Matchup: Hornets(10-1) @ Kings(4-7)
Off Efficiency: Hornets 107.1(6th), Kings 104.1(15th)
Def Efficiency: Hornets 98.3(4th), Kings 109.3(28th)
Thanks to the amazing Dariusz Ejkiewicz for the Game Day Banner.
The Hornets visit Sacramento the day after shipping Peja to the Raptors, depriving his Kings fans from seeing him. Hopefully there weren’t too many people who bought tickets expressly for that purpose. After starting the season 3-1, the Kings had a tough six game losing streak, featuring bad losses to the Pistons, Knicks, and Timberwolves. To say they’ve struggled a bit is an understatement.
No word yet if Jack and Andersen will be able to play tonight. Both teams will have to have their physicals clear first, so we may see Thornton activated this game if Jack isn’t quite ready.
NBA 2k11 Simulation
According to the 2k11 simulation, the Kings are going to put a beatdown on New Orleans for trading Peja, winning 103 to 83. Jack scores 11 points, but Paul and West combine for 23 points.
Player Analysis
PG: Tyreke Evans v Chris Paul
Advantage: Hornets
Tyreke Evans continues where he left off last year, essentially putting up a 20-5-5. Of course, he also turns the ball over 3.4 times a game, and has completely forgotten how to draw fouls, something he excelled at last year. This has tremendously impacted his game and the Kings ability to win, since he is now only generating 1.11 points per shot. Among the six most frequent shot-takers on the Kings, that is the worst by far – and he also takes almost twice as many shots as anyone else. I don’t actually expect this two players to be matched up that much – Evans is a SG, and Monty won’t make Paul guard a guy so much bigger than him. Still, expect Paul to be more productive and impactful.
On a side note, last year, even with the above information, I’d still have been quaking in my boots at the thought of ‘Reke attacking from the perimeter. This year? With Belinelli, Ariza and Green guarding him? Not so much.
SG: Luther Head v Marco Belinelli
Advantage: Hornets
Luther Head has been the Kings most efficient scorer, due to a large number of free throws. Still, he almost never takes shots – so that benefit is limited. He’s also one of the worst rebounders around, and his good, but as infrequent as his shooting. I’d take Marco any day. Who knows, though. Maybe Head will be looking for revenge after the events of this summer.
SF: Donte Greene v Trevor Ariza
Advantage: Hornets
Greene just recently entered the starting line-up as Omri Casspi has fallen out of favor. He’s been markedly ordinary. Trevor doesn’t have a showy impact on the game, but he’s been great for the Hornets on the Wing.
PF: Carl Landry v David West
Advantage: Hornets
Landry is exhibit A for how a player looks great in one system and terrible in another. After setting all kinds of crazy efficiency benchmarks in Houston as a sixth man, he’s been very ordinary in Sacramento, not getting the ball where he needs it or having smart players able to play off of him. He’s only scoring 1.237 points per shot as a King, which is tops among their most prolific shooters – but to put that in persepective, every Hornets starter not named Trevor is scoring more efficiently than Landry.
C: Samuel Dalembert v Emeka Okafor
Advantage: Hornets
Dalembert has been a very good rebounder and shot blocker so far this season, but like Landry, the inability of the Kings guards to play off of or along with a big man has made him too often work for his own shots. He was never good at that, and he’s struggled mightily as a King. Let’s hope he takes lots of shots tonight.
Bench
Beno Udrih, Francisco Garcia, DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Thompson, Omri Casspi
Willie Green, Jason Smith, Quincy Pondexter, (Jarrett Jack? Thornton? Pops? Mbenga?)
Advantage: Kings
Even if Jack is dressed for tonight, it’ll take a little time for this unit to gel, and the Kings have some solid pieces off their bench. Udrih is a solid backup point guard who finishes well at the cup. Garcia has been slowly re-finding his stroke and providing some scoring, and Cousins, though he’s been terrible offensively, has been a good rebounder. The same could be said for the foolishly marginalized Jason Thompson. Omri Casspi has been one of the Kings most effective shooters, but appears to have fallen out of favor in Sacramento. We’ll see if that rift has closed. If so, he helps this unit too.
Enjoy the Game. Talk it up!
85 responses to “Game On: Hornets @ Kings”
HAHAHAHHAAH 2K11 CRACKS ME UP!!!!
I hope Jack isn’t ready to play tonight so that Thornton gets a chance and takes advantage. Would be lovely to see Thornton drop 15-20 off the bench.
