Cameron Crowell by Cameron Crowell Despite a promising nine point halftime lead, poor shooting and costly turnovers plagued the Portland Trail Blazers in the second half as the hometown team lost to the Charlotte Hornets for the sec ond time in two weeks.  This game was U-G-L-Y, and neither team really had an alibi. Charlotte shot 39 percent from the field, to Portland’s 42 percent—well below the NBA league average of ~47 percent. Charlotte turned it over 17 times, to Portland’s 18. Both teams routinely dribbled the orange off their own legs, missed semi-contested layups, and committed silly offensive fouls. I counted at least three travel and double dribble calls, a rarity for professionals. But even in a game that neither team seemed particularly inclined to win, ultimately one team did have to leave Moda Center with a W.  From a bird’s eye view, these teams are nearly identical. Both sit at 10th place in their respective conferences, which is good enough to barely sneak into the NBA post-season. Both shoot A LOT of three pointers, with Charlotte shooting the third most per game and the Blazers right behind them with the fourth most. Both turn the ball over A TON, with the Blazers holding the dubious distinction of Most Turnovers in the League and Charlotte not far behind with fifth most. They’re both among the league’s elite offensive rebounding teams.  The teams’ star players even share in their polarizing nature. Blazers star player Deni Avdija, some NBA fans complain, gets too many free throws and is mired in the controversy of being lauded as a patriot by the Israeli Prime Minister War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, Hornets star player LaMelo Ball seemingly only sort of cares about winning basketball games (as long as it results in House of Highlights posts), and is marred by being the worst driver in the state of North Carolina. The two teams coming together are all the ingredients of an ug-fest.  While the Blazers clung to their early lead, the game seemed like a slog late in the third quarter. I received a complaint from an unnamed Mercury staffer, who’s new to basketball fandom, right before a fan (also named Cameron) needed to make three free throws in 45 seconds for every fan in attendance to win a free smoothie from Jamba Juice. When the Hornets took the lead back at the beginning of the fourth, even a four point deficit felt hopeless.  With that said, there were still a few bright spots. Jerami Grant led the Blazers with 24 points on only 10 shot attempts (elite), and Toumani Camara guarded the Hornets’ mercurial LaMelo Ball, holding him to only 14 points on 16 shot attempts (really bad). In the first half, Scoot Henderson, who my friend’s kid calls “Scoop,” made four of his first five threes to get 12 quick points (though he only finished with 17). Toumani added a beautiful sideline out of bounds (SLOB) pass to Deni for a clean layup, though in retrospect this feels like a monkey’s paw for a SLOB at the end of the game. Even the fan made his three free throws to ensure everyone left with a free smoothie coupon… The Blazers entered the game on the back of a dominant Sunday night win over the Indiana Pacers at Moda— a game that looked to breathe life into the young team after a deflating East Coast road trip. The Blazers’ All-Star Deni Avdija had just returned to the lineup after several weeks of on-again, off-again back issues. And while the Blazers briefly took a one point lead on a semi-transition three pointer by Toumani Camara with two minutes left in the game, the final minute ended in a true Shakespearean comedy of errors turnovers.  Camara’s three looked like the Blazers’ luck had turned, as the defensive stalwart forward shot a horrendous 2-11 from the arc before his late-game three. The Hornets came back down the court for LaMelo to brick a bad step-back three point attempt and the Blazers had the ball back with a lead. Next, Deni missed a point-blank layup. Charlotte bailed out the Blazers again when the Hornets’ only hot shooter, Kon Knueppel (4-8 from three), missed a wide open three. Blazer ball again with a chance to push their lead further. Backup center Robert Williams III missed a typically guaranteed alley-oop dunk. Portland fouled Charlotte’s Miles Bridges, who made both his free throws to retake the lead with just over a minute left.  Ultimately it was turnovers 16, 17, and 18 that cost the Blazers the game. With the clock running under a minute and trailing by one, Deni tossed the ball to Williams III in the corner. Panic immediately set in for the non-dribbling big man, who quickly shoveled it back to Deni—only the pass was nowhere near him (turnover 16). The Hornets’ Knueppel bricked a deep three point attempt, swinging his legs forward in hopes of shamefully baiting a foul on the contesting Williams III. Initially Knueppel got the call, and the Blazers’ hopes were dashed. Coach Tiago Splitter challenged the call and the refs said there was no foul, just a blocked shot by Williams III. A deep sigh, new life again breathed into the Blazers. Deni then drove deep into the paint and tossed a lob pass to Williams III, who slammed the ball in for a redemption alley-oop dunk. The crowd went completely nuts as the Blazers took back the lead with 25 seconds left. However, the crooked refs (JK?) called a foul on Charlotte before Williams III got the shot off, and the Blazers had to attempt the play again. This time, Jerami Grant caught the ball at the three point line, then drove hard at the hoop and was called for an offensive foul (turnover 17) with 12 seconds to go.  The Hornets made both their free throws to increase their lead to three points. The Blazers took their final timeout with nine seconds left. Toumani attempted inbounding the ball to Deni, but his pass went sailing out of bounds (turnover 18). On the replay, it appeared the Charlotte defender grabbed Deni, but since the Blazers had just taken their final timeout, they were unable to challenge the call. The Hornets then made two free throws to go up five with three seconds left. Game over.  Actually, to complete the absurd tragedy, Scoop made a half-court shot at the buzzer, making the final score 103-101 instead of 103-99. This means that all Blazer fans received the free 100 point McDonald’s promotion. Only that promotion isn’t even free chicken nuggets anymore and requires the purchase of another item. Plus, I looked up Jamba Juice after the game and the Lloyd Center location went out of business. Whose ass is really going out to Mall 205 or Beaverton for a Razzmatazz? Not me. This sucks. ...read more read less