The Hornets play Los Angeles for the second time in ten days and they hope to get revenge for the beat down that Lamar Odom and the rest of the Lakers put on them at the hive. Odom came off the bench in the first meeting and scored 24 points, two of which were on a one on three fast break in which he went behind the back with the ball, threw it off the glass to himself and finished strong. It was rather embarressing and indicitive of the night as a whole.
The game was all but over in the first half, as LA went to the locker room with an 18 point lead. It was a humiliating game that saw the Hornets grab a season-low 24 rebounds, and they were outscored in the paint 46-30 as well. The game would have been a lot worse if not for LA’s 20 turnovers (7 from Kobe), and in all honesty, many of those were unforced errors.
When teams have had success against the Lakers this year, they have been able to get out and run against them, outscoring them significantly in fast break points. Memphis put this formula on display in LA just five nights ago as they outscored the Lakers 28-5 in fast break points on their way to a 104-85 victory. Since that game, LA has won their last two games by controlling the boards and by making teams play at their pace.
For the Hornets to win tonight, they might have to be a little uncharacteristic and push the tempo. The Hornets have already tried to play the half court game against LA and they were outclassed and outexecuted. LA’s size on both ends of the court just give the Hornets problems that they have no answers for. I said it in the podcast, and I will say it again, Lamar Odom would be the longest player on this team and he is LA’s 3rd big. That is scary. Standing toe to toe with the Giant is not the way to beat him- you’ve gotta run him around and force him to fight outisde of his comfort zone.
Other News and Notes:
-I know it might be a frustrating article to read, but I think every Hornets fan should take a look at the article by Jim Peltz of the Los Angeles Times. In it he gives an interesting take on the state of the NBA’s ownership of the Hornets, some horrendous quotes by Phil Jackson, the viewpoint from the local Hornets fans, the attendence benchmarks, and much more. Worth a read.
– We have been saying for a long time that the Hornets bench has been the number one problem with this team, and now we have the data to back it up.
– Monty has said several times that he will continue to work on finding answers to our bench problems, and he has admitted that a big part of that solution might be to simply play the starters more. While nobody wants to see Chris Paul or David West approaching 40 minutes a night, at some point you have to wonder if that is the only solution. For now, Monty will try to play units that are comprised of both starters and reserves, rather than just putting out 5 subs to start the 2nd and 4th quarters, but you have to wonder if he will be robbing Peter to pay Paul. Hopefully Monty can find a way to improve the 2nd unit without the first unit suffering.
– Lakers are 8 point favorites in this game, but if you are going to bet on this game, my advice would be to take the under (which is 190). In their last 14 road games, the Hornets have gone under 11 times, which kinda makes sense since their bench never shows up and they are forced to play a low scoring, grind it out game to try to steal a victory. If you put a gun to my head, I would also take Hornets +8 considering that the Lakers are 1-4 in their last 5 at home against the spread. I say the Hornets stay close, and pull off a shocker- 96- 91.
– Talk about the game here or visit our Forums. Two conversation starters: 1.) Caption this picture and 2.) Pop Quiz (don’t look it up, no cheating) Question: We told you the Hornets had the worst bench rating, now you tell us what five benches do you think graded out highest? (Clue: #1 and #3 are in the East, the other three are in the West)
84 responses to “Game On: Hornets at Lakers”
Caption: What do you mean, “Dumb Donald,” sucka?
Benches, top down, ignoring what I read except hints: Celtics, Lakers, Magic, Nuggets, Trailblazers.
No, I won’t dignify Dallas with a mention.
Celtics, Spurs, Magic, Lakers, Thunder, that’s my guess.
Caption: “Kobe I towd you to gwive mwe the bwall fwor the fwinal shot!” (In an elmer j fudd voice) or “I’m hwunting wabbits waskely wabbits ((CP3)) ” lol Ron Artestis in the new animated warner bros. Cartoon basketball movie featuring Elmer J Fudd.
Top teams:
1)Boston
2)Spurs
3)Atlanta or Orlando
4)Lakers
5)Mavs
Well that’s a letdown.
I spent an inordinate amount of my employer’s time coming up with some reasonable guesses for the best benches question only to click over for the answers and learn that the Hollinger article is “Insider” only.
Dirty.
That picture of Ronnie is comic gold. I’ve always liked him, but it’s clear than man is crazy. Anyway, he’s taller and stronger than half our squad, as is the rest of Phil Jackson’s team(s). If the Lakers stand with both their feet on the ground grabbing offensive rebounds like they did the last game, then we are doneski.
Ron: “I’m telling u guys, this was the style back in the asylum. I was the freshest guy around.”
