Game On: Hornets @ Thunder


The Hornets close out their pre-season run tonight, taking on the young upstart Oklahoma City Thunder in OKC.

Okafor has been sitting out the past two games with no injuries listed, so it will be interesting to see if he plays tonight.  Monty seems pretty comfortable with what he’ll get from him, so he may sit again.  West will most likely be playing – and trying to keep his growly face in line so he doesn’t pick up two techs and get thrown out again.  West likes making growly faces, so we’ll see if he can pull it off.

Marcus Thornton, of course, has gotten less minutes every game until his new low of zero minutes against the Bobcats.  I’d like to think that’s because Monty knows what he’ll get from him and he’ll get normal minutes come the regular season, but that’s probably a fantasy.  Or, perhaps, Monty knows what he’ll get from him, and he thinks this is appropriate.  Argh.

The roster is set at fifteen right now with DJ Strawberry being waived earlier today.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Hornets dropped one more player to give themselves a little roster flexibility for the upcoming year.  No reason to carry guaranteed contracts that won’t contribute at all.  Yeah, I’m looking at you, Joe Alexander.  Sitting right there at the end of the bench next to Marcus Thornton.  Argh.

Tip off is 7:00 PM CST.  Enjoy and talk it up in the comments.  QueenBee likes and deserves company.

Oh, and one more time with emphasis.  Argh.


107 responses to “Game On: Hornets @ Thunder”

  1. It’ll be nice to hear the pundits talking about the favorable effect on Chris’ vision of the future of New Orleans once he sees Durant and his team in the OC, built with patience in 2 small markets, with ownership change really being a powerful catalyst, along with the commitment of Durant, the resident superstar good-guy. After all, we had to endure how jealous he’d be when the Heat came to town and he saw he injured friends and how great it was for them with all the hanging out with the 2 other good people on the team.

    Yeah, it’ll be nice. I just might tivo that sucker so I can let the soothing sounds set me to slumber. Yawn . . . .

    • Durant has shown he is something special in terms of his basketball ability and performances and also his character.

      That being said when Lebron signed his first extension with the Cavs he was hailed as something similar and it wasn’t until his defection to be part of Wade’s house that the tables turned on him. (Ok well maybe they turned on him once he started being a prat about his future when it was put to him for the last 2 years, but the hammer didn’t drop until he had that “tv special” farce)

  2. Is it being televised? Is it worth staying up in the early hours uk time to try and find a stream! More morning tip offs please. Great for me.

  3. @Rm im also in england got sixth form college in the morning so its a no no 4 me but if you want a decent stream try Atdhe.net

  4. @Rm im in england also can’t watch cos i got college in the morning but if you do stay up to watch try atdhe.net….always has every regular season game on there dno about pre season 1s though

  5. Won’t be going to the game tonight. Only tickets left are high dollar. Will listen on the radio. Its so much more fun watching growly face in person, I can still see his buzzer beater in my minds eye in 2005. That increase in fines is just ridiculous. I guess they will have to pick their times to get mad, I bet we will see alot of backs walking away.

    And – so sorry to hear about Strawberry.

  6. The Dream is Over ….. the wizards cut Adam ” The Conundrum ” Morrison , please hornets give a boy his dream back.

    • Marks was released too. He had a hamstring injury that kept him from competing. It’s unclear if that mattered.

      Hilton is still going strong then?

      • Morrison is a D-leaguer or Euro player at best, NBA was never going to happen for him. Why would the Hornets waste their time with him when we have cut better players this pre-season already?

    • 106.7 FM in New Orleans. 94.1 FM if you are closer to Baton Rouge and that doesn’t work.

      http://www.nba.com/hornets/news/radio_buzz2.html

      KMEZ, 106.7-FM (New Orleans Flagship)
      KDBS, 1410-AM (Alexandria, LA)
      WEMX, 94.1-FM (Baton Rouge, LA)
      KFRA, 1390-AM (Franklin, LA)
      KLEB, 1600-AM (Golden Meadow, LA)
      KJIN, 1490-AM (Houma, LA)
      KFXZ, 1520-AM (Lafayette, LA)
      KLRZ, 100.3-FM (Larose, LA)
      KNBB, 97.7-FM (Monroe, LA)
      KBZE, 105.9-FM (Morgan City, LA)
      KANE, 1240-AM (New Iberia, LA)
      WFNO, 830-AM (New Orleans Spanish)
      KTIB, 640-AM (Thibodaux, LA)

  7. I’m not sure where I read it at but I’m sure I recently read somewhere that Emeka is having a small ankle problem. I’ll see if I can find where I read it.

  8. I’m guessing these won’t work in Nevada. Damn…

    Looks like none of us will be getting a link tonight.

    On the bright side, I’ll be able to watch the next 82 games after tonight.

  9. OK, I think I saw it in yesterdays NOLA.com chat.

    “John Reid, T-P: Hey Nick, Ask Coach Monty Williams about Emeka Okafor after the Memphis game on Monday night, and he said Okafor has experienced some soreness in his ankle, nothing serious, but they don’t want to take a chance, so that’s the reason. “

  10. And he turns over the ball. SMH. I don’t know what to say. He says he plays with a chip on his shoulder well I would like for that chip to translate into something good. Please.

