Game Preview
Matchup: Hornets(8-0) @ Mavericks(6-2)
Off Efficiency: Hornets 106.9(7th), Mavericks 105.2(11th)
Def Efficiency: Hornets 95.3(1st), Mavericks 97.1(3rd)
Game banner provided by the amazing Dariusz Ejkiewicz.
Two defensive juggernauts clash tonight as the Hornets visit Dallas for a Southwestern Conference showdown. To date, the Mavericks defensive numbers indicate two things: Their wing defense is somewhat slow-footed, but their length(read: Tyson Chandler) – lets them contest shots even if they are beaten. As a result, while the Mavericks are one of the 5 worst teams at keeping other teams from taking shots at the rim and in the paint, they are also one of the league best at making people miss those shots.  That means that the close range shots will be there for our driving guards, it’ll be up to them to take advantage.
On the flip side, Dallas takes a lot of jumpers – low efficiency jumpers – but hits them at a solid clip behind Terry and Nowitzki. That could make this team dangerous as the Hornets want their opponents to be taking those shots.
Injuries:
Hornets: None
Mavericks: Caron Butler is day to day with back spasms. He had been the starting SF, so if he comes back, he may push Marion to the bench.
Positional Analysis
PG: Chris Paul v Jason Kidd
Advantage: Hornets
Kidd has been having a bit of an off year. Over the past couple seasons, he had developed a deadly three-point shot and continued to rebound the ball like few point guards can. This year, his rebounding numbers are way down, and his three point shot is falling at an average rate. Yes, he can still generate easy shots in the open floor, but other than as a spot up shooter, he’s pretty ordinary now. Chris Paul isn’t ordinary.
SG: Marco Belinelli v DeShawn Stevenson
Advantage: Hornets
Stevenson has been playing very well for the Mavericks, knocking down his open shots, and playing an important role as a tough wing defender for 20 minutes a game. Here’s the rub, however, he’s been a terrible shooter for three straight seasons prior to this one. Somehow, I don’t think his shooting efficiency(he’s the second most efficienct scorer on the Mavs) will continue. Marco’s efficiency should continue.
SF: Trevor Ariza v Shawn Marion
Advantage: Even
Marion rebounds well, runs the floor well, and defends adequately. His three point shot has deserted him, but he can still finish inside after cutting and receiving bounce passes from Kidd. Ariza’s defense is superior, and don’t look at his shooting percentages and dismiss him. He draws a reasonable numbe of free throws, and the number of threes he does manage to hit keeps his points per shot at least respectable.
PF: David West v Dirk Nowitzki
Advantage: Mavericks
West plays Nowitzki very well, since Nowitzki’s only advantage on him is his height, but Nowitzki does typically out play him by a few points and rebounds every game.  Both are proving to be very efficient this season. It should be a good battle.
C: Emeka Okafor v Tyson Chandler
Advantage: Even
Okafor has been playing very, very well, but Chandler is also having a tremendous impact on the Mavs. As always, he takes few shots, but he always generates a ton of points from them because they are dunks. He rebounds very well, defends the paint better than most centers in the league, and because the Mavs are somewhat deep, doesn’t have to play long minutes. These two guys will battle hard tonight. (On a side note, I’m glad to see Chandler healthy again. I just wish he was healthy somewhere other than in Dallas)
Bench
Mavericks: Jason Terry, Jose Juan Barea, Brendan Hayward, Brian Cardinal
Hornets: Willie Green, Jerryd Bayless, Jason Smith, Thornokavoic, Pondexter
Advantage: Mavericks
Jason Terry is a phenomenal scorer, and Jose Juan Barea plays very well for all his physical limitations. I almost made this even, because Brendan Hayward has been awful this year and Jason Smith hasn’t, but I do think Terry more than counters that deficiency.
Enjoy the Game. Talk it up!
Oh, and there’s a new Journal entry from 42 you should read, and don’t forget about chatting about the Hornets in our new Forum, things are starting to pick up there!
Also, check out the NBA 2K11 sim. The rosters update every day, and the Hornets are finally getting some respect on that game. Prior to the season started, they were ranked 24th overall according to the game- now they are up to 12th!!!
Update– Joe will be on ESPN’s Daily Dime Chat throughout the game, so come over and represent the Hornets fan base.
