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Game On: Raptors @ Hornets

Toronto Raptors (13-27) at New Orleans Hornets (25-16)

Offensive Efficiency Ratings: Hornets 102.5 (19th), Raptors: 104.3 (15th)

Defensive Efficiency Ratings: Hornets 99.7 (5th), Raptors: 109.3 (28th)

Pace: Hornets 91.5 (29th) , Raptors 96.3 (9th)

The Raptors come to New Orleans for an afternoon game on Martin Luther King Junior day. Tip off is at 2:00 ct, and the Hornets desperately need to pack the house. With four games left to trigger a lease extension, they need to average 15241 fans per game for the rest of the month.

I spoke with Sam Holako from Raptors Republic about the game:

You have now witnessed the glory of Jerryd Bayless and Julian Wright. Have they shown anything that makes you think New Orleans may one day regret giving them up?

Bayless has had a few really nice games for the Raptors, and most of us appreciate how aggressive he is off the bounce. The guy can really stand to learn a lot from Calderon and has the makings of a solid back-up point in the NBA. The best part is that he makes half of what Jarrett Jack does for about the same level of production. Wright on the other hand hasn’t had as big an impact as Bayless has, but he has a much bigger cult following. The guy is one of the best defenders the Raptors have, but doesn’t see the floor when a defensive player is needed during certain games/situations.To make matters worse for fans, every time he sees the floor, he makes things happen. However, the hornets wont be regretting giving them up, they definitely aren’t top level talent.

With a record of 13-27, Toronto is within shouting distance of both the playoffs and the worst record in the league. Is this one of those years that you just blow everything up and hope that you wind up drafting a stud, or would the fans prefer the team tries to make a run at the playoffs?
The reason the Raptors are a treadmill team (a couple wins between the playoffs and last in the league) is the lack of talent. Sure, DeRozan, Bargnani and Calderon are good players, but they have proven that they need lots of help. I speak for a lot of fans who wish for a top 3 pick the next couple of seasons until things start to turn around for this team. No one wants to see this team sneak into the playoffs and get thumped 4-0 in the 1st round.

What are your thoughts on Bargnani’s defense? Is that an area where he’s still improving or is it essentially just a lost cause?

Brutal, the guy is absolutely a brutal defender and rebounder (the other team can’t score when you have the ball right?). He’s been in the league for 5 years now, so this is pretty much what we’re going to see from him. I think what bothers me the most is not that he’s a poor defender, but that he doesn’t even freaking care to try to give it a proper go, It’s very aggravating.
People tend to liken what is happening with Carmelo Anthony and Denver to what could one day happen to Chris Paul and New Orleans. I happen to think that if Chris Paul departs, it will play out similarly to what happened with Chris Bosh and Toronto. Which do you think is better for a franchise overall; to have an unhappy star who publicly desires to be traded before his deal is up, or to have a quiet star who leaves when his deal expires?
I had actually fooled myself into thinking that Bosh would stay after flirting with other offers for some reason. Now I’m violently jaded, and fully believe both Carmelo and Paul will be playing for other teams rather soon. I think this is an interesting question since I’m of the belief that you always have to be buying to be successful in this league. For example; the Sonics traded a very productive Gary Payton to Milwaukee for Ray Allen. At the time of the trade, Payton was averaging 21pts 9ast, but his career quickly faded a few years after that. We all know how good Ray Allen’s been for the last decade, no brainer trade now that you look at it.

Both the scenarios you describe are bad for a franchise, since you always have to replace your talent and not get hosed in the process. If I were the Hornets, I would look at moving Paul very quickly while his value is sky high, and still under contract for another full season after this.

As for your question, if I were to choose, I’d want a quiet star who leaves when his deal expires, much like Amare did with the Suns; but spend the cap space much more effectively.

InjuriesToronto:Reggie Evans – Out
Peja Stojakovic – Out
Leandro Barbosa – Out
Sonny Weems – Day to day
Jerryd Bayless – Day to day
Jose Calderon – Day to day

New Orleans: Marco Belinelli – Day to day

Enjoy the game!

