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Portland 86 (7–3) | New Orleans 73 (3–7)

Well, that could have gone better.

Sorry I'm so late with the recap. I'm on the road all day, so this one will be short. Then again, most of us probably just want to forget about this game all together, so there's that.

For the Hornets, last night was a game of new coaches, bricked shots, an injury which we shall not reference (lest it become more serious), and a couple of rookies running all over the place. For the Blazers, last night was about bricking shots but still finding a way to win.

By the way, I don't think I can over emphasize the amount of poor shooting we saw in this game. Both teams combined to miss over 100 shots... without factoring in the clangers from the charity stripe. Combined percentage from the field for both teams: 37.3%. Even worse, from deep both teams managed to hit only 5 of 27 shots from deep (which is roughly 18.5%)... Oof.

You know what? This is depressing. Let's just move on to the bullets.

• The score at the end of the first was 14 to 12. Fun.
• Not to keep ragging on the poor shooting, but if you took away DX, Thornton, and Collison's performances, the Hornets shot a paltry % (that would be X of X).
• Stop it, Devin Brown. Just stop it.
• It was nice to see the rookies out on the court. Collison looked a bit lost at first (he needs to work on his awareness in general), but by the second half, you could tell he was already getting more comfortable in his role (which started after he knocked down a beautiful floater in the lane). And holy bajesus is he fast. Thornton came out the gates firing on all cylinders and was responsible for two thirds of our threes. He looked aggressive for most of the game (if not a tad reckless), but overall he and Collison impressed.
• Jeff Bower is way more animated than Byron. Then again, so is my pet rock. I don't know if waving your arms and yelling helps you win games as a coach (probably not), but I suppose we'll soon know.
• LaMarcus Aldridge has a nice stroke. The guy was sinking shots all over the court. I thought I'd check the box score to see that he'd sunk 75% of his shots or something, but instead he was just shy of 50. Of course, for last night's came 50% was unstoppable.
• Another Portland point: where was Bayless all night? Andre Miller was firing careless shot after careless shot and Bayless still only saw 11 minutes of playing time. He did have the worst +/- for any Blazer and finished without an assist, but the guy seems way better suited be platooned rather than eating up garbage time. 
• Last Portland point: Juwan Howard? Really? Are you guys just rubbing it in to the rest of the league that you have plenty of cap space and draft picks galore? Stop making everyone jealous. Isn't it enough that you beat us?
• Part of me wants to rant at how bad some of the officiating was, but we were so terrible it seems like a moot point. But still, Mark Ayotte, get your act together.
• To the injury that shall not be named: feel better soon, buddy. We need you. Like a lot.

Composed to: The Feelies' Crazy Rhythms

Opponent's Take: Blazer's Edge