Literally had Coke Zero come out of my nose because of this line.
I will NEVER read comments while eating dinner again.
lmao… im glad i could make u laugh….and since i got ur attention sir, i have been trying to get in touch with u for the longest time now. nothing crazy, but could u plz email me…
grierts@vcu.edu
Ron: (to cameraman) Before you die there is something you should know about us.
Cameraman: What?
Ron: I am your father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate.
Cameraman: What’s that make us?
Ron: Absolutely nothing! Which is what you are about to become.
Spaceballs! It’s first thing I thought of when I saw this pic
Seems somebody is always reaching a milestone when facing the Hornets…
“MILESTONE ALERT: Kobe 16pts from passing Oscar (26,710) for 9th place on ALL-TIME Scoring List (via @NBAHistory) LA vs NOH 10:30pm/et #NBALP
4 minutes ago via HootSuite”
I already saw the article…
Toronto had the best bench. Can’t remember the others so I’ll go with…. Lakers, Knicks, Spurs, Mavs
Maybe we can hold kobe to 15pts lol
So, I’m not too big on the gambling side of things. I under stand the over and under, thats pretty simple. But as far as the Lakers being 8 point favorites, what exactly does that mean. The Lakers have to win by 8 to win the bet? I’m not sure.
If team A is a p point favorite over team B, then to decide the bet, you add p to team B’s score then compare that sum to team A’s score. The people win who placed bets on the team with the larger of the two.
In this case, if you select the Hornets, you add 8 to the Hornets score an that sum is larger than the Lakers score, then you win. The other folks win if the Lakers score is larger than the Hornets’ plus 8. No money is paid in a tie I believe.
There are point spreads that are half-integral, like 2.5 point underdogs.
gotcha thanks
1) toronto
2) lakers
3) celtics
4) spurs
5) mavs
its gonna be so epic when we beat the lakers in their house. cant wait
this time around we better have trevor or quincy guarding kobe, anybody else on him is just dumb
Thats disappointing Cp made them do 3-4 passes than which should have created enoguh time for Ariza to take Kobe out of the play and he just couldnt bother getting back
C’mon Gray
Willie Green already looks terrible. He can’t guard Kobe so you may as well put Thornton in
Could Willie Grenn stuff us up any more in that last minute. Losing Brown, turning it over arggg! And that call on CP absolute bull, Gasol was completely pushing him off the ball.
Looks like the same old story. This bench needs a makeover
+1 to all willie criticism. montys love with this dudes gotta go. i love quincy at the 2 but after he got mugged twice with no calls he looks scared to shoot now, he needs to get his confidence back
I sure hope Ariza has that breakout game
everyone always loves to comment that players go harder against ex teams, i love trevor i hope he keeps pourin it on. jacks lookin good too
Kudos to Monty for trying some new things.
Also, he must have read my The Little Things journal . . .
Ok so would u guys rather have Ariza keep this up for the rest of the year or have an average bench with an Ariza thats as awful as those 2-11 nights.
Gray getting some play. Not great. But I still maintain better than Mbenga or Smith at the 5, and that’s all that matters when you decide who to bring off the bench to spell Oak.
he had good d on bynum in the low post few possessions then he got laid down and gave up a wide open layup so i have mixed feelings
Jason Smith in for West? Head scratcher
I think Monty’s playing it safe with fouls. All the starters but CP3 have 2 fouls. Probably hoping 2nd unit and Chris can hold it down for two minutes.
BULLSHIT Bynum was NOT fouled by Mek. Are you kidding me?
I couldnt see that push from Meka then
Now Gray? Monty playing both our 7 footers at once but its a shame neither can play D
Well, looks like those cocksuckers (refs) decided the Lakers should win today. Kobe just high-fived Artest with a look on his face that was like “well, damn, if the refs are gonna give us that, I’ll take it”
I will go nuts on refs when I think it’s called for. But I haven’t seen any problems tonight.
R u kidding me Gray just big of course his going to knock a few ppl around but it aint a push
Haha you idiot Gasol trying to behind the back dribble on Chris Paul is begging to get the ball stolen
Q-PON what up!!
Wow, go Pondexter!
i wish wed start qpon at the 2
lol poor bob this dude never knows where the shots from. hes always saying 3’s when they 2’s , 2’s when they threes callin shit elbow jumpers that arent lol bless his soul
Please take Green out of the game
i dont understand the lakers, they get damn near every single call but as soon as they blatantly foul someone and its called against them they always bitch
Finally some calls for us
I’m okay with most of the reffing here, but Fish has drawn two questionable calls, between the loose ball flop on CP3, and then the “charge” on Belinelli…
Lamar Odom is unguardable, too versatile
Wow, of course Artest is worthless until he plays the Hornets.