Notes from the Arena


Joe Gerrity

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135 responses to “Game On: Raptors @ Hornets”

    • All that money spent on Peja, and he can’t even play! I do miss the peja heads, and his 3’s that brought them out…

      Reply

  2. I don’t really buy his comment that Bayless is Jack but for half the price…so they won on that front…unless Bayless has significantly picked up his game. Plus, if JuJu were that good on defense, he’d probably be playing more…I’m just sayin’…

    I’m looking for the Hornets to completely hose the Raptors today at the Hive. Sadly, I’m stuck in the office, and will only be listening to the game.

    Let’s go Bees!
    ps – when’s the next Hornets247 watch party?

    Reply

  3. gonna be tough to pull numbers for attendance on a Monday 2pm game. Excuse my ignorance, but what will happen to the hornets if we don’t trigger the lease extension (which seems more likely than not)?

    Also, do you guys agree with this dude who suggests moving Paul while his value is high? What kind of realistic trade situation could we get that would not hurt us too much?

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    • We need to be aggressively shopping to get Paul help, not trade Paul. If we trade Paul, we end up like the Suns. I don’t want to be a 9th or 10th place team with no hope.

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    • They can apply to relocate and be let out of the financial obligations to the Arena lightly. Whether this is feasible, who knows. It seems unlikely to me. I have many options I don’t or can’t feasibly exercise.

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    • I will be very surprised if attendance is any higher than 13,000 for today’s game. This is only the second game this season I won’t be able to make. Have to work. The folks I normally go with are at work today as well.

      Will be watching the score on NBA.com until I get off at 4.

      If any of you are able to watch the game and feel up to it…please post a play by play here on this thread for those of us who are stuck at work. Would be awesome.

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      • Go to yahoo sports and click on scores and schedule. then click on game channel under the hornets raptors box. this will make a separate window where u can see a play by play of whats going on ass well as all of the box scores u need. its a really cool interface actually. prob good for work and what not

      • Remember, it’s tickets distributed, not gate numbers.

        It’s thin inside but there are a load of people outside and many a school bus on Sugar Bowl Drive between the Dome and Poydras. Don’t forget the business community’s efforts. This would be an excellent game to treat employees to.

        Pulling for 15k+ . . .

  4. No one can equal paul, I’m sorry but I say let’s make one more big man move before trade deadline so we have a realistic shot at a Championship This Year.. We are on the right path

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    • Just about everyone thinks the Hornets should move Paul and believe me, it’s not because they’d hate to see us not get anything in return. They couldn’t care less about the Hornets. Believe that.

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  5. I think this team has a lot of the “RIGHT” pieces in place to keep Paul. I think what needs to be addressed is the 1st-2nd-3rd option. We have CP and DWest. We need that other guy to fill the equation.

    You NEED 3 guys to win/compete for a title now a days. That’s why teams like Utah, Denver, and Dallas were never able to get over the hump. They don’t have that THIRD guy the way San Antonio, the Lakers, Boston, and now Miami has.

    If we can land that THIRD guy, or someone within the team developed into that THIRD guy, and we could get some more help up front, then we ARE a contender.

    I don’t buy the Thunder as a threat. They don’t have enough size. Jeff Greens a good player, but until they get a REAL PF (they shoulda offered Jeff Green and Cole Aldrich to Minnesota for Kevin Love and change when Love wasn’t playing very much earlier in the season), they just aren’t a threat. Okafor and West outplay their bigs, and in a playoff series, I think Trevors defense on Durant and CP’s experiance over Westbrook gives us the edge against them.

    Dallas had a serious chance this season. But with their injuries, unless they find a way to replace Butler’s production (Stephen Jackson), they aren’t going anywhere.

    And I can already see the heavy minutes that Deron Williams played earlier in the season starting to wear on him. Utah hasn’t played as well as of late, and I don’t think they are a better team than we are. Especially if we address the few issues we have.

