The Hornets beat the Clippers 101-82 to continue their best start in franchise history, and remain undefeated. After a whistle filled first five minutes of basketball, the Hornets had a nine point lead over the Clippers, and that was that. They would extend the lead to 20-5, behind a big first quarter by Emeka Okafor, and from that point on it was evident that the Hornets were on their way to their first blowout victory of the year. Fortunately for Q-Pon fans, that gave coach Williams an opportunity to give some time to the rookie. We will get to that shortly.
The first quarter can be summed up by looking at the Clippers team numbers- Seven fouls, a defensive violation, and five turnovers. Defensively the Hornets played their usual game (feels nice to say that), rotating well, and sending their big men up top while defending the pick and roll. The Clippers offense struggled to find a groove all night, and aside from Al-Farouq Aminu there weren’t a lot of positives for them.
By the end of the second quarter the Clippers had narrowed the lead to only seven, but it was just one of those games that you knew the Hornets had under control. Last year there wasn’t one game in which I felt certain the Hornets would win, but this year that just isn’t the case. This was a game the Hornets were supposed to win, and even when things were looking less than stellar you just knew that they would pull it out. It’s what I felt in 2007-2008, and it’s what I imagine Laker fans feel like just about every day of every year.
Rasual Butler (aka The Phoenix) went 0-5 in the first half, but went 4-4 in the first 8 minutes of the second half to keep the Clippers within striking distance (10). Fortunately this Hornets team isn’t going to let a guy like Rasual beat them. As he was draining jumpers, the Hornets kept rotating well and forced the rest of the team to commit turnovers.
A series of suspect Hornets fouls got the Clippers back within three with 2:30 left in the quarter, but as I said; this was the Hornets game the entire way though. Not even the refs could keep it from being what it was. By the end of the quarter the lead was 10 again, and The Hive was buzzing.
Quincy Pondexter started the second quarter for the Bees, and calmly sunk his first NBA pointer within the first minute, then followed it up by faking a three on the next possession and driving the hole for a reverse layup. It was an excellent beginning to his second NBA game, even though it went downhill from there. He came back in to start the fourth quarter as well, and was on the the floor as the Hornets extended their lead from 10 to 20.
One thing to notice is how aware Pondexter is on defense. I mentioned yesterday that Marcus Thortnon has had his head on a swivel recently, and the same can be said about Pondexter. He appears very aware on the defensive end, which bodes well for his future. After Summer League Monty Williams talked about how he has the capability to guard three positions, and that could make him a very valuable bench player for the Hornets, who don’t have anyone like that coming off the pine. He finished with 7 points on 6 shots.
Pops Mensah-Bonsu saw some uneventful time in the late second quarter, but nothing came of it. He would enter again late in the fourth, and again did nothing. I will say, he’s an active player on both ends.
Willie Green might be my new favorite player. I don’t want to like him this much because I know he’s not that good, but that guy just makes me smile. After hearing that he was a blue-collar player, I didn’t expect too much, but he’s been fantastic this year off the bench. 19 points (15 in the fourth quarter) on 10 shots, as well as an attempted dunk which was 100% rejected by the rim. That was probably the second saddest part of the evening.
Jerryd Bayless struggled on both ends of the floor in the first half. He continues having a hard time getting into his rhythm on offense, and sometimes appears frustrated on the defensive end as a result. The overweight Baron Davis seemed to just run away from him, and at times Bayless didn’t seem too enthused to give chase. He was a whole new player in the second half on both ends, but particularly on offense. He attacked the hole hard, took contact, and knocked down his shots. We need to see more of the second half Bayless if anyone is going to be convinced that Marcus Thornton is expendable. He wound up leading the team with 9 assists on the night.
Speaking of Marcus (and the saddest part of the evening), he didn’t play, even in garbage time, and appeared somewhat distraught while on the bench. You know he doesn’t want to sit, and one can only hope that he will take this DNP as motivation to improve on the defensive end.
Jason Smith came back down to Earth, committing dumb fouls away from the ball, missing easy rebounds, and at one point even creating a shot off the dribble (it didn’t work). He’s at his best offensively on catch and shoot jumpers, and that’s it. Sure is a pretty jumper, though. 6 points on 7 shots, to go with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Does he remind anyone else of a Darius Songaila/Ryan Bowen hybrid?
Okafor remained on his own planet. 12 points on 5 shots, along with 7 boards and 3 blocks in only 32 minutes. His defense was great, yet again, but the offense is just absurd. He’s shooting nearly 75% on the year. This is the guy Jeff Bower thought he was getting last year.
Chris Paul played a lot like this guy named Chris Paul. He’s pretty good. Perhaps you’ve heard of him? 13 points, 8 assists, 3 steals, and one turnover. He only played 25 minutes. So nice to say that.
David West was pretty bad, but nobody noticed. Oddly enough, his defense was by by far the better part of his game tonight.
Air Hugo and Air Hugo junior are my favorite of the many Hugo’s.
Post Game Notes
- If the Timberwolves can beat the Lakers tonight, or the Nuggets beat LA on Thursday, the Hornets will be the last undefeated team in the NBA for the first time ever. EVER!
- All seven opponents have been help under 100 points this year.
- Monty Williams has won his first 7 games as an NBA coach, becoming only the fifth head coach in history to achieve such a feat.
- With one more win, he will tie Larry Brown for the most victories to at the start of a year for a head coach.
- The Hornets bench had 30 fourth quarter points.
- The Hornets assisted on 29 of their 39 field goals
- After falling behind 2-0, the Hornets would never trail again.
Monty Quotes-
On the bench’s solid play- “I shouldn’t have to put Chris back in the game to save the day all the time.”