    • And what’s with all the “LET’S GO THUNDER” graphics at the bottom of the screen? You can tell they’re still getting used to having a team. LOL.

  11. What a difference in yesterdays and tonights first quarter for Belinelli. Of course he doesn’t have the maestro out there setting him up but yeah, definitely different from yesterdays first quarter. Jerrells is probably nervous. Shooting bricks so far.

  12. So the radio announcers claim that they were told Buckets would get a lot of minutes tonight.

    Nice to see West in the game.

  13. Wow. Seemed like not too long ago it was 7 point game. I go get a slice of pizza and come back and we’re almost down by 20. LOL!!! I’m getting ready to go watch Nightmare On Elm Street in a minute. LOL.

  14. Did ANYONE else hear the Thunder announcers when they THOUGHT they were in break say “Wow, gonna be a long season” directed at the Hornets?!? WOW!!!

  15. The Thunder started all of their regular starters tonight if I’m not mistaken so their commentators ought not be so excited at this point.

  16. West has been solid. Does he need to play the 2nd half? We know what he can do. Let Pops and Smith handle the PF position for the rest of the night.

  17. Ok, so I’m listening to the Hornets radio but watching the OKC stream. Hornets radio online is soooo delayed. LOL.

  18. Do people in OKC really see the Lets go Thunder graphics and OKC logo at the bottom of their screen? That is so rooty poo. LOL!

    • It’s so big it covers the the players at the bottom of the screen. What are they thinking? AND the buffalo that comes up & beats the drum?!? You’re telling me if I live in OKC I gotta watch that EVERY game……NO WAY!!!
      If Hugo popped all the time and chanted let’s go & beat a drum I would go crazy!!!

  19. Marcus going in there with that weakness at the end. Should’ve gave that boy the Gerald Wallace treatment. LOL!!

  20. 1-11 on 3’s for the Hornets. Too bad we couldn’t have knocked down at least half of those.

    Thank goodness this is the last preseason game.

  21. Marcus obviously trying to defer. He’s had about 3 assists that the bigs have blown though. I hope he sees a couple shots go through before the end.

  22. I don’t think I could ever watch a Thunder broadcast again. This is absolutely terrible. When the opposing team is on offense, they show grocery store ads and replays of the previous Thunder plays. Awful. Someone needs to give them a lesson in broadcasting.

  23. Monty needs to make these guys practice free throws. We should at least make 80% of our free throws. We’re currently at like 65%.

  24. I guess we don’t know the actual ‘rotation’ yet, but is it safe to say that the ‘depth’ at each position will be:

    F-West, F-Ariza, C-Okafor, G-Belinelli, G-Paul

    F-Smith, F-Stojakovic, C-Gray, G-Thornton, G-Green

    F-Mensah-Bonsu, F-Alexander, C-Mbenga, G-Pondexter, G-Jerrells

    L_Reazy

  25. There’s something wrong with Marcus. There has to be. 1/5 from the line and 1/10 from the field? What’s going on?!

  26. Ok, so Belinelli missed all 5 of his shots, Trevor Ariza had 1 point, the Hornets couldn’t buy a 3 pointer tonight except for Peja’s lone 1 3 pointer. I’ve liked what Jason Smith has brought to the team. Well, it’s getting ready to get real now so I guess beginning next week we’ll see what’s what.

  27. I don’t know what just happened – but I was going to say the announcers are from Thunder radio – so you are really listening to a radio broadcast they have a different way of describing the game.

    Any one find out whats going on with Chris Paul? Is this going to be some kind of surprise entrance for the first game? You would think they would play the regular players together for a while so they get use to it again. I guess they do that in practice but there’s nothing like a real game. The Hornet’s seem so disjointed – hope they can get it together for the season.

    • I’m guessing they wanted to rest him since he played 42 minutes yesterday. I’m assuming he has a place in Charlotte since he’s from there and just stayed there over night instead of traveling with the team. Again, these are all assumptions, but I’m leaning towards this as what happened.

      • Let the speculations begin. At first I was glad he wasn’t there if he wasn’t playing because then Darnell Mayberry won’t be able to interview him and twist his words but there will probably be speculation as to why he wasn’t there anyways. SMH.

    • “You would think they would play the regular players together for a while so they get use to it again.”

      Outside of Okafor, the Hornets starting unit played together yesterday in Charlotte. The Thunder’s starting 5 just played their first preseason game together tonight.

  28. Broadcasters say CP3 was at home. Said it was a part of his rest and Monty finally found a way to keep him out of a basketball game. He probably stayed in North Carolina after yesterdays game and will probably hit back to NOLA this weekend. Just my thoughts on that last part.

  29. to be onest with you all i dont think nonoe will take marcus thornton form our team after what hes been playing like

  30. Postgame Monty said he had to force Chris to go home and get some rest. That’s not a bad idea because he knows he’s going to need that guy this season.

  31. Our ‘bench’ actually did well. Smith was probably the best of them followed by Pondexter and Gray.

    Thornton didn’t do what we all wanted, but his line was better than Marco’s. He also started out of the gate with a turnover but overcame that. Monty didn’t pull him. He may not have really had a choice, but all things considered it@s not as simple as a poor shooting night.

    Silver linings?

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