199 responses to “Game On: Hornets @ Mavericks”
I don’t want to look too far ahead, but if the Hornets win this game then 12-0 is a real possibility. I love the way the Hornets match up against Dallas and the only guy who I don’t think we have an answer for is Jason Terry, unless the Hornets put Paul on him.
This game will come down to rebounding IMO. I don’t expect the Hornets to get many offensive rebounds, and I am fine with that, but they have to crash the defensive boards all game. Less than 10 offensive rebounds for Dallas and I think the Hornets can control this game.
I agree with all of this, except for your analysis of the shooting guards, which is pretty tenuous. It might make sense as an analysis of their long-term prospects, but not for tonight’s game. I would call it even, or give Dallas an edge (DeShawn is, or at least can be, at much better defender).
I hope that having Jason Smith on the banner will bring us luck in tonights game! Geaux Hornets!
Willie Green!
When do we know who is active and who is inactive? Right before the game? Interesting to see if AG becomes active for some size…
I guess Bayless and Green get a real test tonight vs. Jet.
If Butler comes back tonight hopefully it’ll take him a few games to get back into any kind of rhythm. Haha.
Trevor Ariza is better than Shawn Marion. At this stage in both careers, Ariza’s offense & defense is better than Marion’s. Ariza can be quiet for spurts on the court, but Shawn Marion will go for half a game without us hearing his name.
LOLzZ I LuV My MvPCp3
Am I the only one who likes to see how BAD NBA2k11 projections are for each Hornets game? I know they’re just projections but it’s still pretty funny!
Something I’d like to add: BOTH the Mavs losses were at HOME. (against MEM & DEN) Just throwin it out there
For those of us without it, what does NBA2k11 say for this matchup?
where do you guys see the nba2k11 projection?
Thanks for the feedback guys- I stopped doing the NBA 2K11 sims because I didn’t think people liked them.
I will run it now and post it up and continue it for the season.
Thanks again for the feedback, and always let us know the things you like and/or the things we can improve on- this is your site as much as ours.
You guys rock. It’s always amusing, for lack of a better term, to see what NBA2k11 has to say about us…
Can’t wait to see us beat down on the Mavs, two games in a row.
I sure hope you’re right MaxALM.
Lets geauxx hronets!!! lil buckets b puttin up 44 tnight! 9-0 lawdhaaaammercy
anyone know the inactive list for tonight yet? id love to see marcus out there against terry since iver always thought he could be the next jason terry with a little better drive ability
also id give ariza the slight advantage on marion although its close
These two games against Dallas struck me as a likely point for our unbeaten streak to come to an end. Even a split would be a more than credible result, although I welcome the Hornets to prove my pessimism wrong.
Who would have thought we’d go from “how many minutes will Thornton get?” to “will he get on the court?” to “will he make the playing roster?”. Even if he’s active, I’m not counting on much playing time unless he simply *astounds* when put on the court.
2K11 Sim is up!!!
Hornets are finally getting a little respect on that game, as the rosters (and attributes of each player) are updated every day.
That said, they still have Jason Smith as a 52. They must not be watching J Smitty.
Wooohooo! Man, even 2k11 projects Buckets to get no minutes! haha
96-91 Hornets. That’s my random prediction for the week.
Im thinking mavs are gna be in some foul trouble especially with Cp3 being Cp3 and Bayless’ last two games Ft’s could well win us this game….bed for me though hope to wake up and wake up my household by shouting ‘yes’ following our last 8 games lol Geaux Hornets ;P
I love being the UNDERDOGS! Even ESPN has us losing and Dallas by 4! I hope our defense comes through! Geaux Hornets!
Willie Green to shut down JET, we have never had a true defensive 2 guard to throw at him until now 🙂
I’ll be attending my 3rd NBA game ever (only been to two Hornets games since moving to Dallas from the caribbean). I hope we win tonight!
Bob Licht tweeted…
“Final Stat of the Day: Last time the Hornets trailed by double digits…was their last reg season loss…April 9th vs Utah (21 pts). 10 gms!
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® “
lets do it hornets- 2 things i wanna see besides a win
1) emeka dominate the center position
2) if u have read my last 3 days worth of posts i think you already know but id like to see marcus get some pt and play some solid inspired D
Marcus is inactive along with Gray tonight.
Apparently, those two aren’t apart of Monty’s no loss algorithm.
Mavs announcers on league pass… gross…
Mute em. You don’t need them to analyze anything for you. LOl!
Let’s Go Hornets!
