Trail Blazers 112, Bobcats 68
Charlotte guard Gerald Henderson said that there wasn't much the Bobcats could do while suffering the worst defeat in franchise history.
The Portland Trail Blazers led by as many as 48 points and went on to beat the Bobcats 112-68 on Wednesday night.
''It gets to a point where it's just embarassasing, and you don't want to continue,'' said Henderson, who led Charlotte with 16 points before leaving the game with a right hamstring injury in the third quarter. ''So you just have to continue to play hard. I love to play this game, so it's more of a pride thing than anything.''
Charlotte's 44-margin of defeat topped the previous franchise-worst in a 120-80 loss at Denver last March 2.
Jamal Crawford scored 24 points in 21 minutes for the Blazers, who improved to 10-1 at the Rose Garden this season. Gerald Wallace, traded to the Blazers from Charlotte last year, scored 23 points while LaMarcus Aldridge added 22 before Portland sat all of its starters in the fourth quarter.
It was the Bobcats' 10th straight loss, their longest losing streak since an 11-game slide from November 2007 to early January 2008.
Charlotte, which has the NBA's worst record at 3-20, was coming off a 106-73 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night to open a four-game road trip. Charlotte has now lost 10 straight on the road, dropping to 1-12 away from home this season.
The Bobcats have been beset by injuries. Guard D.J. Augustin has been out with right toe inflammation, and forward Corey Maggette has a left hamstring strain. The extent of Henderson's hamstring injury was not immediately known.
''I don't have a full squad,'' Bobcats coach Paul Silas said. ''That's the way I look at it. If I had a full squad and we were losing this way, it would be awful. But you take Aldridge and Wallace off their team and see what kind of team you'd have.''
It was a season-high for points for the Blazers, and a season-low for the Bobcats. It was Portland's largest margin of victory since they beat Dallas 120-75 on Nov. 17, 1997.
Wallace, who is still bitter about the trade, didn't feel sorry for the Bobcats.
''Personally, I wanted to keep going. I didn't even want to come out of the game,'' he said. ''It's one of those things where, like I said last year around this time, I didn't feel like I was traded, I felt like I was stabbed in the back.''
Portland led 40-18 early in the second quarter and Crawford hit three straight 3-pointers to put the Blazers up 53-25 midway through the period. The lead was 61-35 lead by halftime, giving the Blazers their highest first-half total of the season.
Portland extended the lead to 79-43 in the third on Wallace's layup and free throw. Aldridge left the game for good late in the quarter, and most of the rest of Portland's starters sat down soon thereafter.
''I don't think I've played only 26 minutes since my first year in the league,'' Aldridge said.
It got so bad that at one point a fan in the crowd yelled, ''C'mon Charlotte! Make it a game!''
The Blazers were without forward Nicolas Batum, who was out with a left knee bone bruise. Batum, averaging 11.4 points and 4.1 rebounds off the bench, injured his knee in the final seconds of Portland's 93-89 loss at Utah on Monday. Batum is considered day-to-day, although coach Nate McMillan said he will miss Thursday night's game at Sacramento.
His absence meant extra playing time for Craig Smith, a free agent acquired in training camp, and Elliot Williams, a rookie after missing all of last season because of injuries on both knees. Smith finished with six points and Williams had four.
The Bobcats shot just 32 percent from the floor, compared to 55 percent for the Blazers.
NOTES: NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin, a Bobcats' season ticket holder, attended the game. ... Bobcats GM Rich Cho was dismissed from the same position with the Blazers last summer after less than a year on the job. ... At the half, local restaurant chain Burgerville donated $54,000 to former Trail Blazer Brian Grant's foundation to fight Parkinson's disease. Grant was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2008. ... It was Portland's eighth-best margin of victory in franchise history.