    Unless we were able to land a REALLY good big man with length (mmmm… Beindrins maybe, although he’s not THAT good) to help shoulder some of the load inside against Bynum and Gasol, I don’t think we can beat the Lakers. I don’t think ANYONE can, in all honesty. But if we had a few more bodies up front, I think no one can hurt the Lakers more than Chris Paul does. He didn’t play well against them last game, but he knows how to beat their defense and draw out their interior defenders for easy baskets for his big men.

    I really think we are on the right track. And I don’t think it would take much to put us ahead of Utah, Dallas, and OKC. San Antonio is a tough match up, but I’m hoping that their frantic pace this season will wear them out come playoffs.

    Again. I don’t think we can take the Lakers. I think it’s they’re too much. But can you imagine if we were somehow able to make it to the Western Conference finals against them? I think that would speak loud and clear to CP to stay in NOLA.

    Reply

  6. I see Voldercus is still a good luck charm on the banner…let’s hope it works!

    As for Sam’s, of Raptors’ Republic, comments on CP3, I think Nola has to keep him. And they have to work hard to make this team a contender. It’s very hard to trade away someone of Chris’ value and ever get fair value in return. We still need to make a trade before the deadline, but with CP3/DX/Oak, and the Ariza we’ve seen of late, the Hornets have a solid core that can do serious damage in the Playoffs. Just need to upgrade the bench a bit.

    Reply

    • I noticed that, too.

      I agree with you on the upgrade. Focusing on the bench is the best way for us to flip through talent at a good clip that can help us. Maybe an exception for an expiring at the deadline for an ‘overpriced 2’?

      Reply

  7. Btw, we better not lose this game. This should be a game that is OVER by the 4th so that CP and DWest can rest for the next game.

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    • Same here, didn’t realize it was an early start, glad I check here early today would have probably missed the game had I not.

      I’m with ya though we haven’t fared well in early games…

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  26. Not sure of attendance #, but nowhere near what we need. I’m at game and I’m thankful not that many people here to witness this poorly coached and executed game plan that Monty has come up with.

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    • Keeping the bench in too long if I had to choose. We were up around 4 or so, and about time the bench went out we were down about 7 or 8. And haven’t been able to catch up since then.

      Reply

  32. This is pathetic, outside of Okafor there’s no energy no one else is getting after boards or even at the very least blocking out their man. We’re making Wright look good with all this standing around.

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  33. Juju?! Really? The guy is making us lose whether he plays for us or against us…
    We need Belinelli, MT5 or CP3 to seriously start scoring here.

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  35. This is how the Hornets are going to play in front of a hometown matinee? Make Derozan and Johnson look like All-Stars?

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  39. Apparently if we push the ball we can SCORE so will somebody tell this to the idiot coaching this team so he will know also.

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      • although towards the end they did start getting some calls, so let’s hope its called evenly in the 4th. we can definitely win now.

      • The thing is, they know how to even it out. They also know when to call fouls that’ll change the momentum of a game. Inconsistant.

  42. nice closeout to the quarter showed some intensity towards the end, wish we could’ve gotten a basket out of that possession with 3 off rebs and then a foul

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  44. maybe willie best hornet on the court in thie 3 quarters omg!!

    Every time i see Gaines i think “why is Jack back on the raptors?!?!” lol

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  47. Was that really a foul on Willie? Come on ref? Derozan just breezed by Willie. Look at the replay. OMG. Looks like these refs are gonna help snap our winning streak. The Raptors are playing well. Do they need your help refs?

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  53. Hornets if you don’t wanna win this game for your fans, then win it for Samuel L. Jackson and Luke Wilson. LOL!

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    • Unless that ankle is bothering him, I don’t think so.

      These refs are trying to screw us though. Are they really trying to give Johnson 2 free throws?

      Reply

  62. That should’ve been a foul on Amir Johnson on West’s last shot. West was right when he yelled And 1 cuz that’s what it should have been.

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  65. these refs are just awful, and i’m not saying that just b/c the raptors have been getting more calls. that whole free throw kerfuffle was just terrible

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  70. West’s first free throw attempt all night? Now you know this is some bull. That tells you right there how the refs are calling this game.