Agreed. It’s one thing to be on the inactive list for a game or two, but Marcus has been on the list for 4 or 5 consecutive games. He needs to get some burn.
Also, one thing to take note of is the Marcus trade speculation. Now that Peja is gone, it’s less likely we’ll see him go since all the theories pointed towards packaging him and Peja together in order to make that hefty contract look a little sweeter.
Yeah, but the suckers in Toronto wanted Bayless instead! Ha Ha! If neither can play defense or point guard, I’ll take Thornton every time.
yet again i ask this question? hey Max, do u know where your profile picture comes from?
Going to get to see this without staying up till 3 in the morning. Hope Pops get a shot tonight. I think he has to produce sooner or later.
If Omri Casspi gets minutes it will be interesting to see if Pops gets minutes against him as he destroyed Casspi when he was playing for Isreal last summer.
everyone please go vote for NBA ALL star. O and Thornton, J.Smith and Pops are available as write in votes
why is this game not on league pass??
it is I am watching it now
because its on NBA TV
RM : I think you need to take a more Zen approach to your appreciation and advocacy for Pops Mensah-Bonsu. I’m speaking from the experience of spending years following Sean Marks around the league: New Zealand’s only NBA player, and a man who’s played less in some seasons than Chris Paul would play in a single game (apparently the holds the record for least minutes played by any NBA player with 10 years in the league). You have to be very, very patient… and then over-analyse the daylights out of the box score when he gets on the court. “Oh sure, he recorded no points, rebounds, assists, or blocked shots during his two minutes of play… but the team was +5 while he was on the court! Clearly deserving of more playing time.” And if you can watch games, all the better – you can then share sage observations about his hustle, his boxing out, his screen setting and other things which don’t show up on the box score.
Are you a Kiwi? Sis lives in tauranga.
Yeah I am (Wellington). Started following the Hornets when they picked up Marks in 08/09 season, which was pretty much the only time he got decent minutes in his entire career. He probably would have played more last year except for injuries. He’s making sporadic appearances for the Trail Blazers at the moment, but I decided to keep my team loyalty here.
rough shooting start, team looks a little stagnant and lacking in energy
CP3 is p*ssed off with the teams’ energy so far. Thank god Sacto is jacking up horrible shots. If we come out like this against the Spurs we will be down 20 after the first
anyone know the status of jack and andersen regarding playing tonight?
thank goodness for smith
WTF willie green
ugh, where is the energy? looks like they’re trying to play in pudding. I’m assuming Monty will be livid during this TO
Willie Green at PG is a disaster.
This game is p*ssing me off so far. Where is the Hornets defense? The Kings are playing like they are the top 5 defensive team.
I like willie a lot but it seems like he always looks for his own shot before trying to do anything else
THIS.
He will be fine once Jack gets in- the PG in this offense is on a different position on the court and Green cant get to his sweet spots from there. As a PG he is below average, but as a backup SG he has been great this year.
Yeah I’m fine with him as our SG; he’s doing great so far this year. But as a PG from what I’ve seen tonight and preseason, it’s an absolute mess.
2nd time this season getting down double digits.
hornets cant hit anything and are playing lame defense. wtf?!?
Stop playing around Hornets. Don’t wanna start this road trip on the wrong foot.
only positive so far is J smitty, going beast mode
I wonder if the kings would trade thompson for smith?
I don’t know if they would, but I know I wouldn’t.
if I’m the Hornets that is.
can’t score inside can’t score outside
i didn’t realize willie took 5 shots in his 11 mins. I’m sorry but unless your jason terry or manu ginobili you shouldn’t be taking 5 shots off the bench in that short of time
that was a quick first half, glad to see shots started dropping
Nice 3, Trevor.
Let’s forget the start. Crush these guys in the 2nd half.
how the hell, are we tied??? thats just insane. were shooting an abysmal 30% to their not so good 40%. this is a crazy ugly game
listening the nba tv halftime analysis and almost anyone else, people always assume that the hornets are some fast paced team like the suns or something but that hasn’t been the case in a long time. people need to realize that they’re a half court team and have one of the slowest paces in the league. I think there is a perception of that bc cp3 is so great in fast break situations and almost all hornets highlights involve transition or fast break points.
From what i’ve noticed the last couple years it always seems like the hornets are very flat on sunday afternoon games
Hornets if you’re gonna shoot 30% you better tighten the hell up on that D!
its just kinda sad. were playing ok defense but our offense is terrrible
Alright let’s act like you know something!!!!!!
