Game on: Nuggets @ Hornets (With Live Pre-Game and In-Game Chat)

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Published: January 6, 2012

The Hornets look to rebound from both the loss against the 76ers and the news that Eric Gordon will miss 2-3 weeks with a knee injury.

Nearly on cue, dark clouds began rolling into New Orleans after the news that Eric Gordon would miss 2-3 weeks with knee swelling hit the digital presses. With Ariza already out for at least tonight and likely a few more games, the Hornets will turn to Al-Farouq Aminu and the struggling Marco Belinelli to turn the tide against a Denver team that has won three in a row and is looking like they may have something to say about who wins the West.

To be frank, things aren’t looking good for the Hornets. They are starting backups (and really Aminu may be more of a third stringer at this point) at both SG and SF, they don’t have anyone on the roster who can stay with Lawson, and to be blunt they just aren’t playing well.

Defensively they are a solid unit even without Gordon and Ariza, but they are still a second or two behind to get their defense set up at times after a missed shot at the other end, and as a result I’ve seen more uncontested layups this year since when Collison and Thornton were patrolling the perimeter early in their rookie seasons (admittedly not that long ago).

On offense, they have struggled to shoot. Can I be clearer than that?

Let me try–They are shooting 19.5 % from three through nine percent of the season. Small sample size be damned, that’s still awful.

In other news, I’m going to attend a game as a fan soon. By using my lagniappe points from all the past years combined (I’ve never used them before), I’m going to get to be fan of the game, a t-shirt cannon shooter, and hopefully a participant in an on-court competition. My smile is ear-to-ear.

Notes from the Arena

  • Hornets finally cleared Xavier Henry, so the deal is officially done.
  • In the past 38 minutes, Jason Smith has scored 25 points on 17 shots, grabbed 10 boards, and blocked two shots.
  • Hornets remain first on the glass overall in rebounding rate. They grab 54.39 percent of available boards. They will need that and more tonight if the Hornets are going to pull out a W.
  • Hornets have also managed to be the second slowest team in the league. I expected a faster pace than this…
  • Monty said he expects Squeaky to play more this game. Nice!
  • Didn’t have much of an answer when I asked if there was anyone he thought could hang with Ty Lawson. Seemed to think the term “hang with” was unusual. Maybe I should have asked who he was going to put on him early?
  • I walked around the beer garden and buzzfest for a few minutes. Couldn’t find a jersey of a current player being worn. Didn’t help that half the people had jackets on, but still.

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