“The bench, on a good team, can win five to ten games a year”
On Ariza- “I thought Trevor was big tonight, being able to rebound in the position. He knows he had a lot of mishaps on defense tonight.”
“The way Trevor is playing, has been efficient pretty much this whole season. He and Marco are defending a lot better than people five them credit and it’s helping our team a whole lot.”
On Willie Green- “Even when he’s not making shots, you know he’s going to try to do the right thin on defense”
On his team- “We talked about respecting every team in this league. We aren’t going to play LA’s record or play the fact that they don’t have all of their guys.”
“When you see us coming to an arena, you know what you are going to get.”
“No matter who we play, it can’t affect the we play”
On Q-Pon- “I’ve told him to just go out there and be solid. Don’t try to hit a home run, just be solid.”
“When I look in Quincy’s eyes, I don’t see any fear.”
Rasual Butler Quotes
On the difference in the game- “Turnovers. they’re a good defensive team. Chris and David West are out there communication and letting guys know what’s going on. We had 25 turnovers, when it was 65-60 we turned the ball over a few times and then the game got out of hand.”
On the loss of Chris Kaman (injured in the first half)- “Kaman demands a lot of attention. We get shots off of him because of the respect he gets from other teams so that defeinitely had an impact of the game.
I had planned to talk to Marcus Thornton about his defense and rebounding, but this doesn’t seem to be the most appropriate time.
90 responses to “Hornets Dominate the Clippers”
XD
happiness throughout my soul
How many times have we been able to say West has an off offensive night and CP doesn’t play at all in the 4th and we win by 19? I must say I know it is only the Clippers, destined to be a struggling team, but I came away impressed by the Bees yet again.
The stretch to begin the 4q was pretty incredible. After just kind of coasting through the middle of the game, the bench came out in the 4th and dominated namely Bayless and Green. It’s great to see them come out when the Clips were slowly cutting down on the lead and put it out of reach for the rest of the game. CP not even a minute in the 4th and we still ran away with the game. Also, if they continue to play so well the rest for Chris will be invaluable towards the end of the season. A fresh CP late in the season only brings a smile to my face.
Also, can’t go without giving some love to Okafor. During Cox’s broadcast, Gil McGregor made a good point saying that he seems to be realizing that when he gets the ball, he’s open. Okafor, even in college, has always been athletic and quick off his feet; this is part of what makes him a good shot blocker….. Btw…had some flashbacks to his college days with all those blocks in the 4q, pretty good stuff…. But his offensive game has improved drastically. He seems MUCH more confident to catch the ball, make one decisive strong move and get a good shot which shows in his NBA leading fg%.
Overall, can’t say enough about this team as a whole. Truly exciting to watch. 8-0 in sight. Get em Bees!!!
**Not even a sniff of pt for MT5 in a blowout win; hate to say it but not looking good.
**Anybody else notice the Jazz copying our game plan tonight against the Heat? Jazz win in OT with Millsap scoring 46..WOW.
Okafor is NOT NOT NOT, and I can’t stress this enough, quick off his feet (assuming you mean fast getting off the ground, if not then ignore this). He’s just not. It’s why he never dunks it, and it’s why he catches about 1/15th as many alleyopps as Tyson did.
But yes, he’s been great this year. Looks like his confidence is off the charts. Remember when he didn’t attempt a FG in the first game?
I would think he meant, quick on his feet. As in he has good lateral movement and a quick first step. That I can see. I am not saying that he is the fastest guy in that area, but he is reflexive.
7-0! Going to be in attendance Saturday night to hopefully see it become 8-0! Hoping Marcus can get some playtime in that game. One of my favorite players, sucks to see him sitting like this. But on the bright side, Hornets are playing amazing. And to see our bench scoring 30 points in the 4th quarter. That’s just insane. What an awesome start to the season. Who could have thought our Hornets would be doing this. It feels strange to say our defense is good. Just not used to that, haha. Go Hornets!!
Thanks for the recap Joe G. I had the bright idea of recording the HD broadcast on on my DirectTV, only to find out nothing was recorded. Looks like this is another hiccup thanks to those lint lickers at COX Sports… *shakes fist in air*
It is easy to know if it is going to be in HD, if the pregame logo says CSTHD or just CST. The games that are not in HD, are not taped in HD. In other words they did not rent the HD truck to tape it in HD. So if you are watching a show on CST and the little CST logo says just CST and not CSTHD, then they do not have an HD version. Even if you are watching the standard definition version, the logo is CSTHD if they are filming it in HD.
Just a little cheat I noticed over the past year and a half of their various broadcasts.
I think you have it nailed, Topher, but I’m not sure this helps people in JCS’s situation in Miami, or at least what I’m imagining which is setting a recording well in advance of being able to scope that out. I suppose the safe bet it is tape the HD version first, then tape the SD version later, or vice versa (unless you have multiple tuners and no other needs), then just pick your way through. It’s less than perfect.
http://www.coxsportstv.com/contact-cst/
That is the link to the comment form, which, in theory, one can ask questions, such as “is there a way to determine in advance, as a customer, which broadcasts are in HD?”
I wanted to watch the Heat – Jazz game which started 30 minutes before the Hornets game, so I went to my guide and selected the Hornets – Clips HD ver. to record. After I finished watching El Heat, I went to watch the Hornets game, but nothing was recorded.
Obviously, I was very disappointed, but at the least I got to watch what I predict will be the game of the week. Moving forward, I’ll be more mindful of who is broadcasting the game and what ver. I should record.
I work for the hornets broadcast by CST. we no longer use the “CSTHD” logos on anything. and the games that are not in HD are because there are not enough HD trucks available. most of our home games and some of the road games will be in HD this year.