LMAO. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone challenge CP when he lets the ball roll. And then he outjumped Head for the jump ball. The 4th is going to be ugly. I don’t know if I can watch it.
I sure hope the Hornets offense look better during this road trip than it does tonight.
Hornets need a scorer. Someone who can consistently hit 20 a night. Someone that when the game gets ugly you can always count on. The one poor part of CP3’s game is that he isn’t a great scorer IMHO.
He’s not a high volume scorer, you mean. His efficiency is remarkable, and he obviously involves his teammates more than he looks for his own shot.
The refs are letting the Kings mug the h*ll out of the Hornets and no whistle. Come on man.
Please, for the love of God stop having Willie be a PG. He’s the biggest ball hog I’ve seen in a while.
CP is a really good scorer and he has been pretty much all season. It’s not gonna happen EVERY NIGHT though. Not for ANY player.
okay green… please pass the ball. you have 4 other teammates on the court ya know.
Willie has for the most part been pretty good for the Hornets. He’s not tonight so we’re calling for his head.
@rm no disrespect but i don’t think you really know what your talking about in regards to cp3s scoring ability. he’s scored 20+ ppg the last 3 seasons without having to shoot the ball too much. as for tonight the entire team is off. i’m sure if cp wanted to on most nights he could probably score around 30, but that wouldn’t make the hornets a better team.
Green is a terrible backup PG….so glad Jack is coming to the rescue starting tomorrow. Phewwwwwwwww! And as ugly as this game is, we are still winning and WILL win this. Thats the difference between the current Hornets and the Hornets of past years. This would have easily been a 15+ point loss for us back then.
Can’t wait for Jack to get here- Willie needs to move back to the 2 guard position.
Glad we started this road trip at Sacto and LAC rather than Utah because this game would be over.
where was the travel on garcia?
mbenga made a shot!!!!!!!!
Jack is pretty good but he’s going to drive you crazy a lot of times too. Just a warning.
Stop the jumpshooting!!! Get to the rim!!!
Man!!!!!!!! If we win this game I will not believe it. I hate to say it we have NO business winning tonight the way we are playing! (Obviously I hope we do win though….11-1. lol)
Hornets better stop playing around with this team because they surely aren’t playing around with them.
Stop shooting CP!!!!
dont say that!!
Get to the rim Hornets!
Nice 3 Trevor but Hornets need to get to the rim. They’ll probably be called for offensive fouls though if they try to get to the rim. Ugh.
I think its safe to say that this game tonight definitely helps our Points Allowed rank. Right now we are 3rd. Might move up to 1 after this. Haha.
Anybody ever notice the Hornets usually always SUCK on NBA TV? God I hate this.
Kings commentator, Gerry Reynolds or whatever his name is shouting almost like Bob Licht. Goodness.
I actually thought the Kings announcers were pretty reasonable. They weren’t the outrageous homers you see most places.
QueenBee….I think Dalemebert is the reason we cant get to the rim. He’s one long and great shot blocking center. Looks like we just tried though, but to no avail. (Even thought that Belinelli layup might have been a goal tend as it looked like it may have hit the backboard 1st, and that Okafor shot was a foul with the body)
Good teams win ugly games…looks like we got this one yall. D West saves the day.
LET’S GEAUX HORNETS!!!
They all ain’t gonna be pretty.
he pushed okafor out of the way!!!!
I think a Dalembert type is what we need at backup center. A tall, long, shot blocking, mobile, defensive center. Him or Chandler would be a nice fit for us behind Okafor.
Got him in my trade targets:
http://www.hornets247.com/forum/new-orleans-hornets/trade-targets/#p544
Dalembert, Turiaf, and Nazr M are all guys who we can/should get. If we do, I like our chances against anyone.
Didn’t I tell CP3 to stop shooting???!!! I guess he can’t hear me from here. LMAO.
Whew!!! We’ll take it. LMAO. We’ll take it.
Yes we will! LOL!
They all ain’t gonna be pretty.
Winning when playing bad is always a good sign
TERRIBLE game but we got the WIN is all that matters 🙂 11-1!!!
great game…jk. i’ll take it, team showed nice resilience. oh and willie if you read this, stop shooting sooooo damn much, your not kobe bryant. w/o ariza’s D on tyreke and his much needed offense hornets would not have been close.
Trevor an Dwest were game. I am just happy this is over and still a W
As an Aussie I cant wait for David Anderson..
Even if he is allergic to the paint and any sort of effort
But I would like to see marcus stay activated
11 and 1…YES!!!
marcus is god he won us that game lol