Game On: Jazz @ Hornets

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Published: December 17, 2010

Matchup: Jazz (18-8) @ Hornets (15-10)
Off Efficiency: Hornets 101.4 (21st), Jazz 106.4 (11th)
Def Efficiency: Hornets 99.3(4th), Jazz 103.2 (12th)

Pace: Hornets 92.3 (27th), Jazz 93.6 (19th)

What to watch:

  1. As always, all eyes will be on the Paul vs Williams match up. Deron is one of the few players in the league that has an advantage over Paul (note this does not mean that he’s a better player) due to his size and skill set. I’ve long expected Paul to as some point have a big game against Deron, and with his best supporting cast in years this might be the best chance he will have to even the score a little bit. The Hornets need to stop Deron from executing the pick and roll with Paul Millsap to do that.
  2. Marcus Thornton. After leading the comeback against Sacramento, it’s going to be interesting to see how Thornton is used. Has he turned the corner and proven himself to Monty? Or was that game just that, a game?
  3. Rebounding. The Hornets are a better rebounding team than the Jazz. Most of the time we know what we are going to get out of David West and Emeka Okafor, but it’s Trevor Ariza who really holds the key tonight. He needs to do a better job boxing out on the weak side to stop the Jazz from getting offensive boards. Despite their poor overall rebounding, they are adequate on the offensive glass.

In the attendance world, the Hornets Business Council has pledged to buy 200,000 dollars worth of tickets to boost attendance. The Save Our Hornets Foundation is sending another group of boy scouts to the game today, and in order to beat  the lease the team has to average 14,970 tickets  sold for the next 11 games. I’m still hearing that Charter and CST have a deal done.

Mehmet Okur is set to make his season debut, coming off of an injury.He’s going to come off the bench and is only expected to play about 5-10 minutes. Don’t expect him to do much, but still he adds another big body for the Hornets to deal with.

Notes from the arena

Hornets are 10-3 at home.

Utah has won four of the last five in New Orleans.

Pops, Banks, and Aaron Gray are inactive. Pops is still nursing an elbow infection.

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