No the "wall" you describe is no different at all from the back wall of an enclosure with a zig zag port. In a zig zag slot port, airflow will be going straight into a perpendicular wall and then is forced to turn 180 degrees and go the other direction. In this design air hits a perpendicular wall then must turn 90 degrees and go up. Air is forced out through compression no matter how you design the port. The less severe the angles and the fewer the number of bends the better. The air "doesn't care" if it is going horizontal vertical diagonal or whatever. Just because a port bends on three different axes as opposed to two doesn't make it disfunctional.
The deflector pieces are more necessary to maintain consistent port area rather than redirect flow. Air will be leaving through the port through compression no matter how you design it; ideally a straight tubular port will minimize this. The bend causes an increase in port area as it turns the corner so it is necessary to fill in the extra area with a deflector. Edit: not necessary, but optimal.