The Portland Trail Blazers absolutely smoked the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night (Feb. 1). The reality is that Blazers fans should worry if the Blazers didn’t run up the score on the worst team in the NBA. It’s just too bad that the Blazers only get to play the Bobcats one time this year in the abridged NBA schedule.

After a good practice on Tuesday (Jan. 31), this looked like a completely different Blazers team. Something must have clicked, because against the Bobcats the team was spreading the floor well, presenting a press defense that we hadn’t seen and running the fast break with a confidence that simply hadn’t been there. That is in addition to the great defensive presence of Marcus Camby , who deserves some strong consideration for NBA Defensive Player of the Year with how well he has been defending for the Blazers.

The Blazers scored a season-high 35 points in the first quarter, had 61 at halftime and from there it was an easy cruise to free chalupas for the Rose Garden crowd. Everything about this game was fun for the fans, but maybe not quite as interesting as a close game against a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder. Still, it’s nice to watch a game that more resembles a track meet than anything else, especially because of the smiles that cross the faces of nearly every Blazers player. Getting the last five guys at the end of the bench some significant action will likely help the team in the long-term as well.

Jamal Crawford finished as the leading scorer for the team in just 21 minutes, putting up 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting. Gerald Wallace was 7-for-14 on his way to 23 points and LaMarcus Aldridge finished 8-for-16 from the field to score 22 points. This was the best shooting game of the season for the Blazers, simultaneously taking place during the best defensive game of the year as well. At one point, Marcus Camby had 3 blocks in about 15 second of game time. Camby finished with 5 blocks, 4 points, 5 assists and 7 rebounds in just 25 minutes of work.

Despite a rough fourth quarter shooting-wise, the Blazers finished this one off pretty easily to post a 112-68 win over the hapless Bobcats. It’s noteworthy that the biggest win in franchise history was 50 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers and that the team came very close to setting a new mark in this one. It was also nice that 12 players scored for the Blazers in the win.

Now the Blazers head down to California for a game against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night (Feb. 2) that starts at 7 p.m. PT.

More From YCN :

Blazers Beat Suns By 38

Lakers Blown Out By Portland

Blazers Take Out Thunder

Blazers Predicted to Miss Playoffs

Blazers_Make_Another_Trade

Sources:

Blazers_Team_Stats

Blazers Full Schedule

Blazers Preseason Schedule

Blazers Team Page

Blazers Updated Roster

*Ryan is a Northwest bred sports fan that has been a Portland Trail Blazers fan for years. He doesn’t miss a game, and has high hopes that the Blazers can improve their roster during the offseason and come back even better in the 2011-12 NBA season.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

The Portland Trail Blazers look to get back to winning with a game against the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night (Feb. 1). This is the only time that Portland gets to play Charlotte this year, which is too bad, because the Bobcats are currently the worst team in the league. Charlotte comes into this game with a 3-19 record and a current nine-game losing streak.

Portland lost to the Utah Jazz on Monday night (Jan. 30) in a frustrating loss that brought an end to January. Now the month of February begins against Charlotte in a game that the team should have no problem winning. Add to it the fact that the Blazers get to play it at home and it almost seems like a cake walk for the team. That’s a good thing, because tough games against the Denver Nuggets (Feb. 4), Oklahoma City Thunder (Feb. 6) and Dallas Mavericks (Feb. 11) are coming up very quickly.

Kemba Walker seems to have become the new leader for the Bobcats, especially after injuries have taken down Corey Maggette, D.J. Augustin and now Gerald Henderson. Walker is a rookie out of Connecticut, who is averaging 12.2 points, 3.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds this year. He just recently made it into the starting lineup though, so his statistics have been getting better recently. This is a team that is just scoring 88.1 points per night though, so it shows that there isn’t much else to the roster.

Portland may have to play without Nicolas Batum in this game because he is suffering through a bone bruise to his knee that happened in the loss to Utah. It looked like an injury that could have sidelined Batum for a long time, so learning that it is just a bruise is definitely good news for the team. A few nights off won’t hurt him at all; especially against a terrible team like Charlotte when Portland shouldn’t even need him on the court.

There is nothing more to say than the fact that Portland has to get it done against the Bobcats. In fact, winning this fame by less than 10 points would probably disappoint the fans. Hopefully the players on the end of the bench get a lot of minutes in this game to allow LaMarcus Aldridge and Marcus Camby to get more rest that usual.

Game time against Charlotte is 7 p.m. PT

More From YCN :

Blazers Beat Suns By 38

Lakers Blown Out By Portland

Blazers Take Out Thunder

Blazers Predicted to Miss Playoffs

Blazers_Make_Another_Trade

Sources:

Blazers_Team_Stats

Blazers Full Schedule

Blazers Preseason Schedule

Blazers Team Page

Blazers Updated Roster

*Ryan is a Northwest bred sports fan that has been a Portland Trail Blazers fan for years. He doesn’t miss a game, and has high hopes that the Blazers can improve their roster during the offseason and come back even better in the 2011-12 NBA season.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Some things to keep an eye on when the Lakers (12-9) host the Charlotte Bobcats (3-18) tonight (Tuesday) at Staples Center.

1. Will the Lakers lay an egg? On paper, the Lakers should easily win this game. Charlotte has the NBA’s worst record; the Lakers are 10-2 at home. The Bobcats will feature injured starters in D.J. Augustin (sore toe) and Corey Maggette (strained hamstring). But there are plenty of reasons why no one should put it past the Lakers to blow this opportunity for an easy win.

L.A. is 6-8 against the Bobcats and has lost three of seven home games against them. The Lakers took Monday off to rest their legs, but that could contribute to bad execution. The Lakers have a six-game trip beginning Friday at Denver, and they could enjoy the friendly confines of Staples Center a little too much. And most importantly, the Lakers remain unpredictable.

