Game 13: Hornets vs. Blazers

I guess the Saints’ game still have some speechless and honestly this is my first time on the net since then. We know what we’re getting from the Hornets and with no one coming off the Hornets’ injury list, its like…… Oh well…. Kinda sucks being among the bottom 3 teams in the NBA… Were we ever this bad? Its almost like we’re the Colts of the NBA just waiting for that #1 pick. Then what?…. Sports is about competitiveness and winning BUT when as a Sports’ Fan you’re reduced to just 1 team to root for and they’re not winning…. Lets just say that 1small bandage for 2 large gashes is really really really NOT going to do it…

Welcome to the Hive where Batman and Robin left for Metropolis and the Commisioner has a bum leg from chasing Jokers….

They’re an interesting team all the way around. Not that I necessarily think the Hornets are on equal footing with them, I honestly don’t, but the Hornets can compete with this team. Aldridge is the key. His game has really taken off this season now that he’s assumed the entire load offensively. I’ve never liked the Blazers (I don’t know why, just haven’t) but you really have to feel for them and their fans when you think about the injuries to Brandon Roy and Greg Oden. Luckily for them, depth has been able to keep this team competitive regardless. But they’re always a team that can win any game and lose any game…. early starts always lead to sloppy basketball from my experience and both of these teams like to play slow basketball. I’m expecting a super ugly game today but there’s no reason to believe the Hornets can’t be competitive. And if it’s a competitive game, who knows what happens at the end?

Go Hornets!

Currently dead last in the Western standings. 5th worst overall.

They’ll likely play smaller then so it’d be silly if Monty sticks with the Oak/Kaman pairing too long. Looking forward to watching Landry get back on track plus more good things out of Smith/Ayon.

I think kamen did better off the bench anyway

Henry next week, ariza this week

on twitter, Kaman posted a picture of a half-eaten Winn-Dixie king cake, saying he was disappointed. He was bombarded with tweets about how to never eat grocery store king cakes.

in the first quarter. Yuck.

Anyone else here?

becoming too routine

It’s almost a given we’re sloppy but seems a ton of opposing teams are as well.

PnR bet Jack and Oakfor was just lousy. Usually at least one player can get space. Not us. Results in a double team of Jack and a t/o.

Only things refreshing this game so far has been the energy displayed by Ayon/Aminu.

on Ayon there. Was a charge.

so active making cuts almost every possession where they get free, but our non-player makers only get the ball to them 10% of the time. W/o a doubt, PG spot needs the most help. Jack will never be that guy so keep him around for the leadership aspect, but we’ve gotta see if Greivis can develop or before the start of next year we bring in a good pass orientated guy (draft or FA).

And make him the 6th man, because he can score

defending guards to bigs. I think Monty realizes his abilities but will continue to bring him along slowly. Fully expect one of our bigs to get traded before the deadline as Ayon easily represents the best potential amongst the bigs.

didn’t get more run 1st half. I wonder if our FO will/has mandated we need to do a fair bit of showcasing.

Ariza laughing/prodding Gordon about something but the stone-faced commish isn’t amused. haha

looks like today, it will be the 3rd quarter for epic-super-massive offensive failure

this is getting Spanish-Inquisition painful to watch again.

with Vazquez and Oak

different team out there now.

How many games do we need to play where some combination of Vazquez, Ayon and Aminu get a ton more run?

PG – Vasquez
SG – Jack
-Aminu ( cuts really good but needs Vasquez to get him the ball)
Ayon ( Viva Ayon)
Oak

ball pressure, knows when to switch and puts a body on a guy very early on a shot thus always getting great position. Fundamentals and awareness are just fantastic.

Also according to the youtube video’s he can pop it from about 15

Kaman with all sorts of mid range shots off balance. Who the hell does he think he is?

who is this Mexican bull down low.

Ayon is our best player right now. Obviously, it’s amongst the healthy guys, but he’s already ahead of everyone else in my book. Can’t wait to see how much improvement he shows as he gets more comfortable with everything (teammates, NBA environment, English language).

I get in Jack’s ass right now. He’s not an above average talent and he’s not on fire so why the hell is he putting up a shot so early in the shot clock and no rebounders down low? Needs to be told you lead or you sit. PERIOD.

Three games in a row now fellas where he’s done nothing but good with minutes.

we’re down 9 with a minute to go but we use up the entire shot clock

Is wrongly catching a lot of the scorn here for the team’s struggles. Has a better PER, True Shooting Percentage, Assist percentage, lower turnover percentage and all with a higher usage rate. The team will not win much with Jack at the point guard but he still presents the best opportunity to win night in and night out. As a result, you put him out there. We know the team isn’t good, but that doesn’t mean you ignore player development and abandon establishing an identity and a commitment to winning night in and night out. You put your best players on the floor night in and night out, regardless of their standing league wide, and you try to win. The team’s not winning but Jack’s not the only reason why not.

Chris Kaman, as I’ve maintained all season long, on the other hand is pathetic.

We don’t have anything else going on to cushion the blows of Hornets’ losses so now it hits even harder. We should’ve let Beli go and kept Willie Green because we all knew CP3 was leaving and Beli’s ball handling skills and sporatic inconsistent shooting was/is worse than Green’s BUT keep in mind that Green’s defense & ball handling was his assets but kinda bricked it a little much . Don’t know why….maybe its a bond thing but Kaman played good w/Gordon on the floor a a few games after & then he started tanking. I also think that because of commonalities, Vazquez & Ayon will be great on the floor together which will in turn equal more positive production. Landry is just going through a little funk. Don’t let these few lil laspes in his game make you forget about how good he played for us and how good of a player he really is. Glad Aminu is coming around and hopefully Summers will too. Funny how the team is so bad, Ariza will be a sight for sore eyes when he returns. Just gotta prepare ourselves for another week of avg-subpar games until Gordon & Ariza comes back… Oh yeah then another week of them learning to play with each other…..