Game On: Bucks @ Hornets

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Published: October 27, 2010

The Hornets join 25 other teams who are in action on the second night of the 2010-2011 regular season, and let me be one of the many to pump my fist in excitement. The Bucks are the first potential victims of the year for the Hornets, who are hoping to remain undefeated

The Hornets are hoping to put a poor preseason, which they finished a league worst 1-7, behind them. It shouldn’t be hard considering the starters played only a single quarter together. Don’t let that fool you, though. The team is healthy and the starters are all expected to play major minutes against a talented Bucks team.

The Bucks broke out last year, finishing 46-36 and making the playoffs to end a three year drought. Center Andrew Bogut missing the playoffs with an injury was the only thing that stopped them from advancing past the first round.

As for match ups, Brandon Jennings versus Chris Paul will be something to watch, as we see a healthy Paul back in regular season action for the first time since January. Jennings is coming off a great rookie season which saw him selected ahead of Hornets guard Marcus Thornton as a member of the first team All-Rookie squad.

Emeka Okafor will have his hands full with Andrew Bogut, who made a big leap last year. Bogut, the former number one pick in the 2005 NBA draft, is healthy again and expected to have another great year. He should be considered one of the top centers in the game today, and a serious problem for the Hornets. In his lone showing against Okafor last year, Bogut thoroughly dominated, finishing with 26 points and 13 rebounds in only 30 minutes of time. If the Hornets let him get rolling it will mean trouble.

The Bucks and Hornets split two meetings last season with the home team prevailing on each occasion.

Michael is going to be running a simulation of each Hornets game on NBA 2K11, and that can be found here-

NBA 2K Simulation

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Take a peek over at Bucksketball.com for their preview

Updates From the Arena

  • Marcus Thornton (strained left Achilles) is probable
  • The Hornets have won 8 of the last 9 games versus the Bucks
  • The Hornets have played the Bucks (78 games) more than any other team in their franchise history
  • The Hornets will see the Bucks again in Milwaukee on November 6th
  • Making their debuts tonight: Coach Monty Williams, trainer John Ishop (who will hopefully keep the team injury free), Quincy Pondexter (unlikely to dress), Larry Sanders
  • Inactives for Milwaukee- Chris Douglas-Roberts, Darington Hobson, Michael Redd
  • Inactives for New Orleans- Joe Alexander, Quincy Pondexter, Aaron Gray
  • I’ll be on ESPN’s Daily Dime chat throughout the game, live from the Arena.

Monty Williams pregame press conference quotes-

“I think that David and Chris have been in enough battles together to know how to adjust to certain situations. It’s my job to get the the freedom to do what they do well and everyone else has to follow suit.”

“I’ve talked to the guys, and instead of going out there and beating eachother up [during practice], let’s beat somebody else up”

On the bench- I’ve got to let those guys play a little bit, but not to the point where we’re losing games”

On who isn’t playing- Aaron, Joe, and Quincy. “might have been the hardest thing I’ve had to do, is putting those guys on the inactive list”

“Unfortuantely we don’t have  alot of time to jsut let guys go out there and play together. He works his tail off. If he’s not a gym rat, he’s a gym nutria.” ” we’ve been talking about how he needs to keep his game in a box”.

If you’re out there with Chris Paul, you don’t need to make plays.” “He will serve it up and you guys gotta eat it”.

“I can read his [Paul’s] expressions on the floor and at times it’s like he’s reading my mind. I’m about to call out the plays and he calls some variation of it at the same time.”

“Marco is a guy who can handle the ball, but his greatest asset is that he can shoot the ball.”

“On Thornton’s confidence- “I have no idea. You would have to ask Marcus.” “Marcus isn’t… he doesn’t lack confidence.” “he had  tough preseason but thats ok for a guy like him It’s not all on him. I put him in situations where he [struggled], so a lot of that falls on my shoulders”

On the lead up to his first game as a head coach- “I tried to walk around, got everyone in my neighborhood telling me how to do my job. I take my dog out. He craps on the front yard and I go back inside.”

If you haven’t been to a game, you are missing out on some fun. Here’s a video of the pre-game party outside the arena-

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