Game 17: Hive Live

by hldomingue on Dec 7, 2008 1:43 PM CST in Recaps

Memphis 87 (5-15) | New Orleans 106 (11-6)

Sorry for being a little late on the recap. Wild night last night, but I'll get to that later. Let's do this.

Short version of last night's game: Hornets blow out Grizzlies and neither team plays their starters for more than 30 minutes. Done and done.

Our starters looked great, knocking down 60% from the field and playing solid D. Chris kept his steal streak alive and almost managed to put up his season averages despite the limited playing time and Peja looked like a man on a mission when drained 5 straight treys (only to miss his last 2 attempts). Coincidentally, it was "Vote for Peja" night at the Hive, so I guess he wanted to make a strong case for all the All Star ballot filler outers.

The Grizzlies generally looked out of sync with each other. There didn't really seem to be a game plan on offense (though it should have been get the ball to Mayo). They were a little more together on defense, but at 52% from the field, the Hornets had the hot hand and were virtually unstoppable.

That is, until the second unit came in the game. Keep in mind that Memphis also sat their starters shortly after we sat ours halfway through the third. So our bench was playing their bench. Not their starters, their bench. Fourth quarter scoring: Grizzlies 26, Hornets 16. Oof. Granted, most of those points came from Marc Gasol going up against Hilton, but still. Ostensibly the second took our 32 point lead and magically transformed it 19.

But it wasn't just another case of the second unit giving away the game (not even our bench could have pissed away last night's lead). It was worse in a kind of "I can't believe we still look this bad even when we're matched up with Memphis' scrubs." Seriously, we were flat out wasting possessions. It was turnover after poor shot selection after shot clock violation after offensive foul and back again. I'm pretty sure we opened the fourth with 4 points through the first 9 minutes of the quarter. 4 points in 9 minutes! Oof.

The weirdest part? Even though Memphis' second unit outscored us, you've got to wonder why they chose to just roll over and take the loss. I mean, why pull your starters? It was probably a long shot for them to actually come back (and we'd have put our starters back in eventually if that were the case), but if you're down 30, what do you have to lose?

So we whooped a team that appeared to have little drive to even win in the first place. Sound like no big deal? Well then, I guess you didn't read this.

***
Couple of observations before I leave you:

We went 19 of 20 from the charity stripe. Just saying.
OJ Mayo is good. I know, I know. If you read this blog, you've no doubt read countless articles telling you the same thing from countless different sources, but it's true. He has great shot selection for a rookie 2 guard and he has pretty impressive ball handling skills. On a few possessions, if he went up for a shot and changed his mind mid jump, he'd easily find an open man with a better look. He was easily the most impressive Grizzly on the court last night.
Right after I wrote that last sentence in my notebook, Mayo launched a pass out-of-bounds that didn't appear to be aimed at anyone in particular. Great, I apparently know nothing about this sport.
From our seats, Marc Gasol was the spiting image of a really tall Jack Black. I wrote this down like 5 times last night. But when I compared photos of them side by side, I found out that I am probably insane and could use a trip to the optometrist.

***

Composed to: a massive hangover from celebrating the one year anniversary of Niall (of highly recommended Hornets 24/7) moving to the Crescent City... and a big cup of coffee.

Photo courtesy of espn.com

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Comments

very happy with the win and not taking teams lightly

with that said how long does bower sit back without finding a competent backup point guard. its not the only reason for the 2nd unit struggles, but i contributes more than anything else. the 2nd unit is full of perimeter oriented players who cannot get their own shot. i’m not complaining, its just that i feel the end of the bench roster could have been put together. our bench lacks athleticism any moves made from here on out till cp3 is ready for a new contract should be built around cp3 like cleveland has tried to do with building around lebron. not looking ahead to next season but we have 4 players if not traded who will be free agents along with two expiring contracts which means we will no matter what see some sort of roster change.

one last thing is we can’t afford any trades like the bonzi/ mike james deal last year. we have a first that we can’t trade away and have to use along with a second rounder. a few contending teams have found good rotation players (ie: carl landry) who have had an impact on their team. we have to use our limited assets better to bring in more talent. our scouting department also has to do a better job finding players.

by Ace Boogie on Dec 7, 2008 3:43 PM CST reply actions

Yeah, we'll be forced to keep that first rounder

in a really weak/shallow draft class this year. If the FO was certain it couldn’t find a valuable 20-30 pick this year, I question whether they’ll get anyone good this year. But we’ll see.

