Bobcats rout Trail Blazers by 30 points
Richard Walker, Gaston Gazette
CHARLOTTE – You know it’s a good night for the Charlotte Bobcats when Al Jefferson is replaced, draws loud cheers and even a few “MVP” chants from the crowd at Time Warner Cable Arena. \n \tBut how goo…
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The Gaston Gazette
CHARLOTTE – You know it’s a good night for the Charlotte Bobcats when Al Jefferson is replaced, draws loud cheers and even a few “MVP” chants from the crowd at Time Warner Cable Arena.

But how good a night was when that happens with 9.6 seconds left … in the THIRD quarter?

It was that kind of night for Charlotte, which played perhaps its best basketball of the season in rolling to a 124-94 victory over Portland in front of 18,706 fans at Time Warner Cable Arena.

“It felt good,” said point guard Kemba Walker, who joined Jefferson and Gerald Henderson with 20 or more points each on a night in which Charlotte set a season-high for scoring. “We’ve got to keep going hard and play well together. We have to stay focused, stay aggressive and stay intense.”

With owner Michael Jordan and his longtime friend, former NFL player and NBC announcer Ahmad Rashad, sitting courtside beside the Bobcats’ bench, Charlotte roared out of the gate to strengthen its playoff position in the Eastern Conference; The Bobcats (34-36) are 1 1-2 games ahead of eighth-place Atlanta (31-36).

After misfiring on shots on its first two possessions, Charlotte hit 11 consecutive field goal attempts to built a 23-9 lead. It led 33-22 after the first quarter, built a 20-point lead just two minutes into the second quarter and was ahead by a staggering 26 points at 67-41 with 1:45 left in the opening half.

Even as Portland cut the lead to 17 points twice in the third quarter, Charlotte’s offense poured on it on the down the stretch, eventually leading by 34 points before settling for the 30-point victory.

The fourth quarter featured terrific slam dunks by Chris Douglas-Roberts, Josh McRoberts and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and eight points in the 41 seconds by third-team point guard Jannero Pargo.

Jefferson finished with 28 points, Walker 26 and Henderson 23 to lead Charlotte. For Portland (45-25), Damian Lillard had 20 points.

The rout came after the 10th multi-game losing streak of the season – and five days after an eight-game home winning streak had come to an end.

Notes…

The Bobcats added a familiar player on Friday when they signed D.J. White to a 10-day contract. White, acquired from Oklahoma City in Feb. 2011, played 1 1-2 seasons for Charlotte before playing in China and the CBA in addition to stints with the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls. “He played here before and we were looking for another big guy to give us added depth protections,” Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said of White, who played four minutes in his Saturday return to the Bobcats. “He’s been around the NBA and he’s a quick learner.”…

Entering Saturday’s 35th home game of the season, Charlotte ranked 25th in home attendance, averaging 15,257 per game. That figure would rank fifth in the team’s 10-year history. The record for home attendance was 16,366 during the first year at Time Warner Cable Arena in the 2005-06 season….

Charlotte plays six more home games, beginning with Monday’s 7 p.m. game against Houston. They host Brooklyn on Wednesday, Washington on March 31, Orlando on April 4, Philadelphia in April 12 and Chicago on April 16.

You can reach Richard Walker at 704-869-1841 or by twitter.com/JRWalk22