…that requires a phone call to directv
Wooooo!!
wooooooooooooooooo
Wooooooooo!!!!
Queen must’ve found some oysters to eat tonight! Don’t worry, we got this thing covered!
only comment on the game since we should have won that game by 25 with no eric gordon and a hurt caveman is that marcus needs to get in there…. i have never been a fan of a coach who plays favorites over talents and keeps a guy in the dog house without giving him an opportunity to go out and prove his worth, and i love the 7-0 start but am not liking the trend im seeing with monty giving playing time to everyone over marcus who has proved at least on the court in the REGULAR season (the one that matters) that he is the best option off the bench
I concur. We know MT5 can straight up score but Monty’s focus is on DEFENSE. Marcus has improved and Monty has even said so himself so what is he riding the pine. Though Green & Bayless blew up in the 4th they did not do so in the 2nd quarter. I know we have alot of talent on this bench but I think Marcus is above everyone else IMO. With that said, I love the start
@Steven
Who is this caveman you keep referring to? Also, you never told me whether or not you played alongside Lil’ Romeo.
sorry lol caveman is chris kaman… his nickname out here is caveman basically since he looks like one
i actually did not get to play with romeo he came a year after i got to watch everyone play … he came in with derozan and unfortunately has left the team after a great 2 year stint… he was on a tv this week actually forget the show although it was a prime time network
funny fact too… after romeo’s first playing time and he got a steal and a bucket the team bumped his first cd in the locker room after the game
Nice story.
Lol @ Chris Kaman. If only his face looked as good as his game.
If for nothing else, Monty/Demps need to get Thornton in there to enhance his trade value. Peja + Thornton for a solid frontcourt player would do a lot for this team, this site’s irrational mancrush for Jason Smith aside.
Some ladies have a real crush on him, and probably some men. He’s like a respectable and taller Mike Ness.
A week ago everyone was talking about our irrational hate for Jason Smith.
Poor Marcus. I’m really starting to get nervous that he’s trade bait.
Scratch that. Jason Smith has a 15.56 PER, albeit with a small sample size. I always did love that guy, never doubted him for a moment. Still could use some frontcourt depth though
It’s pretty obvious Marcus is gone, we need another interior player for the finals against the Bostons and Lakers of the world anyway. Smith’s form may be an abberation, who knows. I’m sure Monty knows what he’s doing.
Interesting “tweets”:
Jerryd Bayless:
“Monkey off my back … Can finally breathe again….”
“Wow they gave my number away quick in Portland lol”
Chris Paul:
“Good win for us again 2nite…gr8 not to have to play the 4th…crowds have been good but can be A LOT better, plz N.O come out 4 us…7-0!”
Definitely agree with CP on this one. We gotta go out and support an undefeated team! 12,000 in attendance and I have to say, crowd support looked WEAK out there tonight. Regardless, the team proved tonight that we have MANY ways to beat you. Feelin good right now
I thought after the Heat game NOLA was starting to recognize what an awsome team we had and we would see a great increase in attendance. Hopefully the place starts to fill up. Love the atmosphere with a packed house at the Hive.
Great, great game. I love that we have guys you can count on to step up when players like DWest have an off night, which will happen.
I know how much CP3 is a competitor and wants to play. I wonder how he feels about not being put back in at the end of the 4th to finish things off. Do you think he’s relieved to not have to come back in and will us to a victory every game? Or do you think the real competitor in him wants to play 48 mins/game?
Well he said it was great to not have to play in the 4th. Great to not HAVE to play in the 4th.
Cp3’s season averages aren’t going to look as spectacular with the lack of mins he’s been getting so far. Not that that matters anyway, his efficiency will still be through the roof.
Don’t know what to say about the CP3 tweet. On one hand, I completely agree that 12k is embarassing for a 7-0 team. On the other, it sucks he’s calling out New Orleans in the wake of that same 7-0 start, further lending credence to the fact that he does not seem to want to be here.
I will say this though, and I wish CP3 could read this.
This is partially your fault Chris. No one believes you want to be here and consequently, there are people that find your conduct in the off-season extremely disappointing and embarassing. For this reason, you have created a problem that you refuse to even ATTEMPT to diffuse and that is STILL disappointing and embarassing. Look in the mirror before tweeting full blame on the city of New Orleans. All you had to do was deny the rumors. To this day, you still outright refuse to say the right things concerning being here. For this reason, you will NEVER have the full support of this city. If you want us to support you, at the very least you can lie to us and act like you want to be here as much as we want you to be here.
For the record, I am a season-ticket holder for those that want to throw stones at me.
Despite anyone’s problem with CP, they should still come out to support the TEAM. People should come for the Hornets, not Paul.
Dude… all he said was that he wants to see more fans out at the arena.
No one believes CP wants to be here? Seriously? I absolutely believe he does.
Knew people would get pissed off at me, but please compile me a list of Chris Paul quotes that show us how ridiculous the trade rumors were over the summer and how much he believes in the Hornets and the city of New Orleans. Actually, don’t do that, it’d just waste your time. You people just don’t get it. Chris Paul has and will continue to turn people off to basketball in this city. I go out and root for him every single night he’s in town, and, before his best friendship with LBJ, CP3 was my favorite player of all time. You can dream of fairies and sugarplums if you’d like but I’d prefer to be semi-realistic. ALL I AM DOING is stating that CP3 should at least realize the consequences of his actions before acting like, once again, this city is not fit for the King’s Best Friend.
I don’t have time to go and quote everything, but just go back and read the CP3 interviews during pre-season. All he was saying was how he loved NOLA, the fans, the city, and wanted things to work out for the best. He has not said anything negative about the new regime. All he has said is positive things about the current team and stated his respect for the change in attitude in the organization.
