Trail Blazers begin post-Vonleh era with 109-103 OT win versus Hornets

The Trail Blazers (30-25) beat the Charlotte Hornets Thursday in overtime 109-103 at the Moda Center. It was Portland’s ninth straight win at home.

The NBA trade deadline had passed. Noah Vonleh had been dealt to the Chicago Bulls. And Portland had some business to take care of. In the first game of a home-road back-to-back, the Trail Blazers beat the Charlotte Hornets 109-103 in overtime.

Here are a few odds and ends from the game and some words about our new-look Trail Blazers. (Editor’s note: He’s totally being dramatic for no reason.)

FIRST HALF

Maurice Harkless (eight points, five rebounds) got his second start in a row at small forward, filling in for an injured Evan Turner, who would come off the bench and play a heckuva game, actually, scoring 13 points.

(Turner did, in fact, play 20 minutes.)

Blazers went on an early 14-0 run to take a 20-5 lead with 4:46 left in the first.

Good news on the Jusuf Nurkic front:

Nurk was mostly a good Nurk Thursday, finishing with 24 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks. He did have seven turnovers, though — a couple of which came in crunch time.

Meanwhile, head coach Terry Stotts had to do some maneuvering:

The Trail Blazers’ biggest lead was 17.

But soon after, Kemba Walker scored 12 straight for Charlotte to bring the Hornets within one, 46-45.

Meyers Leonard got some playing time and hit a three at the halftime buzzer.

(Yeah, don’t do that, Meyers.)

At the half: Trail Blazers 49-45.

Nurkic with 12. Damian Lillard with eight. CJ McCollum with nine.

Walker had 17 points for the Hornets.

SECOND HALF

I was surprised to see that Al-Farouq Aminu has a quiet eight rebounds already. He would finish the game with 15 boards.

Charlotte kept getting within a few points of the Trail Blazers but could never quite get over the hump. The Trail Blazers performance Thursday night was shaping up to be simultaneously lackadaisical and effective.

Said it before, and we’ll say it again: Nurkic rushes his shots; sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. This is not a recipe for long-term success.

And yet, he scored! And the Blazers started to pull away again, 75-63 with 2:05 left in the 3Q.

Things got much more happy for Trail Blazers fans heading into the fourth quarter. Portland was up 79-65 at that point.

After today’s trade deadline passed, we told our readers to look for an extra spring in Ed Davis’ step. But Davis already has an extra spring in his step.

Once again, Kemba Walker brought the Hornets back to life, leading Charlotte on a 20-2 run to tie the game at 95. Walker scored 15 straight points.

Also at this point: The Hornets had 21 points off 11 Portland turnovers.

Game tied at 97 with 45.5 seconds left. Time out Hornets.

The Blazers upped the defensive intensity, and we found ourselves heading to …

OVERTIME

Nurkic got called for a couple fouls in OT as he set screens, one of which probably shouldn’t have been called.

But yeah, it went to overtime because Kemba Walker was Kemba Walkering all over the place. He would finish the game with 40 points (6-of-11 from three).

Next: What the Noah Vonleh trade means for the Trail Blazers

Still, the Trail Blazers made enough stops and Walker missed enough shots late to give the Trail Blazers the victory.

Time for the …

TAKEAWAYS

1. Dame moves up Trail Blazers’ scoring list.

With his three-pointer toward the end of the second quarter, Damian Lillard moved into fifth place all time on the Trail Blazers scoring list. (He passed Jerome Kersey.)

2. Harkless is vital.

We have been reminded in recent games how vital Harkless is to this team’s success. May his good play continue.

3. Sad news for the Adelman family, unfortunately.

Next up for the Trail Blazers: Friday in Sacramento. Tip-off at 7:30 PST.