Joel Freeland Proves Instrumental in Charlotte Victory, Dunks Past Jefferson! - Hoopsfix.com

Joel Freeland Proves Instrumental in Charlotte Victory, Dunks Past Jefferson!

Portland and GB forward Joel Freeland proved his worth on Tuesday night, as he was instrumental in the Blazers’ 23 point come from behind victory, 102-100, over Charlotte.

Freeland had 5 points and 7 rebounds in just 16 minutes, but played huge fourth quarter minutes and helped shut down Hornets big man Al Jefferson.

Jefferson, who finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, recorded just four points on 1 of 4 shooting in the fourth against Freeland, who played all but seven seconds of the final period.

“He was huge,” Lillard said of Joel’s performance to The Oregonian.

“He’s a guy that doesn’t know when he’s going to come in. And then he comes in and he’s coming in vertical and he’s challenging shots. I think he did a great job on (Jefferson). He fought him for position … and he made it tough for him. Everybody knows Al Jefferson is pump-faking and he’s crafty with the ball. But Joel gave him a hard time down the stretch and that was big for us.”

The play of the game came courtesy of Freeland, who landed himself in the NBA’s Top 10 Plays of the Night as he grabbed an offensive rebound and dunked it home past Jefferson.

“It felt good,” Freeland said of getting extended minutes to Forwardcenter.net. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had that many minutes. It’s a lot easier when you’ve got that many minutes to get into a rhythm. I felt good on defence and felt like I did the things I had to do.

“It’s something I try and do every game (rebound offensively), I try and bring energy to the game, everything i can to get on the offensive boards to help my team.

“I’m just trying to do what I do and what I did day in and day out last season up until I got injured and try and improve from that going into this season. I feel like I’m doing a good job of it so far, there’s going to be nights when I play a decent amount of minutes and there’s going to be nights when I don’t play a lot of minutes and I think I’m prepared to deal with that.”
Twitter was full of admiration for Freeland’s performance, including a number of adoring female fans (lol):

Image Credit: NBAE/Getty Images

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