Oh, and he just donated half a million dollars of his own money to start an after-school program for the city of NOLA. You can be jaded and call it a tax write-off, but that doesn’t explain why he did it in NOLA. He could have done that back in SC if he didn’t feel a special connection to this town.
Does that mean that he definitely wont decide to leave in two years? Nope. But there hasn’t been anything to make one believe that he is just biding his time until he can force his way out.
His stating that he wants more people in the stands is not a primadonna bitching at a city he doesn’t want to play for. He called out the lack of sold tickets in about the most polite way a human could. He knows this is a business. He knows that management, whether it is Shinn or Chouest, is less likely to spend big money on promotions, salary, amenities for the players, facilities, etc., if they are not making money in ticket and merchandise sales. The team is putting out a very high quality product, but it is not yet being reflected on the bottom line. So he put his considerable star power behind the effort to help get the in seat support to match the team’s success.
Try and think back to 07-08. The Hornets were off to one of their best records to begin a season. They still couldn’t get fans in the seats. So much so, that the organization signed a deal with the state allowing them to leave if the fan support in the form of ticket sales didn’t pick up quickly. CP3 and the coaches all were talking in the media about how the fans needed to support the team more. Winning, word trickling down from person to person, the end of football season in late December all created the perfect storm to where the Bees were selling out night in and night out by January.
It will happen again, it is just a bad time for basketball in the South. Imagine if you have a family entertainment budget of $200 a month. November and December is full of family holidays, high school football trips, College football games, Saints games, needing to tighten budgets for Christmas time, etc. That $200 for this and next month probably has higher priorities. But come January, its all gravy. Oh and basketball season in HS and college athletics, so that is where attentions naturally turn.
So I would recommend everyone settle down a bit about the arena seats being filled. For some perspective check out the next Heat home game and see how many empty seats there are… P.S. A LOT! Sure they have sold all of the tickets to scalping organizations, real fans, and others, but there are not the butts in the seats. People just have other priorities other than spending a hundred or two on a “Clippers level” game on a Tuesday.
Also, one of the downsides to the casual fan of the variable ticket pricing is the Hornets themselves could be sending a message of `skip this one’ to the fans where time, not money, is the issue.
I cosign with Stefan and Caleb. Separately, this whole phenomena happen in Tampa Bay this year when the Rays were about to clinch a playoff spot, whilst the stadium was completely empty. One of the players called out the fans on this, and for the next game they gave out free tix to fill up the stadium. Why was this a good idea? A) Teams are nothing without the support of fans and B) Florida’s unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation, much due to Tampa.
So perhaps, the fan base isn’t to be in question rather it’s the fan base’s financial situations. Perhaps.
Economics is a factor across the board. One could point to the Saints selling out, but they were sold out largely prior to the oil spill if one thinks that’s a factor.
However, the movement of tickets on the secondary market for Saints tickets speaks to both some life in the economy and the focus on football.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100907005563/en/StubHub-Ranks-Hottest-2010-NFL-Home-Openers
The attendance seems to be in line with what it has been following down years.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200711140NOH.html
About this time of year in 2007, against a no-name 76’ers on a Wedneday: under 9,000.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200811050NOH.html
Over 16,000 against the barely playoffs Hawks in 2008.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200911040NOH.html
About 13,500 against Dallas last year.
Here, this time of year, it’s about last year. Clearly winning picks things up, as 2007 proves. Maybe the earlier winning will start it early, but I see football as limiting that as long as it’s around. In 2007, we didn’t start crushing people until January, so that clouds the already limited data.
I think that’s bull. Chris Paul is right. I mean seriously. What is our excuse? People say when the team wins games the fans will come out. Well, they are winning. Where are the fans? I’ll bet if Chris Paul does go elsewhere fans will come out to see him. At one time we have an attendance clause in our lease. We may still have it for all I know. What happens when that mark isn’t met? If this team ever relocates based on attendance, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves. Quit it with the just lends credence that he doesn’t want to be here crap. The guy is right. He’s a top 5 player in this league, the team is winning and they still aren’t showing up. But you can guarantedd we’ll have a full house when the Heat and Lakers and probably Boston shows up when in fact we have our own star to see every other night.
We have our own star and our own team that is very good right now and it seems to me that more people should care. They are hella fun to watch right now.
No Bees, it seems you’re the one who doesn’t get it. If David West would have said this would you have been mad? I don’t care who says it, it’s the truth. Actually, before this I had been thinking about emailing Times-Picayune’s John DeShazier to see if he’d be interested in doing an article about the fans not coming out. He’s already done an article about it being hard not to get excited about this team but it doesn’t seem like all that many are excited.
i also don’t understand all the CP3 hate. I know he didn’t totally diffuse all rumors, but he did say he loved NOLA, he did say he was willing to be traded IF nola didn’t commit to winning a building team. We, IMO, currently are and continue to do so. He didn’t outright say, I never wanted to be traded, but the reality of the matter is that actually placed pressure on the organization to do better.
And gotta agree with Kingbee here, there is no excuse.
We do have an attendance clause.
Settle down. This will take care of itself.
Chris isn’t going to leave a team based on a few thousand people staying home during football season.
Good God, thank you 42.
I’m with Paul on bigger crowds but, seriously it’s going to take some time and a bit more than seven wins to get New Orleans sports fans to split time with the Saints, especially now.
Brees and co. are Super Bowl defending champs. This coming bye week may help some (probably not much at all) but it’s going to be a hard sell for a while (outside of big games). There are 82 games in a regular season of basketball. The Hornets will have time to make their case. As long as they keep playing well, the rest will take care of itself …
As for Paul wanting to be traded, once Chandler was hurt and the team was left with-also rans (and the best point guard/player in the league), I wanted to be traded. The Hornets are the pro basketball team I root for regardless but I am not a fellow of unlimited time and resources. And despite the immense talent and a good bit of wealth, neither is Chris Paul. This is his life and career.
