Greg OdenAmerican Basketball Player

The Portland Trail Blazers took care of business on Friday night (Feb. 10), beating the New Orleans Hornets for the second time this season. The game was anything but pretty, especially with the Blazers falling behind early and then digging a deep hole in the third quarter. The team came around near the end of that third quarter to take the lead and then put the Hornets away in what turned out a much tougher game than it should have been.

The 94-86 win over the Hornets allowed the Blazers to improve to 15-12 on the season, but going up against a team that was just 4-22 coming into the game, this one was way too close for comfort. Jamal Crawford was the savior of the night, scoring 31 points on 10-for-16 shooting from the bench. He also went 9-for-10 from the free throw line and helped the Blazers out-score the Hornets by 14 points when he was on the court.

Three other Blazers finished in double-figures scoring, with Raymond Felton posting 18 and both Gerald Wallace and LaMarcus Aldridge hitting for 14 points on the night. As a team, the Blazers shot 51.5 percent from the field, which in itself is one of the better shooting nights for the team this year. They got out-rebounded 37-33 though and also committed 16 turnovers that allowed New Orleans to stay in the game. Coming up with more loose balls could have made this game much more one-sided, but at this point we should all just find happiness that this game went into the win column.

With the win, Portland improved to 15-12 on the season and actually took over second place in the Northwest division. The Denver Nuggets have lost five straight games to drop down in the standings and because the Blazers already beat them this season, the tie-breaker goes to Portland. The team closes out the night No. 6 in the Western Conference, because the Los Angeles Lakers also lost a game to the New York Knicks. That is another team that the Blazers handled easily this season, showing that the Blazers have won some important games.

Portland stays on the road for the next game, which comes against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night (Feb. 11). Game time is 5:30 p.m. PT and this is another important game for the Blazers to emerge from with a win.