Hornets vs Blazers Preview: Portland Looking for Happy Homecoming

Slumping Blazers Return Home

The Portland Trail Blazers return home to face the Charlotte Hornets after a tough six-game road trip that saw them go 2-4 straight up. Here’s our Hornets vs Blazers Preview as we take a look at what you can expect from this non-conference showdown.

Portland has slowly dipped after an impressive start to the NBA season, with Chauncey Billups’ side currently sitting in 9th place in the Western Conference standings. That said, they still remain just 1.5 games behind the Phoenix Suns who occupy 4th spot.

The Hornets continue their tough west coast rodeo, with the NBA team having flown out of Charlotte nine days ago. This is the front end of a back-to-back for the team who still have one more pit stop in Golden State before making the trip back home.

The market for this game has opened with the Blazers listed as -6.0 point favorites. The total has been set at 238.0 points.

Game Information

Portland Trail Blazers Offense Ready to Roll

One thing that most teams can manage against the Hornets is points. Charlotte is 27th in Defensive Rating so far this season, giving up 115.9 points per 100 possessions.

One thing Portland has done well all season is score efficiently against the worst defenses in the league and it’s fair to assume more of the same in this one.

In games against the bottom-five rated defenses the Blazers have averaged 116.8 points per game. At home they’ve been even better, averaging 118.5 points per game. They also play at a fast pace at home, averaging almost 4.0 extra possessions per game on offense.

Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons have one of the more favourable matchups they’ll find this season and both should be in line for high scoring games. The Hornets are bottom-5 in the league in opponent 3-point percentage and give up the 5th most points to opposing guards on a nightly basis.

Charlotte Hornets Showing Life Out West

The Hornets have won two games on their west coast road trip and are looking like a far better team now that LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward are back in the rotations.

Ball continues to be the catalyst for this team and his ability to create and initiate on offense is something they’ve drastically needed. The team has been anchored down in the bottom-5 for Offensive Rating all season, which has been a huge disappointment after what they managed last season.

Steve Clifford hasn’t been able to create an identity for this team in his second spell in charge. His defensive principles aren’t being adhered to and the offense is struggling as a result of the emphasis being placed at that end of the floor.

That said, the team is finally back to being fully healthy and two of their most pivotal nba players are finally off the NBA injury report. We’ve finally seen a more cohesive team on this road trip and the question now is what to expect from them going forward.

Portland’s defense is certainly vulnerable in its own right and the Hornets should find success in creating the looks they want on the perimeter.

While I wouldn’t expect Charlotte to improve too much on where they end on the NBA standings 2022 I do think there’s opportunity for them to get back to their offensive ceiling.

While the total for this one looks very high we should expect both teams to be able to score well and efficiently here. Ride the Over as the best look in this one.

That’s all for our Hornets vs Blazers Preview. Be sure to check back for more NBA spreads and best bets.

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