Game 22: Hive Live

by hldomingue on Dec 12, 2009 9:55 AM CST in Recaps

New York 113 (8–15) | New Orleans 96 (10–12)

Swept by the Knicks? Say it ain't say so, Chris. Say it ain't so.

Unfortunately the Hornets, after starting strong in the first half, put up only 34 points in the second half and allowed the Knicks to turn a 9 point deficit into a 17 point victory. Frankly, the first half was pretty much what you would expect for a team like the Knicks: dumb fouls by Eddie Curry, careless turnovers by Al Harrington, and WTF?! shots from Larry Hughes.

But credit the Knicks for getting it together and out-shooting the Hornets like whoa... like really whoa. Final percentages for the Knicks: 55% from the field, 52% from deep, and 93% from the stripe. The Hornets? 40%, 22%, 88% respectively... or not so respectively... or something.

Bullets after the jump, but first:

While averting our eyes from the unraveling Hornets, Curry and I started discussing Okafor's lack of a nickname. Curry suggesed "The Big Oak." I retorted that a tree, while tall, is ostensibly rooted to the ground and maybe not the best metaphor for basketball player. I've been using "Mek," but I'd be willing to change. Vote below!

While the Hornets only managed 40% from the field, most of the players put up pretty good percentages. Paul, Thornton, and Posey suffered the most from the bad shooting bug, going a combined 8 for 31 (including 2 for 12 from deep). Oof.

As impressive as the Knick's were during their turnaround in the second half, their ended the night on a sour note (that may or may not have offended the basketball gods). Note to D'Antoni, when you're up 10+ points with a minute to play, having your team hoist 3 treys is kind of ridiculous. It's like the FU touchdown, which may have single-handedly ruined the greatest season the NFL has ever seen. I'm not saying the Knicks are the Pats, but still. That's poor sportsmanship.

Chris Duhon had quite a homecoming, finishing with 22 points on 63% shooting (including 6 for 8 from downtown), 9 assists, a steal, and 0 turnovers. Ok, he's not from New Orleans, but this is probably as close as he'll get to Mamou all season.

Wilson Chandler and Al Harrington also put up solid numbers combining to go 21 of 35... Reread that and reread the first bullet.

Their aren't really any Hornet lines worth sharing, though I think it's notable that Okafor only played 20 minutes. When you get out-rebounded and out-blocked by decent margins, why is he riding the pine? Our defense was awful in the second half and would likely have benefited from his presence, especially since our jump shooters were cold as ice for most of the second half.

Composed to: Kate Bush's The Dreaming

Opponent's Take: Posting and Toasting

Poll

Emeka Okafor's nickname should be:

Mek

9 votes

The Big Oak

15 votes

Okie

4 votes

Oak+4

1 votes

Who cares, we're probably going to trade him for someone like Kenny Thomas if we keep playing this poorly

27 votes

56 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Ugh

I can’t believe us right now.

Just not even a semblance of defense. And even the new Bower offense went out the window for the last 5 minutes last night, giving way to the same old iso on every play.

by Rohan on Dec 12, 2009 10:51 AM CST reply actions

"Surprised"

“Surprised” to see Hilton Armstrong benched.
Disappointed to see Ike Diogu out for the remainder of the season.
Wondering when Sean Marks will come back because we now need him more than ever.

by JChangNZ on Dec 12, 2009 2:23 PM CST reply actions