The Hornets try to get back to winning basketball against the struggling Grizzlies.
The Hornets lost a tough one last night against the Wolves – an ugly, physical affair that left both Jack and Landry holding body parts in pain throughout the evening. Now, they get to take a night flight to Memphis and face a wounded bear – though the beast is injured in a way to help the Hornets, with Randolph out and Rudy Gay and Mike Conley struggling with various minor injuries.
As a result of these issues, the Grizzlies have not been living up to expectations after an unexpected playoff run last year. Their offense has dropped from average last year(16th in the league) to a rock-bottom 27th, and they were experiencing those problems even before Randolph got hurt. And who is the primary culprit? Rudy Gay. Yeah, that’s right. I’ve been saying it for years, but Gay does not help you. He’s taking 17 shots a game – five more than his closest teammate – and averaging an Ariza-like 1.036 points per shot. His best year ever? 1.23 points per game, or slightly worst than David West in his best seasons. I love West, but would anyone take a team seriously if he was their primary – and really, only, scoring option?
This, of course, means that we’ll be treated to yet another low-scoring defensive slugfest tonight, with the Grizzlies and Hornets sporting almost equivalent defensive numbers for the year.
The Hornets will continue to play without Ariza and Gordon, while Jack and Landry are banged up a bit. They will need to rely on that deep frontline of Okafor, Landry, Kaman, Smith, and Ayon to rebound errant shots and dig it out.
Question for you: Do you like Summers starting over Aminu? Offense for Defense? I’m not sure I’m a fan.
6 responses to “Game On: Hornets @ Grizzlies”
I prefer Aminu. He’s out future (hopefully). However, I am impressed by Summers.
I think Aminu performs better when starting and getting good minutes compared to Summers, who should be capable of scoring the ball in the second unit just as well as with the first. After all, it’s not like Vasquez is a step down from jack in terms of ball distribution.
I like the experimentation more that just `digging in’ on any position, but I’m casting my lot with Aminu.
I”m in a baaaaaad mood.
Dont think iv ever been able to look at 5 hornets bigs and not cringe at the thought of at least one of them. Sure, none of them are perfect but thats a pretty deep big rotation you have to admit.
24-20 followed by 23-37 . . . 4, then -14.
Let’s see what this game says about stats since we know what stats say about this game . . .
That said, go Hornets!
Anyone know the illegal defense/offense rules for LIGA basketball? That seems to be Ayon’s only issue: moving out of the lane. I cracked up the other night when Squeaky ran over and pushed him out of the lane. Once he gets the hang of that, it’s on! He’s a beast.