2. The Lakers must play well enough to rest their starters. Coach Mike Brown has remained reluctant to limit his starters’ minutes. The Lakers have simply proven to be too unreliable at compiling wins without Kobe Bryant (38.6 minutes), Pau Gasol (37.7) and Andrew Bynum (34.4) shouldering the load. With given how much the team struggles on the road, L.A. can’t afford to squander this opportunity against Charlotte. Not only does the team have to win, it has to do with comfortable margins. The game against Charlotte gives the Lakers a prime opportunity to give the starters some rest. Brown’s failure to monitor these minutes could prove costly later in the season.

3. Use this game as extended practice.With the Lakers lacking quality practice time because of the compacted schedule, this is the best opportunity to sharpen concepts. At the beginning of the game, let Bryant, Bynum and Gasol figure out the perfect balance in scoring. With Lakers forward Metta World Peace starting for the second consecutive game, this could be an opportunity for him to improve his rhythm. With the Laker bench hardly looking like one with an identity, this game could be a psychological pick-me-up. And most importantly, the Lakers could learn better how to execute the read offense.

*Usually, there are five things to watch in a game. Not this one. And if there are, the Lakers are in more trouble than everyone thought.

RELATED:

Why the Lakers have struggled against the Bobcats

Why Michael Jordan says Kobe Bryant deserves to be compared to him

Phil Jackson’s memoir ‘Eleven Rings’ set for 2013 release

— Mark Medina

Email the Lakers blog at mgmedin@gmail.com

Photo: Lakers guard Kobe Bryant comes away with one of his 14 rebounds against the Timberwolves in the second half Sunday night in Minneapolis. Credit: Jim Mone / Associated Press / Jan. 29, 2012

CBSSports.com wire reports
Jan. 25, 2012

WASHINGTON — Randy Wittman didn’t sleep on Tuesday night. Excited and nervous about his debut as Washington Wizards coach, Wittman couldn’t wait to get started.

His players couldn’t wait, either.

The Wizards led throughout the game and blew out the woeful Charlotte Bobcats 92-75 on Wednesday.

Washington is still just 3-15, but after the Wizards quickly built a 20-point lead and didn’t blow it, Wittman was eager to talk about the win.

Replacing his old friend Flip Saunders, who was fired Tuesday morning, wasn’t his choice. Given a contract to coach only through the end of the season by team president Ernie Grunfeld, Wittman said there was no magic in the win.

“There’s nothing to critique tonight,” Wittman said. “This is tough — the things we’ve gone through — this is tough.”

Nick Young scored 20 points, and Andray Blatche had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who didn’t have the benefit of a practice. Saunders’ lead assistant has been an NBA coach twice — with Minnesota and Cleveland. His career record improved to 101-207.

He didn’t change the starting lineup.

“All these guys get a clean slate with me,” Wittman said before the game.

When Grunfeld fired Saunders, he explained that the team needed “a new voice.”

Blatche, who had clashed with Saunders on numerous occasions, tried to be conciliatory toward both the old and new coach.

“I can’t honestly say we needed a new voice,” Blatche said. “We just needed somebody to actually check us — like Wittman did. That’s what we needed.”

JaVale McGee, whose showboat dunk on Jan. 16 caused a huge rift between he and Saunders, was reluctant to say the team needed a new coach.

“That’s Ernie’s opinion, and I’m going to let it be Ernie’s opinion,” McGee said.

Wittman likened his team’s fight against mistakes to a smoker trying to quit.

“I’ve got to help them kick some of those bad habits. That’s all it is – we’ve just fallen into a way that’s not conducive to us to win, so when I see them pull out a cigarette, I have to take it out of their mouth,” Wittman said.

Washington started off brilliantly against a team with even more problems. The Bobcats, who have lost six straight, are now 3-16 and were missing their top two scorers: Gerald Henderson and D.J. Augustin.

Matt Carroll scored 17 points and rookie Cory Higgins had a season-high 13 for the Bobcats. Tyrus Thomas also had 13 points and blocked nine shots – one short of a team record.

“Talent is what’s most important in this league. If you don’t have the talent, it’s very difficult to win, it’s very difficult to execute, it’s very difficult to do anything,” Charlotte coach Paul Silas said. “Right now, we just don’t have that. As I said last night, take three or four of your best players off any team, and you’re not gonna play well. Our scorers, our two leading scorers are not playing, how are we gonna score?”

John Wall scored 12 points for the Wizards, who broke a three-game losing streak. Washington had a 31-17 advantage after one. The second quarter was even worse for Charlotte. The Bobcats missed their first seven shots of the quarter and finished 5 for 20 in the period, scoring just 11 points and trailing 48-28 at halftime.

The Bobcats used a 9-0 run early in the third to cut the lead to 50-37, but Washington soon pushed the lead to 25 and led 71-49 heading into the fourth.

Notes

• Henderson was a late scratch with a bruised lower back. Earlier in the day, the team exercised its fourth-year option on him. Carroll started in Henderson’s place. Henderson said that he decided not to play after he warmed up.
• Augustin will miss at least three more games with an inflamed right big toe. Silas isn’t sure how long Augustin will be out. “It’s difficult to know, but the one thing we were concerned about is a fracture and he doesn’t have that. So we’ll just have to wait and see how long it’s gonna take him,” Silas said.
• Wizards F/C Ronny Turiaf says he’s still a few weeks away from returning after breaking his left hand on Jan. 1.
• Washington hired a new assistant coach, Joe Connelly.
• The Wizards (23) and Charlotte (22) both tied season highs for turnovers.