Alright Hornets. Let’s GEAUX!
What’s up with the rim?
Play your game Hornets.
Why the hell didn’t West get that rebound?
Make free throws Hornets!! Make free throws! REBOUND!!! DEFEND!!!
just some missed free throws. no worries. good resilience hornets
Loving all the Hornets talk on espn’s ddl
Hope they take it hard to the rim. Five team fouls already for the Mavs.
What happened to Rick Carlisle’s hair?
Hornets are playing soft at the rim. Gotta do better than that.
CP3 for 3!!
Shut up West. Play better early in the games dude.
Alright with the whistles. Dang.
I would love another big on this team
We need to trade Gray and Peja for that to happen. All the back up centers on ATL are available in 2K11.
Trading gray and peja for a big would be more than acceptable. Might be time to start a new franchise…
Jason Thompson is being shopped by the Kings. Have I ever mentioned Jason Thompson before? haha
Well that makes no sense. If Kings trade Jason Thompson, then they’ll break up their big 3.
Mavs shooting 89%
Hornets 33%
Travel and turnover for Emeka.
CP wants to be a football player. LOL! Be careful out there man.
nice hustle smith
Nice block Emeka!!! What the hell does Terry think? LOL!
I was wondering the same thing bee…and whats with the mavs making every damn shot?? theyll cool off and well heat up. not bad to be just 5 down. CP3 for 30pts, 13 asts, and 7 rebs
Don’t let Terry come in there with that. Other Hornets besides Paul need to do better. A whole lot better. Nice block by Emeka. Nice save by Jason.
10 points for CP.
Hornets have been good at not giving up 3 pointers. Let’s hope it continues tonight. Terry and Stevenson both just got good looks but fortunately for us they didn’t knock them down.
CP3!!!!!!
I read where Barea said Chris Paul is the hardest player he’s had to guard.
Make your free throws CHRIS!!!
I don’t know if we can take Paul out of the game. No other Hornets are playing so well.
Mavs announcers just said paul has a mild wrist sprain. Anyone know if this is true?
That’s what I’ve heard. Hornets analyst said it too.
I don’t wanna be down after 1. Oh well, let’s just hope we’re not down after 4. 🙂
Emeka was 2-7 in that first quarter. Come on man. Throw it down. Ariza hasn’t attempted to score. Belinelli 0-2. West 1-4.
Rick Carlisle with the tech.
Come on Hornets!! Let’s get the lead and keep it! Please. Please!
Come on Willie. We can’t afford turnovers dude. Protect the ball Hornets!
Get Peja off of Marion please. I don’t feel like seeing his ugly arse shooting technique.
Nice move West!
How many damn fouls on the Hornets already tonight? Geez.
These whistles are really interrupting the flow of this game. This game will be over at 10:30 central time.
Thats such a BS foul. Mbenga had his hands straight up and didnt even move. reffs suck
PEJA FOR 3!!!!!
Peja with the long 2!!!!
2 point game. LET’S GEAUX HORNETS!!
Nice dribble drive Bayless!
HORNETS LEAD!!!!!
Hornets lead and now CP is about to return. LET’S GEAUX HORNETS!!!!!!!!
Nice hustle Trevor!!! Go PEJA!!!!!!
WOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nice hustle ariza
Monty should’ve kept Peja in for a bit. Let CP get some assists off of him.
Looks like Tyson has really gotten up for this game.
MAVS got some real babes on their cheerleading squad. Umjussayin…
CHRIS PAUL!!!!!
Come on WEST!! D*MN!
We need Belinelli to hit shots the way Peja has been hitting them.
Ok, nice shot West. Let’s geaux man.
Ok, you can’t let 50 year old looking players like Cardinal hit 3’s on you.
You can see the hairline retreating. I bet you can hear it courtside . . .
Maybe we should just let Peja expire this year……haha
Say, that one guy Jason Thompson is being shopped by the Kings. I definitely haven’t mentioned him before…..hmmm he’ll play backup C and PF so Mbenga doesn’t have to.
I think CP might be the best player on Earth.
Come on man. Good timeout Monty.
Oh thank CP3 for CP3- guy might keep us undefeated by himself.
Chandler is really giving West problems. In years past Dallas never had anyone who could cover West, but TC gives them a good option. Thankfully Terry has missed a bunch of open jumpers and CP3 is waiting to take over.
