By Malinda Murray
bobcats.com
March 29, 2008
Boxscore | Play-By-Play | Highlights | Recaps

Facing arguably their toughest stretch of the season, playing four games in five nights on the West Coast, the Bobcats rose to the challenge and put together one of the best road trips in franchise history. First came the 108-95 win over the Lakers on Wednesday, then there was 96-93 victory over Seattle on Friday, and tonight the Bobcats defeated Portland 93-85 to make it three straight wins on the road.
One of the main factors behind Charlotte’s success has been the play of Raymond Felton. Tonight the 6-1 point guard again came up big for the Bobcats down the stretch. With the score knotted at 83 with 1:59 remaining, Gerald Wallace found Felton on the left wing. Felton calmly drained a three to give Charlotte an 86-83 lead. Portland’s Travis Outlaw answered with two free throws, but on the other end, there was Felton, driving the lane for a layup to push the Bobcats advantage back to three.
The Bobcats defense, which had been great the entire game, then came up with several key stops. Wallace stole a pass from Jarrett Jack which led to a layup by Jason Richardson that gave Charlotte a 90-85 edge. On the ensuing possession, Wallace met Outlaw in mid-air, blocking his layup attempt and giving the ball back to Charlotte. Felton took advantage, draining a jumper from the top of the key to push the Bobcats lead to seven.
Felton scored seven points during a 14-2 Bobcats run to end the game.
“It feels really good – especially how we did it,” said Head Coach Sam Vincent. “We played extremely tough against a team that played extremely tough. We were able to come up with some key defensive stops and score some buckets at the end to give ourselves an opportunity to win the game. When we can play that well and really make some tough plays, it feels really good to get a win.”

Defense. The Bobcats were able to win this game tonight because of the pressure they applied on the defensive end. Charlotte held Portland to just 36.3 percent (33-91) shooting for the game and forced the Trail Blazers into committing 18 turnovers.
Charlotte's defense was especially impressive down the stretch as they did not allow Portland to score a field goal in the final 4:27.
“We are playing well right now especially on the defensive end," explained Richardson. "We are helping each other out. We are doing a great job of stopping other teams’ hot players and making it tough for them to score. We’re not giving up on the season yet. We are going to play hard until the last game of the season.”
The Bobcats also established a low-post presence early in the game. This allowed Charlotte to get a lot of good looks at the basket. As a result, they finished the game shooting 50.0 percent (38-76) from the field.
The play of Emeka Okafor was a big reason why the Bobcats were able to dominate down low. Tonight he led the team with 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting. He also added five rebounds and two blocks.
“Emeka was great,” said Vincent. “I love it when his energy is as high as it has been these last games. Everybody on the team feeds off that energy. Emeka is all over the place. He’s showing his game.”
Jason Richardson also continues to consistently produce for the Bobcats. Tonight he finished with 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting along with five rebounds and five assists.

If you looked solely at the rebounding statistics in tonight’s game you wouldn’t have thought the Bobcats had a chance. Portland outrebounded Charlotte 23-6 on the offensive glass leading to an overall 57-32 rebounding edge by the Trail Blazers.
Fortunately Charlotte’s defense prevented the Trail Blazers from converting those rebounds into points.
“They are long and big and it’s hard to box them out because they would tip it out and their guards would come in and rebound,” said Richardson. “We didn’t give up on the game and we kept on fighting and got the key rebounds that we needed.”

Raymond Felton has been phenomenal for the Bobcats during this road trip. Tonight he finished with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting including several key buckets in the closing minutes. He also posted nine assists, three rebounds, a steal and a block. During this road trip, he has averaged 16.8 points and 7.8 assists for Charlotte.
“Felton has hit a couple big shots at the end of both of these games now," remarked Vincent. "It’s really wonderful for me as a coach to watch Raymond’s growth at the point guard spot with all that has gone on through the course of this year. To now have an opportunity to watch him make key decisions at key times and knock down key shots to get us wins – there’s been a lot of growth by Raymond.”

Felton, Richardson and Okafor all had stat lines that would be great for any fantasy team. For Portland, LaMarcus Aldridge had a strong performance with 21 points on 9-of-18 shooting along with 13 rebounds and two assists.

With tonight’s win over Portland, the Bobcats are 7-2 this season against teams in the Northwest Division.

“It’s not over yet. We have to keep winning these games and see what happens at the end,” said Raymond Felton.

BOBCATS: Sean May (right knee surgery), Adam Morrison (torn left ACL), Derek Anderson (personal reasons), Othella Harrington (left knee discomfort)
TRAIL BLAZERS: Darius Miles (right knee), Greg Oden (right knee), Brandon Roy (right groin strain)

Monday, March 31 - Bobcats vs. Toronto Raptors - 7:00 p.m.
TV - News 14; Radio - WOLS OLDIES 106.1 FM
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