Trail Blazers Press Release

Portland posts historic blowout of Bobcats

02/01/12

  1. Written by: KevinHudson

    The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Charlotte Bobcats 112-68 Wednesday night in front of 20,608 at the Rose Garden, handing the Bobcats their worst defeat in franchise history while setting their own season-high for points scored.

    Portland (13-9) pushed its home record to 10-1, the second-best home record in the league behind only San Antonio (11-1).

    The Trail Blazers shot 60.9 percent in the first quarter, led by LaMarcus Aldridge with 14 points on 5-of-8 from the floor, and held a 35-18 advantage after the opening stanza.

    The Portland lead grew to as many as 28 points in the second quarter and ballooned to 44 points in the third. The final period was played by the end of Portland's bench, who held the lead at 44 and helped push the points total to its highest point this season.

    Charlotte (3-20) managed just 37.1 percent from the floor in the first half against a Trail Blazers defense that also notched 10 steals and seven blocked shots. The Bobcats would finish shooting 32.5 percent from the floor while Portland pilfered possession 18 times and blocked 11 shots, led by Marcus Camby with five rejections.

    "The defense was really good all game long," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "The first half we really just took them out of what they wanted to run."

    Jamal Crawford had the hottest of Portland hands in the contest, hitting 9-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range, for a game-high 24 points. Gerald Wallace was next with 23 points while adding five boards, three steals and two assists.

    Wallace, traded to Portland from Charlotte last season, said the lopsided nature of the win helped him put the pain of that trade behind him once and for all.

    "I wanted to keep it going. I didn't even want to come out of the game," Wallace said. "I felt like I was betrayed, I felt like I was stabbed in the back...I'm over it now."

    Gerald Henderson led the Bobcats with 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting, followed by Derrick Brown with 12 points off the bench.

    Aldridge rounded out the top three for Portland with 22 points, while Raymond Felton tallied a game-high seven assists and added 11 points, three rebounds and two steals.

    "Raymond did a nice job tonight of pushing the ball up and getting into our tempo," McMillan said. "That's what we know he's capable of doing. I thought tonight he set the tempo...he kept the pressure on their defense and was able to get to the basket. I thought he did a nice job tonight."

    The Trail Blazers travel to Sacramento to take on the Kings in the second half of a back-to-back Thursday, 7 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet and 750 AM The Game.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

  • Rate This
    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
    4. 4
    5. 5
  • Add to Favorites
  • Blog This
  • Share
  • Flag

The latest from
Everybody
RipCity 14 commented on Players Portland Need / NickPitherUK and riverman are friends now / Kyle Daniel Sallak updated their fan statement / frank joseph joined group Season Ticket Holders / djogone updated their scrapbook / djogone uploaded new photo / daddy updated their Starting 5 / MJB uploaded new video /