Hornets hold on to defeat Warriors, capture 10th straight victory

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Published: January 27, 2011

Just as they did in the first meeting, the Hornets controlled the first three quarters of the game. This time, however, they were able to withstand a 4th quarter Warriors run to start off their road trip with a 112-103 victory. (box). All five starters scored in double figures, as David West and Trevor Ariza led the way with 22 and 19, respectively. Chris Paul added 18 points, needing just 9 shots to do so, and beautifully controlled the game by dishing out 17 assists.

The Hornets went up by as many as 25 early in the 4th quarter before Golden State went on a run to cut it down to 11 with just under three minutes left. Monty was forced to put the starters back in the game at that point to ensure victory, and he didn’t looked to pleased about it. The bench was sloppy on both ends of the court, constantly turning the ball over and missing rotations on the defensive end. It is understandable that they don’t play with urgency given the circumstances, but they performed much better in similar circumstances- particularly in Atlanta. Monty would love to have faith in his bench to finish out games, but nights like this will cause him to think twice in the future. Hopefully they get another chance Saturday night in Sacramento to extend and already large 4th quarter lead.

Other Notes and Observations:

– In some ways it was a very typical Chris Paul performance, and in other ways it was atypical. 18 points and 17 assists- typical. 6 turnovers and zero steals (in a game where the Hornets had 9)- atypical.

– The Hornets starters shot a combined 33-48 from the field. That is nearly 70%!  The Hornets could get practically anything they wanted in this game, and it was nice to see that they weren’t just settling for jumpers and 3’s.

– More on that point, the Hornets had 60 points in the paint (2nd most this season) and 35 fast-break points, which were by far the highest amount this season. If you were to tell me however, that the starters would shoot 70%, they Hornets would score 60 in the paint and 35 on the break I would have guessed they won by 40. And the reason they didn’t…

– Turnovers. The Hornets committed 23 turnovers, 11 of which were by their two point guards. Golden State will give you whatever you want if you stay patient, but far too often the Hornets tried to force the issue and ended up turning the ball over. Golden State got as close as 4 in the third before the Hornets pulled away again, but every run GS made was as a result of bad turnovers.

– Pretty much an even split for our three-headed two guard. Thornton had 22 minutes, Marco had 21, and Willie had 20. They combined for 27 points on 12-23 shooting, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. If the Hornets can get anything close to that production from those guys, they will be a very tough team to beat.

– As predicted, the four Golden State studs got theirs, but the Hornets did a good job not letting anybody else beat them. Take away Curry, Ellis, Lee, and Wright and the other 6 Warriors only scored 16 points on 5-19 shooting. Last game guys like Udoh and Amundsen had big contributions, this game they didn’t and shutting down those role players were a key reason for the victory.

– Vegas lost their share of money on this game, as 98% of gamblers took the over and these two teams crushed that number. I just can’t imagine the Warriors ever being in a game where less than 200 points are scored, but Vegas had faith in our defense I guess.

– Hornets go for a franchise record 11th straight victory Saturday night in Sacramento. The next two after that look favorable as well as they finish up the road trip at Phoenix before coming home to face the Wizards- a team that has still not won a game on the road this season.

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