New Orleans, LA - On many occasions this season, the New Orleans Hornets have carried leads into the fourth quarter only to lose games in the final stanza. Wednesday night at New Orleans Arena, the Hornets turned the tables on the opposition.
New Orleans outscored Portland 27-21 in the final period to post a huge 95-91 win over the Blazers before a disappointing but vocal crowd of 12,575.
With the exception of the attendance, it was a playoff-like atmosphere with two teams featuring coaches very familiar with each other fought hard with former teammates Jarett Jack and Rudy Fernandez nearly coming to blows in the third quarter.
The Hornets carried that fighting spirit the rest of the way in the come-from-behind victory.
With the Hornets needing a lift, reserve guard Willie Green provided it in a big way. Green's theme song is "For The Love Of Money," by the O'Jays, appropriate for a guy from Motown. Green was money Wednesday night.
Green scored 10 points, including eight straight in a span of 3:39 in the fourth quarter, to spark New Orleans to a lead they would not relinquish. Led by Green, the Hornets opened the fourth period on a decisive 16-5 run.
Included in the scoring barrage was a three-pointer, a free throw and a runner in the lane. It was "Willie And the Hand Jive" when Green rebounded a Jarrett Jack miss and threw down a thunderous one-handed put-back slam which electrified the crowd and gave New Orleans its biggest lead at 82-75. The lead grew to nine at 86-77 but Portland did not go away. "It was good to get up there and dunk. I'm going to laugh and talk with my teammates about it. They were a little caught off guard. I was a little caught off guard. I don't dunk that much," Green said.
The Blazers closed with within two at 93-91 with 10.8 seconds remaining on a three-pointer by Wesley Matthews but Carl Landry answered the call.
Landry made 5-of-6 free throws on the final three possessions for New Orleans, including the two game-clinching points to seal the deal.
"We made some money off of Carl tonight, for sure. Going to him down the stretch and hitting free throws. Being able to get LaMarcus in foul trouble. He was big," said Hornets coach Monty Williams.
Landry finished with a team high 21 points with six rebounds. Green ended with 12 points but he was clearly the catalyst of the victory, according to Williams.
"During that run, Willie Green was phenomenal. The dunk he had, the floater against their zone really changed their zone and guys just stepped up," said Williams.
Emeka Okafor added a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Marco Belinelli started fast, making his first four shots and finished with 16 points, including 4-of-5 from three-point range.
Chris Paul struggled with his shot, going just 4-of-15 from the field for 11 points but he added 12 assists, seven rebounds and four steals.
LaMarcus Aldridge topped Portland with 24 points and 15 rebounds while Andre Miller had 19 points but committed a key turnover late.
The Hornets won with defense though you would never have though so after one quarter.
Portland closed out the opening quarter with a 12-0 run before Aaron Gray tipped-in a missed shot to end the frame with the Blazers leading 31-25. Portland was red hot, shooting 61 percent in the quarter.
They were not the rest of the way, settling for jump shots most frequently and saw their shooting percentage drop to 50 percent by game's end. The Hornets held the Blazers to just 60 points in the final three quarters.
Williams knows the victory was very important.
"It was a big win for a number of reasons. We didn't have our stuff tonight offensively. Defensively in the first quarter, I thought we had no presence then after that, they don't score more than 21 points a quarter," Williams said. "It's just a big win all the way across the board."
With the win, New Orleans clinched the season series 3-1 over Portland, ensuring that the Hornets would win any tiebreaker over the Blazers.
If the season ended now, New Orleans would be the sixth-seed and would play Dallas in the opening round of the playoffs, a much better draw than being the seventh-seed and having to take on the world champion Lakers. Both the Hornets and Blazers are now 43-32 on the season.
Houston lost to Philadelphia Wednesday night, dropping the Rockets four games behind both New Orleans and Portland while Memphis won over Golden State to remain one game behind the Hornets and Blazers. The Grizzlies come to town Friday night for another huge Western Conference showdown with huge playoff implications.
If the Hornets defend and play with the same intensity against Memphis as they did in the final three quarters Wednesday night, they will have a great shot to win again.
The Hornets started slow but finished fast to claim a huge win. "If we can finish like this the rest of the year, I'll be pleased," Williams said. This was a solid, gut-check victory in an intense struggle against a good team, a job well done in a total team effort by Williams and his squad as they cashed in, thanks to Green and Landry.
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