I wouldn’t ask or expect any of you to stick with a poorly run, non-competitive company no matter what city it’s in or what people like it.
So Williams and Demps appear to be the real deal enough to convince Paul that he can be successful finishing his contract and giving the team his best. As a fan I will enjoy this sate of things unqualified and come 2012, I’ll take it from there …
This must be the first time two grown men named Willie have been on an NBA court at the same time.
With that being said, It’s hard not to smile while watching Willie Green. I’m developing a Jason Smith-type man crush on him.
Lastly, I LOVE Okafor’s defense! I also love how he walks away from huge blocks like they were nothing. BOSS.
Damn it… I just love this whole team.
“Lastly, I LOVE Okafor’s defense! I also love how he walks away from huge blocks like they were nothing. BOSS. ”
LOL!
A few things about the night:
Chouest was there until the end. I saw no Shinn foik. That dude has some serious testicular fortitude to sit in the money seats right next to team if he stood up and told them all that they weren’t buying and THEN have them come out to their best ever start to season. The dude would be so studied by science and adult industry insiders that he’d not have time to sit through a 4th quarter.
About 12.5k for a Clippers game on a Tuesday night in football season is pretty darned good. If it matters, the Pacers and Nets drew smaller home crowds than us of the 7 games tonight. The other 4 are Miami and 3 non-football towns: Portland, Los Angeles, Milwaukee. Make of it what you will.
Marcus was less than enthused.
At the timeout with about 6m left in the game, the Hornets bench cleared and Chris led the way onto the court to greet the players, which he did by doing a chest bump to Bayless. Bayless was half-run-out of Portland because Roy felt threatened. Chris isn’t like that and was so happy for Bayless to break out a little (I just wish he didn’t take so long to get going).
Anyone who sees these things Chris does would feel more and more confident that he’s a believer in this team.
Jason Smith Picture: http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/113022/jason_smith.jpg
Mike Ness Picture: http://alarmpress.com/272/blog/music-news/social-distortion-greatest-hits-cd-set-for-late-june/
The Air Hugo family of gimmicks is top shelf.
@42- Yeah, there have been times when we’ve had waaayyyy less people in the arena. I think we should have at least 15K every game though. But maybe that’s just me. I absolutely hate going to other forums and people are saying “where are the Hornets fans?” “Are they disguised as seats?” Disgusting stuff like that. And for some reason, the media pays attention to no other teams attendance but ours.
People should fill it up, no doubt. It’s frustrating. We can all do our part. The Hornets are doing theirs.
As far as the media goes, well, you know where they are . . .
I just pointed it out in another comment, but just remember 07-08. That year we were coming off a poor season and we were winning early but couldn’t get butts in the seats. Then football season was over, the word was getting out that this was a team worth watching, and then it was sell out after sell out.
I am not concerned about it until January. Then come mid January if there isn’t sellouts and we are still winning and in the top 5 of the Western Conference I will be concerned.
P.S. we did already have a sellout this season. I think it was the earliest ever for the Hornets in NOLA years. I bet Saturday will be close to a sellout. Saints bye week, LSU playing a garbage team, and no festivals with a week of buzz and promotion might equal a very good crowd. If they can stay a 1 or 2 loss team for 9 more games, I think that San Antonio game will be a sell out. Saints play the Thursday before, LSU will be a hot ticket the day before, but HS football will be in the quarter finals of the playoffs so there isn’t a lot of teams left playing. San Antonio is always a big draw down here, so I think that will be the next sellout. If we can push 15,000 per game in December I will be excited.
@nikkoewan-Unless I missed it I only see one hating on CP in here. It’s like some are just waiting to throw the ‘he doesn’t want to be here’ card out. I think if he didn’t want to be here he wouldn’t give a damn about the crowds. We have a pretty darn good team right now and people should want to see them. I look at Monty and wonder what he’s thinking about these crowds because as we all know, Portland had a packed rowdy house EVERY night. Teams love that. They feed off of that. Yes, they’re supposed to go out and play hard regardless but it is great to have a big crowd.
its not just this site. I go to several other sites. Some people still think CP3 is another Lebron in the making bla bla bla… i just can’t stand it. I support the Hornets, but i gotta throw my opinion regarding CP3s actions and demeanors, and IMO he is not the next coming of Lebron
Also, what if Chouest just up and decides “I’m not going to buy a majority stake in this team, not enough support. People only come out during playoff time, if we even make it that far”. He’ll probably still buy it but just what if.
There’s a link on NBA.com right now that says “Serious Buzz in the Bayou”. Really?
Oh and I almost forgot. After the Miami win, David West tweeted ….
Great Crowd 2nite…
No other night did he tweet that. But after we have the best crowd of the season with people coming out to see the new Big 3, he tweets that. I’m through with this rant but I will say that Chris Paul is right. I’m hitting up stub hub for Saturday’s game and as many as I can this season.
Queen, Not matter where yoy get you ticket, you’ll be in the arena and tge boys will have another fan rooting them on, however, I would encourage you, and anyone who wants to maximumally affect the team, to buy some tickets from the team. They have some deals that will get you basically 25% off. You also may not have super high shipping some stub hub folks charge. Calling up a rep allows you to pick a seat, too. You can get tickets below market at stub hub, and you gotta do what you gotta do, but if it’s only a few bucks difference, consider buying from the team.
