Hornets Struggle Past the Raptors

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Published: January 17, 2011

Emeka Okafor, David West, and Jarret Jack. Oh, I thought you asked which Hornets players didn’t stink up New Orleans Arena on Martin Luther King Junior day. Honestly West wasn’t particularly good, but relative to the rest of the team he was great, and as usual he finished strong. Things were ugly for everyone else, but the Hornets prevailed 85-81 over the Toronto Raptors for their fifth straight win.

Even the refs managed to get involved, screwing up a bunch of calls both ways, and just generally looking out of sync. The weather and general atmosphere of New Orleans is a little strange today, and everything seems to be moving a little slower than normal. That’s saying something around here, so maybe everyone can use that as an excuse.

I’m not sure what to make of this game so I’ll just go straight to bullets-

  • Monty Williams was doing some strange subbing today. I’d like to say it’s because we were playing the Raptors, but sometimes I wonder if he’s making any progress on figuring out how to use all the wing players. It’s a complicated situation for sure.
  • Jarret Jack looked comfortable running the offense. If Paul has to miss a few games at some point for whatever reason it’s clear that Jack can handle point guard duties. I also really like how Paul and Jack play together in the backcourt. In a few months most of us are going to look on the deal that sent Peja out of town a lot more fondly than we do today.
  • Chris Paul was so off his game that Monty had him on the bench until there were four minutes left in the fourth quarter. He doesn’t look 100% out there, and it doesn’t surprise me to hear that he’s nursing a minor injury in his ankle of some sort. Still, 6 points on 8 shots, 11 assists, 0 turnovers, and 3 steals isn’t horrific by any means.
  • Without Okafor the Hornets lose this by 20 or 25.

  • Someone with really high confidence couldn’t shoot at all today. I think if one of the first couple layups had gone in things would have gone much differently.
  • Like Sam Holako said in the preview, Bargnani is a brutal defender. It’s like he’s not even trying most of the time.
  • Quincy Pondexter wasn’t as awful as everyone else. He also only played 6 minutes.
  • Julian Wright looked like he often did on his good days in New Orleans. I still wasn’t too impressed.
  • Belinelli was pressing a little too hard to pay back the Raptors for trading him, and it didn’t work out.
  • Attendance was 15,155. Not too bad, but the next three games need to be better than that.
  • Samuel L. Jackson and Luke Wilson were in the house. They are in town shooting a movie.
  • The Hornets are now only 4 games back of the second seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the West.

Enjoy your MLK Day.

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