I think Jeff Bower makes a move sooner rather than later. There are quite a few unused backup PG’s right now, but there are also a few teams that might look to get a backup. It’d be nice if we could strike first and get the best available option.

by Rohan on Dec 7, 2008 4:13 PM CST up reply actions

The better question might be

when is Byron going to stop forcing shooting guards and small forwards to play the point. I think Mike James is still a viable option, but not a long term solution.

I think we’d better off trying a multi-player trade that could address multiple weaknesses on the bench. For instance, the ESPN trade machine just told me we could send Hilton and Mike James to Memphis for Darko and Crittenton. Apart from this being an in-division trade, this move would make tons of sense for both teams. We get the backups we need as the positions we need and the Griz get an older point who never gelled with the Hornets (or Byron) and young center with a lot of potential to go along with the theme of 25 and under in Memphis (plus, I think they want to move Darko… but I might have made that up).

Anyway, I think we need address both the front court and the point in any of our moves. Ignoring one won’t be enough to put us over the top.

http://www.hometownhornets.blogspot.com/

by hldomingue on Dec 7, 2008 4:24 PM CST up reply actions

Here's the trade

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=2984105131972171&teams=292933&te=&cash=

http://www.hometownhornets.blogspot.com/

by hldomingue on Dec 7, 2008 4:25 PM CST up reply actions

I do that trade in a heartbeat

I would pay them to do it. I know Crittenton was a guy that a LOT of scouts said would be super good. And now he’s rotting away on the bench.

by Rohan on Dec 7, 2008 4:55 PM CST up reply actions

Hmm

I’m pretty sure that puts over the luxury in 2009. Darko’s due more than 7 million then. James contract cancels out Darko’s as far as the trade is concerned, but he expires before Paul’s new contract kicks in.

by Rohan on Dec 7, 2008 5:03 PM CST up reply actions

Forgot something in the recap

Forgot to shout out to Peja, who has now hit a trey in 61 straight games. That’s pretty sweet.

Oh, and some ESPN video referred to Sean Marks as the “Auckland Assassin.” Can’t decide if that’s better than “Kiwi.”

http://www.hometownhornets.blogspot.com/

by hldomingue on Dec 7, 2008 4:32 PM CST reply actions

Yeah I saw the Auckland Assassin reference. Jury's still out on that one.

by Rohan on Dec 7, 2008 4:56 PM CST up reply actions

i hope a move come soon to get the best available

rasual butler value will get no higher than what it is. he will be an option. i seriously doubt anyone would take mopetes contract under any circumstance. crittenton would be an interesting addition and would also add more athleticism. darko wouldn’t be bad either. its hard to come up with trade scenarios based on not knowing who’s actually available and with our limited assets.

whats funny was that the starters was holding the team back to start the season by falling behind a lot putting the bench in a no win situation. now its the bench not holding leads and putting the starters in nonsense situations to play heavy minutes to hold off teams. i’ll be happy when we can win with a full team effort. Geaux Hornets!

by Ace Boogie on Dec 7, 2008 4:46 PM CST reply actions

Agree on Butler

His market value is really high right now- playing very decent defense, hitting the outside shot real well, he’d literally fit in anywhere.

by Rohan on Dec 7, 2008 4:56 PM CST up reply actions

whats going on with juju

did anyone catch this from the paper on why julian hasn’t been playing and do you agree.
http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/ind…7370.xml&coll=1 i hope julian shows he is a strong individual and doesn’t let this break his confidence and gets back in the rotation soon. if he can’t eventually out play marks then…….

by Ace Boogie on Dec 8, 2008 10:59 AM CST reply actions