We need a new shooting guard, Green and Belinelli have hurt us tonight.
Ummm….Marco is 4-7, 2-3 from deep with 3 steals. And Green? Well, obviously, he should wear a suit and Thornton should be playing.
+1
Yeah I guess he has been alright but after seeing a sequence where he missed a layup then tried to split two defenders with the dribble and turned it over for a 4 point swing I needed to vent my frustration
We got A Call..There is A God!
All the starters have done enough over the course of the game. We are playing well, if losing to the champs.
There are many things to be encouraged by to put next to the upsetting lapses and shortcomings.
4 point game lets go
man as soon as i saw cp take the lane was about to scream 2 point game man……
Green is a -1
nice doing better than i thought 😉
We can do this.
omg wow
well we pretty much lost, but it was a great game against a great team. This loss is a good loss though we showed we can hang with the champs
Had the damned ball, the tossed it away before we got into the foulsies thing.
Hornets played a solid game, unlike against Golden State. I’m encourage as we’ve played some solid ball against a good club, despite the bench coming up short again.
Good Pondexter minutes.
Listen folks. Hornets bench scores only 15 points. 12 off of FTs. Marcus Thornton is a DNP. You do the math.
I don’t mind that last post on 247 regarding how MT5 isn’t the solution, but I don’t see us winning many games without him either.
Yeah I have to agree Hornets put up a good fight can’t really be disappointed in them, but I would like to have known what would have happen if Thornton took Willie Greens minutes tonight haha.
They played alot better than I thought they would, based off the last game against the Lakers. Willie is really starting to upset me, he plays with too MUCH confidence. All the starters played very well, and Trevor has been playing really well the past few games, hope he keeps it up. Also, Quincy is getting better each game he plays, and Aaron did a decent job (better than I thought he could) against the Lakers’ giants.
Great effort Bees. A few minor mistakes at the end with holding onto the ball, but you were hangin tough. Nothing to get down about, keep your heads up. Just keep that energy against Denver.
We lost because we don’t have a decent BIG… Demps if u see this get us a decent reliable center
Oops, I just threw my head into the first wall I met. Damn, it’s a worst feeling when we feel that we could have made it with just a decent bench, isn’t it?
And yeah about Green and Jack, they are abusing Monty’s trust. Bad execution.
Didn’t watch the game tonight. Why did Chris Paul only take 6 shots? Did Derek Fisher have him locked down or something?
He was trying to get the whole team involved. And it worked. All the starters played pretty well. Unfortunately, starters can’t play 48 minutes.
Dang. I was over at some friends watching the Cotton Bowl and figured I’d watch the Hornets replay late tonight but I don’t know about that now. Hahaha!
Well I’d say it’s worth watching. We hung in there the whole game for the most part.
Cotton Bowl was awesome though! Since when does Jefferson play well?
Worth watching in your opinion mbdtf? I might watch then.
Yeah that Cotton Bowl was awesome! Jefferson had a pretty nice game tonight. I was mad when they took our last touchdown away though. I spitting drink out. LOL!
Haha yeah Mathieu had a great game. He had an interception and that TD that they took away. And he’s only a Freshman!
CP3 couldn’t even look at the basket without two Lakers all over him. Without the guy that he can swing too that’ll gash the Lakers for paying too much attention to CP3 on the perimeter or the big flashing down off the pick and roll for the dunk, CP3 isn’t the type to force up low percentage jumpers.
Hence, six shots.
A point guard is only as productive as his teammates.
I see Eman. So CP garnered some serious defensive attention tonight heh? I’m not surprised. He usually does.
A DNP for Marcus? I just heard Gil say on the post show that you have to use speed to get past size when playing the Lakers. Marcus has speed. Can’t have speed on the bench though. SMH.
The time has come with Thornton. Either play him or trade him. What good is he to us if he’s languishing on the bench? I mean Aaron “Rebound? What’s that?” Gray is worthy of minutes, but not the “20 points in a cloud of dust” guy?
He’s got too much ability to not get ANY minutes in such a big game.
Monty Williams:
On the shooting struggles with the Hornets bench players:
“They gave them a cushion and our starters had to find a way to chip away at it and get it close again. I’m not going to put this on the bench. That happens against the world champs on this floor.â€
When ARE you going to put it on the bench Monty? That happens against the world champs on this floor? 5 teams didn’t seem to care that they were on the Lakers’ floor. Should the Hornets lay down because they are on the champs floor? Start holding other bench players besides Marcus Thornton accountable for their suckage please.