Those attendance numbers are almost certainly ticket sales from the team. After-market sales aren’t in there and neither are the gate numbers. It all depends on what you want to do.
I’m a season ticket holder, but I divide my tickets between people. I’ve gone to stub hub to help fill in the gaps, so I get it and I’m not fussing at all. I just want to put that out there so people have all the information.
Getting people in the Arena is most important, no matter where the tickets come from.
i wanna watch it live, but im from the Philippines LOL
Poor crowd showing could also be attributed to something called the “Clippers”
Hahaha.. Pray tell what is this Clippers that you speaketh of dear sir. #KGTrashTalk
Seriously, have you guys checked out that #KGTrashTalk thingy on Twitter? Funny stuff.
LOL…The Paper Clip fan base consist of that one guy with the red and blue suit!
Clipper Darrel is hilarious. At summer league, when you could really hear individual fans, he was chanting “U-G-L-Y You ain’t got no alibi, you’re ugly, during free throws.
From Postgame Quotes..
CP3 On the success:
“It’s our defense. We’re upset when teams score on us. A lot of times, we get on one another because we know what we’re capable of. We know what we do against each other in practice. We’re trying to stay as disciplined as possible. And I want to say a special thanks to every one of our fans who have come out and supported us. We need even more to come out, because we feed off their energy.â€
http://www.nba.com/hornets/news/110910_pgq_NOHLAC.html
Clippers or not, we should be in there. We’re going to see our own team. Not the other team. It’s not like we can choose to only play home games when we know the crowds will be huge to see the Lakers, Heat, Celtics. The other day I looked and we were dead last in attendance. Then the Heat came in and that moved us up to #26. We’ll probably be last again in the morning. We have one of the smallest arenas in the league and don’t fill it up on a regular basis. What’s wrong with that picture?
Good Banner for the Clippers game, by the way.
Good result again though I am getting a little frustrated that Pops is not showing the real Pops. He seems very busy but isn’t really being as effective as he can be on both ends.
He is not really getting the minutes that he needs to do this but I can only see him taking minutes off Mbenga currently, and that ain’t many minutes to have.
I hope he can show his true worth and have a Memphis game in regular season and show you all what Pops is all about.
rm, don’t get too discouraged. I’m actually pretty high on Pops as a backup. Remember, his playing time isn’t necessarily a knock on him, but a knock on how he has ended up fitting to this point with the system and how it’s come to be with the guys getting major minutes. With luck, he’ll get some time here or somewhere else.
Just a question guys out of curiosity, how much does a season ticket costs?
IT depends on where you want your seats- about $2,300 for lower corner seats, $1,200 or so behind the goal, and cheaper upstairs…if I remember correctly.
@Joe- could you start posting the box scores on the post game reports? Also, I love how you guys have started adding post game quotes!
I can’t wait for Portland.
http://www.nba.com/hornets/tickets/201011TicketPlans_Pricing.html
@ Bug- I think there are some very cheap packages for the upper level behind the goal, but I don’t know how much!
Hey guys i’d first like to congradulate the UNDEFEATED hornets on anothher well done win but I have an off topic question. I like in florida and is a big hornets fan, my dad said he will take me to new orleans around dec. 17 to see the utah jazz game. Since this will be my first time at new orleans I would really like to see a tour of the stadium and to see where the hornets practice but id actually like to meet the team..is it possible for me to do any of this stuff?
I’m glad to see Belinelli finally showing his value. Don Nelson and Jay Triano seemed to have very little confidence in his possibilities. Monty Williams is simply making him a better player, who’s improved very much in defense and in his mental approach.
the atmosphere in the arena last night was truly pathetic…
i’ve attended 20-30 games each year they’ve been here, season tix since they’ve been back, and have never enjoyed a game less
seriously, we can’t get 15000 in there for $10/2.5 hrs for an undefeated team?
yes, i know it was tuesday, and the clippers are a pox upon the land, but still…
there were times of near total silence in there last night
when they came back from OKC i remember hornets marketing folks going door to door downtown selling partial plans, and it worked. whatever the marketing effort is now, is not working…
Like Mark already said a few comments up, the real issue last night was the fact that its the Clippers that came to town. No casual NBA fan will pay to see that team. Hard cores will to see Blake Griffin. So to still see 12.5k out and on a Tuesday night means we are picking up steam. I can bet that Saturday’s game will be alot better, if not a sell out. Prices on Stubhub and Ticketexchange are already reflecting the increased demand. The cheapest lower level prices are already over $60 per ticket. Yall remember those Economics classes right? High Demand + Low Supply = High Prices. If there was no demand, it would be possible to get 3rd party tix for about $30-$40 on those sites.
@QueenBee and Nikko – It has nothing to do with wanting to hate CP3 or being worried that he is going to leave. You have to be completely bonkers to believe Chris’ offseason behavior did not affect the way SOME people look at the Hornets. The whole point of saying what I did was that if Chris Paul would come out and say, do a front page interview with the Times Picayune addressing all the off-season buzz and diffusing it, that would do world’s for the team’s image. Maybe you just don’t pay enough attention to the media, but if you are being bombarded by enough people saying your best player wants out of town, THE SHEEP WILL FOLLOW. Let’s be honest with ourselves here. We need the sheep to be at the arena. We need the bandwagon fans. Every day on sports talk, I hear Deke spouting his mouth about how CP3 looks like he doesn’t want to be here. You think that helps? It’s called *marketing* and Chris Paul refusing to commit 100% behind the Hornets has been very detrimental to the team’s marketing campaign. He didn’t even show up to media day, opting instead to do a national interview in which he appeared less than enthused! Imagine marketing your product as being mildly acceptable. Who would want to buy it? “Go get Windows 7, it’s only slightly better than Windows Vista!” I’m thrilled about the 7-0 start like the rest of us. I just want Chris Paul to come out and put to rest these damn rumors once and for all, for the betterment of the franchise.