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      • ya i agree about west not making the team, although isn’t it kinda an un written rule about rooks making the AS team? i mean lebron or cp3 didn’t make it their rookie seasons. as far as i know i think only magic has made an all star appearance in his rookie season. i do think mek deserves an appearance though, the last 10 to 15 games he’s been putting up pretty big double doubles, hopefully the coaches have noticed. I think for forwards it should be Dirk, Durant, Love, Griffin, Melo and hell maybe Odom. Then for Centers Nene and Oak.

      • Griffin needs to play in the rookie/sophomore game like most rookies do. There have been rookies that had better first half starts to their season than he did so I don’t know why he’s so special that he should play in the ASG. He’ll have time to get in the actual ASG.

      • Heck, CP3 was WC Rookie of the Month every month during his rookie year and he wasn’t an All Star.

      • as of right now though i think griffin has become the most exciting player in the NBA to watch, i’ve started watching a lot of clippers games lately just for him. plus he’s probably going to do the dunk contest so he would have a really full AS weekend and if i were the clips i wouldn’t want my future to be logging that many minutes and taking the risk of injury for exhibition don’t mean anything events.

      • Kobe and i think KG did it on their first year. (i’m pretty sure Bryant did)

        And there’re not so many rookies in nba history to have a season like Griffin’s one. Last 20p+10r+3a was a guy named Larry Bird. I wonder who is this Bird-guy 😛 ?!

      • Larry Bird or the “Bonstonicus Avianus” was a rare musachioed flightless bird with green and white feathering known to inhabit New England. Each summer the “Bonstonicus Avianus” would make its migratory trip to southern California for a brief period.

  77. glad the refs got that out of bounds call right, thats about the only thing they’ve gotten right all night

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  79. Wow. West isn’t even shooting 80% at the ft line this season? He’s usually one of the better ft shooters on this team.

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    • the hornets should treat their wins like the out of shape socially awkward, pimple faced, pokemon card collecting kid in high school should treat women: take anything they can get. LOL

      Reply

    • i said pretty much the same thing yesterday but when cp3 can have terrible games and the hornets still win that’s a really good sign. although like every NBA fan i miss those monster CP games for like 32 pts 16 ast 8 reb and 5 stl. but i think every hornets fan knows he’s not close to 100%. also jack has been stepping up big time lately, once cp3 is healthy and if jack continues to play like this i’d say the hornets would have the best 1, 2 punch PG combo in the NBA.

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      • Does he really have to have those types of games though? Monty is making this team more of a TEAM. He doesn’t want a one man pony show. Which is why I think he’s trying so hard to make Ariza and Belinelli ‘creators’. Those guys aren’t creators but his system is a bit different than just letting Paul do his thing.

  87. damn by next week we could possibly be in 2nd place in the SW, but knowing mark cuban the mavs will probably pull off a rental for the remainder of the season for melo or something similar.

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  88. Mek has been playing really well this season.

    West too. I don’t know if he likes Monty’s system or if it’s just a contract year but as I’ve said before, he’s been a main constant on this Hornets team. I love D-West.

    CP3 didn’t have a great game but his teammates stepped up while he struggled.

    Reply

  90. damn griffins got 40 and 14 and the game isn’t even over yet. question hornets fans would you trade dwest and cp3 for eric gordon and blake griffin? i have to admit that i would seriously think about it.

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  91. WOW that was nerve-wrecking game towards the end. Jack and Okafor should definitely get the co-player of the game award. They were definitely essential to the victory today. Oh yeah and Vordecus definitely helped even with an off night in the 4th quarter by getting the Raptors to foul early. Ugly execution in the first half and part of the second though. We were missing easy shots after easy shots. I wanted to punch the wall.

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  93. Detroit whooping on Dallas. Utah loses to the Washington Wall’s. Phoenix goes into MSG and beat the Knickerbockers.

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  95. Since I watch the Hornets on the NBA league pass, I’m not sure if it’s just me (and nba league pass users) that have this problem. Do you all ever have home games in HD? Seems like the only Hornet games I see in HD are away games.

    Reply

  96. that was probably the worst officiated game of the year.The NBA game took 2 steps back today. thinking of switching to college full time

    Reply

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