what if I didn't match the ports??

Actually to gasket match the ports you don't need to go way in and take any off the pushrod pinch if you don't want too. You just blend the opening up to the pinch area to smooth out the flow. Taking the pinch down is beneficial also but not necessary. You just have to be careful cause you can go through the casting if you take it down too much. By having the intake matched and not the ports it has a wall to run into and cause turbulence which does cause lost performance. How much is unpredictable. Maybe a little. Maybe allot. Every situation is different.