**** BTW, if you and anyone else, really wanted to help the Hornets, you would buy your tickets directly from the Hornets ticket office yourself. Buying someone else’s already purchased tickets does nothing for the Hornets. It just donates 1/3 of the money you spend to StubHub (That is not an exaggeration.) Call the Hornets and get yourself a ticket representative. They will be able to find you the best seats in the house (they have tickets you won’t find on TicketMaster) and save you money to boot.****
Nobody is playing better basketball so far in the NBA. Hornets not only win, they dominate. No chasing from 15-20 points behind. Tremendous game management.
The discussion of attendance on this board is fascinating. As a new Hornets fan living in the San Francisco Bay Area, it’s hard to imagine why the fans don’t come out. We’ve had terrible teams over the years that have packed the house here. From what I understand about post-Katrina/oil spill New Orleans, the economy must certainly have a big effect, no? Pro football is every other week. Hoops is at least once a week. Is it a matter of money?
Certainly the Hornets have the stars, the coach, the winning record. Seems like some kind of malaise having to do with the ownership uncertainty, the Paul uncertainty, and the economy in combination. After last year there may be some cynicism at work too–“they can’t be that good.” It’s a dangerous situation with contraction likely.
It has been a real pleasure to watch this team develop. I’ll fly out to see a couple games in January. Love your city, love your team.
In all fairness, football here is all day, every day. This is where the football comes from, frankly. Louisiana has to produce more pro players than any state per capita and the reason is the deep love of the game. Just count the Lousiana guys on the Super Bowl teams this year. On just one play you had Peyton Manning throwing to Reggie Wayne and the pick by Tracy Porter (2 New Orleans, 1 BR (Port Allen, really)). Henderson is another. 2 are from my home town of 1,500 people (at the same time a few years ago). When you have 1800 pro players, that is significant.
High School is big here, the Tigers are insanely loved (uh, see Marcus outrage and that’s Basketball). There are `commercials’ on TV that don’t advertise anything, they just say `go saints’ in outlandish ways put out by rich folks.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CBcQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Djop_gkzM0BE&rct=j&q=ronnie%20lamarque%20who%20dat&ei=BNnaTIuyDcPOnAfmz6neAQ&usg=AFQjCNEYjNqV8QMSouvFXgD3m-cwO0lHlQ&sig2=LOHzDhncuEvSDZdGjpFB6Q&cad=rja
This has a little logo at the end, but this is a car guy who COMPETES with the owner of the team.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CCkQtwIwBA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DCVtsyDIeUx8&rct=j&q=bless%20you%20boys%20commercial&ei=kdnaTKaqBsjInAf157n6Ag&usg=AFQjCNHnEsmQlgQtOpV0dq8hco2W64K3jg&sig2=h6gelHdyaaQbPHyuLIBzog&cad=rja
This is from a station that COMPETES with his TV station and is the AFC channel (so it airs 2 Saints games a year).
It’s probably incomprehensible to the sane.
As a parting example, part of Drew’s radio segments is always focused on Baylen and Bowen, are they walking and talking, how are they coming along etc. This guy’s kids make sports radio and they are 0 and 2. The naming of Bowen was a news story. It’s just different here.
Note to Matteo above: You are so right about Marco. Toronto has decided to go with “athletes” (DeRozan, Weems, JuJu, etc.) instead of basketball players like Marco and look where it’s gotten them. DeRozan and Weems do a pre-game show where they repeatedly bounce the ball off the floor and then sky for impressive slam dunks. The (faux) fans go nuts. Then the game starts and they get stomped by teams that know what they’re doing.
Monty Williams sees what Marco brings and how to develop a blend of talents to be effective. The Hornets are dangerous at every starting position and they share the ball reasonably well. In Marco’s case, it isn’t just the shooting, but the prevent defense (R. Butler rarely touched the ball in the first half and did not score, for example), and especially the “pass before the assist.” He is all about ball movement. When he starts getting the calls on his drives to the hoop, that will add another weapon to the arsenal.
I like the fact that the Hornets don’t have to depend on any single player socring heavily every night to win. And during games, some guys provide the offense in one quarter, others in another. Balance. Blend. Wins.
I don’t wanna hear nothing. My opinion stands.
Just like I learned how to skip over youngfella’s or whatever his name was posts, ……. yeah, whatever. As I’ve read numerous comments on numerous forums, there are more people that agree with me on this matter.
7-0 baby. Who saw this coming? Not me. LOL! Let’s make some noise in the hive as we attempt to go 8-0 on Sat.
LMAO, you act like it is hard to find people bashing our city and it’s support of this team. I find it unbelievable that people will defend the guy that a chunk of this city doesn’t trust. You might notice that Ryan, nor any of the other big name local columnists, have not even touched the subject of whether Chris wants to be here. That, in itself, speaks volumes considering we are 7-0 and it was such a massive story all summer. Quit being a little crybaby. All I want CP3 to do is man-up and put a stop to the CP3 rumors once-and-for-all. Such a gesture would be GREAT for this franchise. To act like the trade rumors did not affect our fan base at all is completely and utterly juvenile. Everyone knows CP3 gives 110% every night, so quit acting like I am bashing his worth.
You and every other holy roller is bashing the fact that I stated Chris Paul’s unwillingness to diffuse the constant trade rumors has affected ticket sales in a negative way. Do you realize how assanine disagreeing with that sounds? Further, you act like Chris Paul could not squash these rumors for the rest of the season if he wanted to. BULL. He could do it at the drop of a hat at any moment if he so desired. If Chris Paul was 100% committed to being here, these rumors would NOT EVEN EXIST anymore.
