Jamal Crawford stars as Portland Trail Blazers run riot over the Charlotte Bobcats – NBA Recap
Although the Portland Trail Blazers haven’t quite found their groove on the road yet, they have been a force to reckon with at home. On Wednesday night, the Trail Blazers, up against the spineless Charlotte Bobcats, improved their
home record 10-1 with an emphatic 112-68 win.
Barring the first two and a half minutes, the league worst Bobcats were never in the game. With 9:39 left in the first quarter, Tyrus Thomas made a three point play to give Bobcats a 5-4 lead, which proved to be their only one
of the night.
What followed next was a barrage of layups, jumpers and hook shots as Portland blazed off to a 23-6 run. By the time, the first period ended the Trail Blazers were leading comfortably by 35-18. LaMarcus Aldridge, who ended the
night with 22 points, scored 14 points in the first 12 minutes while Gerald Wallace had 9.
Wallace started the second quarter with five consecutive points to push Portland’s lead to 40-18 and although it was very early in the second frame, a blowout loss started to look ominous for the Bobcats.
The Bobcats crawled to 25-44 midway through the quarter, but then they came across Jamal Crawford. The reserve guard erupted with three triples within a space of 80 seconds and then made three of the next four Portland shots, leading
them to a 61-35 advantage at the break.
The worst for the Bobcats was yet to come though.
Charlotte started the third with four straight points, but were then outscored 31-9 rest of the way as the team entered the fourth frame with Portland leading by 92-48.
Portland made a 6-2 start to the fourth quarter to extend their lead to 98-50 – the highest of the game. The Bobcats found some form after that, but it was a little too late to respond by then.
Crawford ended the game with 24 points on a 9 of 14 shooting, including 4 of 6 from distance. Wallace had 23 points; Aldridge had 22 while Raymond Felton dropped 11 for the Trail Blazers, who shot 55 percent of their field goal
attempts, including 7 of 14 from the long range.
The Bobcats had a horror night. They were out assisted 26-14, outscored 58-26 in the paint and 23-8 on the fast break points. Gerald Henderson top scored with 16 points, while Byron Mullens and Derrick Brown combined for 22 points
off the bench. Rookie Kemba Walker managed only 4 points on a 1 0f 11 shooting for Charlotte, which was 32.5 from the field.
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