The Portland Trail Blazers went out east to try to extend their first winning streak of the season to three games against the Charlotte Hornets.
After a competitive first-half, things got ugly for Portland in the third quarter. The Hornets went on a run, sparked by a slew of Portland turnovers, and from then on the Blazers looked like they lost the game before the final buzzer ever rang.
Despite the lead never getting out of hand, the Blazers never made a real push either. In the end, they fell to the Hornets, 125-113.
Takeaways from the Portland Trail Blazers disappointing loss against the Charlotte Hornets
After a bounce back game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Damian Lillard‘s offensive struggles returned as he finished with only 14 points on 5-20 shooting. He did a good job facilitating, tallying 12 assists.
CJ McCollum finished with 25 points, but it took him 24 shots to get there.
LaMelo Ball led the way in scoring for Charlotte, taking advantage of the Blazers bigs on switches on the way to 27 points on 50 percent from the field.
Miles Bridges continued his breakout year in this one, tallying 19 points, including 3-7 from beyond the arc.
Fast Break Notes:
- The Blazers bigs were played off the floor, after getting killed on the perimeter on their switches. This could become a recurring issue that opposing teams will try to take advantage of, as Portland’s big men simply don’t have the foot speed to defend guards or wings. Teams with multiple shooters like Charlotte can create mismatches against the Blazers easily, unless Head Coach Chauncey Billups schemes something to prevent this.
- Billups went with a small-ball group consisting of Dame, CJ, Norman Powell, Nassir Little, and Larry Nance Jr. in a last-ditch effort to try to infuse some energy into the offense and close the deficit. This lineup came out with speed and got a great shot right away as Lillard drilled a triple to cut the lead to six. Unfortunately, some terrible shot selection on Portland’s end and a small dosage of P.J. Washington post-ups killed the Blazers comeback chances. While it didn’t work this time around, I’d like to see a lot more of this small-ball lineup that should have the defensive versatility, speed, and offensive firepower to mount comebacks and grow leads.
- Jusuf Nurkic took two confident 3-pointers in this one and bricked both of them. It seems like this will be another year in which Nurk fails to become a stretch-5, but one can dream.