Sorry for getting a little annoyed that CP3 called the fan base out. For the record, yes, it would have sounded different coming from David West.
I’m done on the subject.
I agree with this post and don’t really see what everyone’s upset about. I’m a season ticketholder, blogger (former), and one of the biggest Hornets fans there is. Beesgivingeffort is not saying HE is affected negatively by the Summer of Chris Paul Drama. He’s saying that it may be a factor in ticket sales. How is this anything but realistic? I have had season tix for 5 years running now, and in the course of daily life I run into lots of casual NO fans for whom I am the go-to person for “Hornets stuff.” They may not know who the team is playing tonight, or people’s individual positions or stats or even much about basketball, but I have had A LOT of people express concern to me over the state of the Hornets because of Chris Paul. “If he leaves they’re done…” “I usually try to support them, but what’s the point…”
Guys. The sentiment is out there. It’s been there since this summer. In fact that was one of the fears that jumped immediately to mind for me. “Oh geez, Chris Paul, we could have REALLY sold a lot of local people on the Hornets locally with the new front office/new ownership angle and you went and ruined it. Do you have no sense of timing whatsoever? FACEPALM.” Especially after some guys we’ve all heard of, who got cast off by other teams and told they would never win a championship in New Orleans, but came to this city anyway … very recently won a championship in New Orleans. The comparison doesn’t look good. We may not see it like this as die-hards, but I assure you I have talked to people who do.
Is CP3 right? Yes. Should he probably not have been the one to say it, given the iffy climate about him? Also yes.
I’m sure `the drama’ is a factor for some since I’ve had calls from Texas, Alabama, and North Carolina from former locals who had an interest in the `the drama’. This story was big and the effects will linger.
However, I think there are many other factors that affected the attendance of this game and will affect that of others, like last year’s record. Many people said things to me that are similar to what you are reporting but regarding Chris not playing due to injury. Overall, I don’t see the difference between the effect of `Paul is here but isn’t playing because is knee/ankle/finger is all wonky’ and the effect of ‘Chris Paul might be somewhere else this year (the casual fan doesn’t understand that he has 2 guaranteed seasons left, unless we trade him)’. The fact that I see those as close is why I don’t think that affected the attendance compared to last year. Also, the mob reacts slowly. They will come.
I think attendance is not going to be a problem this season even if it is not particularly pleasing to some this month.
This paper is far from perfect, and the variables aren’t scaled to allow apples-to-apples comparisons, but it basically says star power and winning affect attendance, along with the more static arena capacity and population and that ticket price and economic factors matter far less.
http://www.castonline.ilstu.edu/mcevoy/RosterTurnoverIJSF.pdf
wow a lot of bad vibes with the attendance/Chris Paul commitment thing … considering the team is putting the best point guard since Magic Johnson on the court and is currently undefeated …
I get why people are salty about Paul and the off-season trade thing and the comment about attendance. I have to say though that I think that attendance for Hornets games will vary as much as they do until the team becomes more established in the city and the state. The franchise is working hard on that and winning definitely helps but this attendance is bigger than Chris Paul and bigger than this season.
Like 42 described, the Saints are a part of the fabric life in New Orleans (even if you’re not a football fan. hell, I can remember elementary schools recognizing when the Saints did well when I was a kid), it’s going to take some time for a sports franchise that was born in Charlotte to make its way into the hearts (and wallets) of people in the area. Maybe it’ll have happened by the end of Paul’s career. Whether he ends it in New Orleans or not, it’ll probably take that long.
I mean it’s a lousy situation all around and everybody has a valid point, but really I think it’s much bigger than one game and one season. Winning helps but so does everyone relaxing and enjoying the team’s success.
For what it’s worth, in my opinion, nothing makes a casual fan into a committed fan like seeing the dedication and joy of other committed fans whether the team is winning or losing, has problems or not and no matter who is or isn’t playing.
Anyway.
Maybe the small attendance was a boycott to the irrational benching of Marcus Thornton. I support the gesture in spirit. Record be damned, it makes no sense to bench him. Or Peja. Or. Gray. If Monty doesn’t get this squared away now, it will cost us games.
I think people are looking a little TOO much into the attendance issue — it was a Tuesday night game against a team the Hornets organization itself thought would have the least amount of interest/demand, evidenced by their pricing the game as the cheapest of the season.
I can understand CP3’s frustration, though; if I played my heart out, finally had a crushing win, and was undefeated, I’d want my arena rocking. Further, there was a mass exodus during the last few minutes when it was clear we were going to win to beat the traffic. Victims of our own success, I fear…
I don’t think it makes no sense for Marcus and Peja. Monty has said repeatedly that defense it his focus. Peja is a defensive liability. Yes he can shoot the 3, but he can not guard most SF now. He didn’t work at the PF backup either. So the Peja benching doesn’t surprise me at all.
Marcus’ irritates me to no end, but it makes sense. Monty said in an interview, before the 3rd game I believe, that if he pulls Marcus from the court it was because of lapses in his defense. That was the only reason he would be pulling him as he was such a potent offensive weapon even if he starts off slow. So with that in mind, and seeing the defensive effort and job that Willie “Devin Brown on offense” Green puts out on the court, it is easy to think that Monty is seeing some defensive holes and problems that Marcus is still working out. So he puts Willie in and leaves him in because there are other scoring options, and the defensive production is what he wants over all other things.
Gray being on the bench makes zero sense to me, but I am not at practice. I don’t know if he is actually worse than Mbenga every day in practice. There has to be a reason, I can’t think it is just he doesn’t like the guy and thus puts him in the dog house.