Need Belinelli to hit some open shots in the 2nd half to pull away. Oh, and whoever Cardinal is covering- TAKE IT TO THE RACK!
Did we crash for a few minutes?
I had trouble, too.
halftime report from himynameis-
seriously marcus inactive again …. would love to see him play especially since willie and bayless are not doing a whole heck of a lot offensively besides that 3 from willie… also peja had the stroke going but that air ball was 10 feet over albeit haywood was runnning after him… chris is being a little lackadasical on some passes but he is keeping us in it with d west starting very slow and emeka too but his block wassss huuuuuuugeeeeee… love the efffort plays from ariza and smith keep it up they wont turn the ball over so much second half we need to play better
We have to stop missing free throws.
The 2nd half is gonna be a dog fight. Hope the Hornets come out victorious! ROOF ROOF!!!! GRRRR!!!!
How in the hell you don’t finish that Trevor? You are sucking right now dude. Get on Marion and that ugly arse shot of his!
3rd foul on Tyson. MAKE FREE THROWS!!
I wonder what goes through Monty’s mind when watching Chris Paul on the court.
“I’m robbing a billionaire blind”
ROFLMAO 42!!!!!!!
That should’ve been a foul on Kidd hitting that ball from West like that.
Come on HORNETS!!
I want a double digit lead Hornets. Let’s geaux!
Nice floater CP.
Oh that bounce feed by CP3 was nasty!!! Nice reverse layup by Marco.
We are very close to separating from these jokers. We need to kick that door open. 4 on Tyson? That would help. Yup.
3 on Chris, though.
I’d like to be up 12 at the end of 3. Hopefully, that will be enough and will give us some rest.
Yeah 42, Chris has 3 and needs to be careful.
I think D just said “and one” on Ariza’s missed shot. Gotta love that bald psycho . . .
Too bad Trevor didn’t make that to get an And 1 on Terry.
He made his free throws though so I’m happy. 🙂
Damn. Now CP has 4 fouls. Has to sit. He was a bit too aggressive that time.
Now a foul on Trevor. Come on Hornets. Don’t let up!
cheap foul chris.
3 consecutive fouls on Hornets. Come on now. Belinelli needs to hit that.
Now another foul on a Hornet. SMH.
Play like an All-Star West! Come on.
Dallas is in the penalty now. Great. SMH.
Ok, Jerryd. Now’s the time for more than your entire frontal bone to shine.
These fouls are killing us.
5 point game now when it was just 10 a minute ago.
Good foul on Dirk. Wish Mek would’ve finished that though. We need all the points we can get. LOL!
The refs just won’t let this game see any type of fluidity. Frustrating.
Stay on the shooters Hornets! Don’t let Terry and Stevenson get good looks.
Bayless took it to the rim in the battle of the balds.
This one goes to 11.
Nice West. LET’S GEAUX HORNETS!!!
Bayless can’t let Kidd get that deep in there for that.
Ah, I missed CP3 yelling at West for bad defense. I finally got to see it again tonight. Hopefully Monty sits next to him on the flight and reminds him how to play pick and roll defense. He just watched Terry go by for an open jumper off the pick. C’mon West!
Peja heads!
OT:Michael Vick is going OFF!
PEJA!!!!
Come on Jason. Get you a couple of shot in. Oh Lord. Jason fouls Dirk now. I know CP is itching to get back in.
Offensive foul on Bayless. Lord have mercy. Come on Hornets!
I am searching for all the people who killed me for putting Peja at #8- where are you???
Still think Mbenga or Bayless is more valuable?
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Every time I watch a game against the Mavs in Dallas I wonder to myself how out of it the fans in the arena must be to make it necessary to remind them to chant “Lets Go Mavs” everytime their team has the ball….
Meka with that big arse block! LOL!!
Bayless with the jumper! LET’S GEAUX!!
Good timeout Monty. We’ve given up too many 3’s in this game already.
stop hogging the ball bayless
uusdoiahgiapjvoaovfaris i hate jason terry!!!!
Willie G. for 3!!!
That’s why he was #4- he comes in to slow down Terry (Fire Extinguisher) and he hits a big shot at the shot clock buzzer when ALL the momentum was on Mavs side.
I just got a mental flash of Winston baring in with a fire extinguisher and saving the rest of the Ghostbusters (maybe not Peter) in an all too flat dramatic moment.
