It's been a tough week for the Portland Trail Blazers with losses to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets already. On Friday night (Feb. 10), the Blazers head out on the road to play the New Orleans Hornets. Now this is a terrible Hornets team that has gone 4-22 so far this year and the Blazers already beat the team 84-77 back on Jan. 16 down in New Orleans. That win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Blazers, so maybe it's about to happen again.
Last time the Blazers played the Hornet, the team was only able to score 37 points total in the first half. It took 16 points from 2012 Western Conference All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge in the second half to overcome the Hornets and save the Blazers from an embarrassing loss to one of the worst teams in the NBA. It would certainly help if some of the other weapons at the disposal of coach Nate McMillan stepped up to the line in this one.
The Hornets are on a seven-game losing streak and it has not been pretty. The Hornets just lost to the Chicago Bulls 90-67 on Wednesday (Feb. 8) and the team gave up 120 points to the Phoenix Suns back on Feb. 1. February has not turned the page for the Hornets either, as the team has posted a 0-5 record and an average loss of more than 12 points.
We can all feel bad for the Hornets for a little while, but hopefully New Orleans doesn't get back on the winning track for another week.Raymond Felton is back at starting point guard for the Blazers, but he looked a bit "off" against the Rockets on Wednesday (Feb. 8). Maybe he just needed a game to get his feet back under him, but now the Blazers really need him to keep the offense rolling for the next few games. Portland has another game on Saturday (Feb. 11) against the Dallas Mavericks, so putting the Hornets down early and getting some rest for playing like Marcus Camby, Gerald Wallace and Aldridge would certainly help.
Game time against the Hornets is at 5 p.m. PT on Friday night and this is a game that the Blazers really need to put in the win column. As it stands in the Western Conference, Portland has slipped to No. 9 in the standings, but could get a nice bump with a set of wins this weekend.