The Trailblazers served up a good old fashioned blow out versus the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night. It was the final game of a successful home stand during which the Blazers won four out of five. On paper, the Hornets actually looked to be one of their more challenging opponents, but that’s not how this game went. The Blazers led wire-to-wire, dominating Charlotte in nearly every category. Jusuf Nurkic was two assists away from his first triple-double while the Blazers as a team notched a season high 31 assists. Sharing is caring! Blazers win 127-96.
The crowd gave a warm welcome to former Blazer Nic Batum, even cheering a bit when he scored, which wasn’t often. He only had eight points on the night. Meanwhile CJ McCollum appeared to be fully out of his slump, torching the Hornets on 30 points on 12 of 20 shots, including 5 of 11 three pointers.
Fans had been looking forward to a showdown between eastern conference all-star guard Kemba Walker and west coast all-star Damian Lillard, but it was really no contest. Walker struggled to find good shots, and when he drove to the lane he was met by the cruel hand of Jusuf Nurkic, who tied his career high in blocked shots with six. The Blazers as a team blocked 15 shots, frustrating the Charlotte shooters and keeping them off balance the entire game.
I didn’t get a lot of a fan pictures during halftime as I was busy discussing the 70 points put up by the red hot home team in the first half, but here’s a couple:
A Blazer family:
There weren’t many Charlotte fans in attendance. This guy said his cousin played for the team:
The second half was notable for two things: 1) Coach Stotts let Nurkic play for a few minutes in the fourth quarter to see if he could get that elusive triple double. He couldn’t, so Stotts quickly took him out. And 2) The two Blazer rookies got extended minutes as the game was well in hand early in the fourth quarter. Anfernee Simons ran the point and got one assist, while Gary Trent Jr. hit a three pointer. It was good to see them out there, even if it was firmly garbage time. The bench guys held the lead at least. 31 points counts as an official blowout.
Now that “cupcake week” is over, the Blazers face some truly tough competition in Denver on Sunday. The Nuggets currently hold the best record in the league and look to be in championship form behind the stellar play of Jusuf Nurkic’s former team mate, and arch nemesis, Nikola Jokic. Sunday would be a good time for the Nurkic and Blazers, who now sit in third place, to step up and knock their old foes down a peg.