NBA Recap: Hornets buzz past the Blazers as they hand them a deadbeat loss 97-78
Five players scored in double figures for the New Orleans Hornets as they put a classic finish to their road trip.
The New Orleans Hornets beat the Portland Blazers to a 97-78 loss as Monty Williams makes his first trip back to Portland.
Inside the Arena
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and all his staff were also present to watch the game.
Stats comparison
New Orleans Hornets shot at a percentage of 51.5 from the field and at the same time shooting 57.1 percent beyond the arc (8 for 14).
The New Orleans grabbed 48 rebounds whereas the Portland Blazers grabbed 27. Orleans secured 11 offensive rebounds and the Blazers had six. The Hornets gave away 16 turnovers and the Blazers gave eight only. Both the teams had same number of fast break points,
12. The Hornets took the biggest lead at 19 points and the Blazers took at nine. Both the teams had same number of points in the paint, 28.
The New Orleans 48 rebounds consisted of 37 defensive and 11 offensive. The Blazers scored 21 defensive and six offensive as they breezed past Portland on second chance points (15-2) and accomplished 12-3 in the season.
The lead changed three times and the game was tied three times during a span of 2:9 as an audience of 20452 experienced the exciting game at Rose Garden, Portland, OR. It seems like the Portland fans must have faced a great disappointment on seeing their
home team lose.
Quotable
"This win doesn't say a lot about me as a coach. It's all about our guys. They decided yesterday in practice that we need to be a defensive team and we showed signs tonight." Monty Williams who is Hornets coach said later.
Box Score
At the end of the third quarter the Blazers were lagging behind the Hornets 75-65. Right after that Chris Paul and David West surprised the Blazers as they scored 6 points each in the fourth quarter. They succeeded in chasing loose balls and grabbing rebounds
and did not let the Blazers to score more than 13 points in the end of the game.
Quotable II
"I felt like I had a pretty good rhythm -- legs got kinda heavy there at times, but for the most part I felt like I was able to get some good looks and I made some shots. But it's a difficult game. To come back and you get beat like this at home -- it's
frustrating." It was Brandon Roy’s response to the victory clinched by the Raptors on their home ground.
Strong links
Paul played a remarkable game as he scored 16 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out his season high 13 assists.
Weak links
Marcus Camby was one of the weakest links Friday night. It was disappointing for everyone to see this because he had a grand score and he had reached double figures in rebounds 10 times this season. LaMarcus Aldridge also stroke thunders on the Blazers as
they witnessed their top rebounder grabbing nine rebounds only.
Remarkable
Roy who had not attended the last three games because of a sore knee scored eight points in the start of the game and gave three assists. He managed 2 for 2 on three pointers in a duration of just eight minutes.
Coming Up: The Hornets head home to play the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, while Portland faces the New Jersey Nets to kick-off a long four-game East Coast road trip on Sunday. The Blazers are 4-1 against Eastern Conference teams this season.
Tags: