and with less than 3 tenths of a second left, Gary Neal thought he had the shot that would send the game in overtime, but the referees decided it was no good, as Portland handed Charlotte(3-5) it's second straight loss by a 102-100 margin.
Neal thought he had the shot, but he was disappointed that it was after the buzzer went off. "When I made the basket, I thought it was good." Neal said. "It was a bang-bang play, so it was hard to say I thought it was out of my hand but they said it wasn't."
Leading the way for Portland in their comeback victory was their captain, Damian Lillard, who was 12-of-21 from the field to finish with 29 points to lead the Blazers. He was joined by Lamarcus Aldridge, who added in 25 points, with 14 rebounds to his credit. Wesley Matthews finished the night with 16 points and Chris Kaman came off the bench to add in 12. As a team, the Blazers shot an even 43% from the field, despite the Hornets out-shooting them with 46.3% for the game.
Over on the Hornets side of the final statsheet, they were led in scoring by Al Jefferson and his 22 point outing to lead Charlotte in the loss, while Kemba Walker was 6-of-16 from the field to finish up with 16 points. Lance Stephenson had another strong outing with 14 points and 14 rebounds, while Brian Roberts and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist each had 12 points each.
The Hornets look to get back on the right track on Friday night as they pay a visit to Phoenix to take on the Suns at 9:00 p.m., before wrapping up their West Coast road trip on Saturday night in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors at 10:30 p.m. The next time the Hornets are back home at Time Warner Cable Arena will come on Monday night as they take on Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off.
Charlotte Hornets(3-4) vs. Portland Trail Blazers(4-3)
Moda Center, Portland
Tuesday, 10:00 p.m.
Television: SportSouth
Radio: WFNZ-AM(610 The Fan)
Series history(since original Hornets first season in 1988-89): POR leads series 34-14
Tomorrow night, the Charlotte Hornets will continue their West Coast road trek as they head up North to Portland for a date with the Portland Trail Blazers. Last time out, the Hornets dominated the first half, but saw the wheels fall off in the second half of action, as Kobe Bryant and Jeremy Lin led the Los Angeles Lakers past Charlotte 107-92 on Sunday, while the Trail Blazers are coming off a 116-100 win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday as well.
Scouting the Hornets
The 3-4 Charlotte Hornets will continue their West Coast road trip tomorrow night in Portland as they battle the Trail Blazers. The Hornets saw their brief 2-game win streak come to a halt on Sunday night in Los Angeles, as they fell to the Lakers by the final score of 107-92, despite Al Jefferson leading the way with 23 points in the loss for Charlotte. The Hornets hope for a better outcome on Tuesday night, when they hit the floor in Portland to take on Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers in Game 2 of their 4-game West Coast swing away from Charlotte.
Scouting the Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers are coming off a 116-100 win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night at the Moda Center, improving them to 4-3 on the year. Damian Lillard is always the star attraction whenever he steps on the floor for the Blazers, and the Hornets will have their hands full trying to contain the young rising star as he and the rest of the Blazers will welcome in Charlotte to the Moda Center on Tuesday to wrap up their brief 2-game homestand.
Next 4 games for the Hornets(Home games in Purple, Road games in Teal)
Friday: Charlotte @ Phoenix Suns(9:00 p.m.)
Saturday: Charlotte @ Golden State Warriors(10:30 p.m.)
Next Monday: Dallas Mavericks @ Charlotte(7:00 p.m.)
Next Wednesday: Charlotte @ Indiana Pacers(7:00 p.m.)
NOTES: All SportSouth telecasts begin with "Hornets Live" 30 minutes before tip-off; All Hornets games can be heard locally on flagship station WFNZ-AM(610 The Fan) and throughout the Carolinas on the Hornets Radio Network.
We resume our "30 Teams in 30 Days" series of all 30 NBA teams by making the trek north to Portland, where we'll talk an inside look at the Trail Blazers and their plans to pick up where they left off from last season's playoff run.
Last season's record: 54-28(2nd in Northwest Division/5th in Western Conference; Def. HOU 4-2 in First Round; Lost to SA 4-1 in Western Conference Semi-finals)
Head Coach: Terry Stotts(7th season, 202-245 overall; 87-77 in 3 seasons with POR)
Arena: Moda Center(19,980)
Website: trailblazers.com
In only his second season as Blazers head coach, Terry Stotts knew that he wanted to get his team to be a strong, young, yet competitive team in the Northwest Division last season, and he would count on Dame Lillard to lead the way for Portland in their quest to get back into playoff mode. The Blazers would battle it out with Oklahoma City back and forth to see who will claim the Northwest Division crown, and when it came to the end, OKC captured the title, but Portland did get the 2nd spot in the division, finishing with a 54-28 record, and landing the 5th overall seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
The first round turned out to be an entertaining one, as Portland squared off against the Houston Rockets, coming down to a decisive Game 6 at the Moda Center, which saw Lillard's buzzer beater lifting them into Round 2 against the San Antonio Spurs, who in turn, eliminated Portland in 5 games, as San Antonio would eventually go on to win it all in last year's NBA Finals.
It's a new season in "Rip City", and the Blazers are ready to make another deep run this season, so look out for Portland to once again be a tough team to beat in the Northwest Division this season.
Upcoming team previews in the "30 Teams in 30 Days" series:
- Wednesday: Minnesota Timberwolves
- Thursday: Memphis Grizzlies
- Friday: Indiana Pacers
- Saturday: Chicago Bulls
- Sunday: Milwaukee Bucks
- Monday: Detroit Pistons
- Next Tuesday: Cleveland Cavaliers