I’m not knocking Willy J. Green; I just like sharing when the Ghostbusters pop into my head.
Willie and Peja with back to back 3’s!!!!!!!!!!!
Aaron Gray sticks out his hand to give Jason Smith a hi five and Jason leaves him hanging. Ha!
greens 3 and peja’s 3 have us some breathing room! whew.
i love peja i cant help it. KEEP HIM AND LET THAT DAMN CONTRACT EXPIRE!!!
Willie for 3!!!!!!!
Ya’ll can’t leave Kidd open like that! His dumb arse can hit a wide open shot. LOL!
PEJA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get some stops Hornets! We can’t keep trading baskets with these guys.
whats up with the 3 point shooting contest?
Let’s capitalize off of winning that tip.
West with 5 fouls. Has to sit now.
The threes and fouls . . . make them step up for a 2.
Be careful Hornets. Chris is so damn scrappy!
Tied damn game. Here we go.
Step up Hornets! Step up.
Controlled the glass for 3 quarters and now can’t get a rebound all of a sudden!
Dirk Diggler with the money shot
I’m gettin a headache! ROFLOL!
who was on top of the key just standing there watching dirk shoot that 3? monty you better tear him a new one
bad substitutions in my opinon by monty they are killing us on glass with peja at the 4
This is horrifying. GEAUX BEES
Damn. Dallas has the lead. I can’t look no more.
WTF Emeka?
CP is missing all his shots now. SMH.
TIED!?!?
ARIZA!!!!! Big shot baby!!!
BIG SHOT TREV!
Trevor Ariza with the money…ball
Tied game with 40.5 left. Tighten up the D Hornets!! Tighten it up!!!
F Jason Terry!
Damn.
Trevor Ariza with the choke?
why didnt you take in it ariza
Damn Damn Damn!
Trevor’s looks were good. Just didn’t hit em. Damn. I hate feeling like this about games. It’s just a game right? Heart palpitations and stuff. Goodness gracious.
Same here Queen. Had to skip lunch for the endgame too. LOL.
Paul in foul trouble, on the road, Jason Terry exploding near the end and we still had a legit shot of going 9-0. We’ll get ’em next time.
gotta gree 😀
Never liked that lady ref and it has nothing to do with her being a lady.
Face. In. Palm.
No shame in losing to Dallas on the road. We’ll get them back on Wednesday.
Let me guess (I say not guessing at all)- Ryan must be writing the recap?
-sigh-
The D kept us in the game, and we gave up too many free looks in the 4th quarter to let them rally.
-sigh-
DAMN we lost here comes the CP3 trade rumors hahahah J/P
No complaints here. We lost but we’ll rise again!
Standing ovation for the guys . . .
I can’t stand Dallas.
ahhhhhhhhhhhh man marcus would of hit one of those shots and faked the foul and gotten us a 4 point play hahaha im messing but good game wish we called our 20 sec timeout rather than giving it to emeka but i wasnt expecting an 82-0 season anyway
If we get them back on Wed I’ll be happy…
you are Exactly right steven..we had one more time out… i wish ariza would have known that.
The looks were there(except for Okafor). They just didn’t fall. Last season they wouldn’t have been there at all.
+ 1 🙂
guys, those were good lucks by Ariza. 2 good lucks. We were lucky to get 1, impossible to get 2, but we did. Gotta play the percentages. Great fight, great fight. Hornets represent!
aiiight screw this…im gettin my revenge out on the mavs in nba2k11
HAHA i already did, downed they before TWICE by double digits
haha won 52-49 in overtime. hit ariza with 22 secs for the corner 3.
We gotta whoop their arses on Wednesday. No ifs, ands or buts!
If we hadn’t left 8 points at the freethrow line, we would have whoooped them tonight!
That is very true. Too many missed free throws.
yeah. im expecting a monster game from our 3 all stars: Paul, West, Okafor. + 15
It”ll be telling to see how both the players and coaches respond. Will CP3 and company come out fired up to get revenge? Is Monty going to look at film and make the correct adjustments? Gonna be a yes to both of those.
I agee Jake. Yes to both of those.
Get your tickets and get rowdy in the HIVE on Wednesday!!!!
Man I only get 2 Hornets games per season down here and after 3 of them since the last season I’ve yet to see them win. I wasn’t expecting to see a win on the 2 games last season but I really hoped they won and remained undefeated while I was attending tonight.
he should of kept dj mbanga in