The New Orleans Hornets came out looking like they were in a daze against the Atlanta Hawks, falling behind 27-6 and never recovering.
The Hornets came out flat against the Hawks and wound up losing 94-72. I believe Jason Smith put it best when he said, “That’s not Hornets basketball. It’s not what the fans deserve. It’s not what the coaches deserve”. I agree, but it’s becoming more and more clear that what the Hornets really deserve is a top pick in next year’s draft. At times they looked atrocious on offense, and maybe worse, apathetic on defense.
It was over when: Sometime around 6:15 CT or so the game simultaneously started and ended. It was quite an unusual occurrence. The Hornets just didn’t show up for the first 11 minutes. They Hawks led 27-6. The Hornets would get back within five, but never closer.
It was really over when: With 7:05 left in the third, Jarrett Jack hit a three to cut the Hawks lead to six. . The Hornets didn’t hit a field goal the rest of the quarter, scoring only six points on free throws, while the Hawks scored 24 of their own. The deficit was 24 after Willie Green knocked home a three pointer to make it 76-52 as the quarter ended. Henry’s three with 9:30 to go in the fourth was the Hornets first field goal in nine minutes and 30 seconds. Needless to say, it wasn’t enough.
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Trevor Ariza, SF 29 MIN | 2-6 FG | 5-6 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 9 PTS | -23Ariza, like the rest of the team, looked slow tonight. He didn’t really make an impact on the defensive end and offensively he was a bit offensive (in a bad way). It wasn’t a horrible game, but if he’s not playing good defense and contributing something on offense then he’s not going to get a quality grade from me. |  |
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Jason Smith, PF 20 MIN | 2-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 4 PTS | -17Smith was active on the glass tonight, but seemed a bit overmatched early on. He was pulled in favor of Landry early in an unsuccessful effort to get the offense rolling by Monty. As usual, he battled hard, but it wasn’t working tonight. |  |
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Emeka Okafor, C 31 MIN | 6-10 FG | 1-3 FT | 8 REB | 2 AST | 13 PTS | -19Hit another sweet jumper in the first quarter. He’s gone from awful to automatic in the past year. Now why can’t he make free throws? He was in there for far too many of the easy inside baskets for Atlanta, but relative to most of the team he was god damned fantastic. |  |
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Jarrett Jack, PG 30 MIN | 3-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 4 AST | 10 PTS | -25Jack just didn’t have it tonight. He looked a step behind and just didn’t lead the Hornets through their tough start or out of their slump in the third quarter. He was also a liability on defense for much of the night. I have to grade him like the leader of this team, and tonight he struggled terribly in that regard. |  |
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Marco Belinelli, SG 12 MIN | 2-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 4 PTS | -12Belli had a sweet dunk. Like, really sweet. He also went 1-5 aside from that and played piss-poor defense. | |
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Carldell Johnson, G 5 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 3 AST | 2 PTS | +7Saw some burn in the fourth when the game was out of hand. Had a nice assist to Summers on his first possession, passing up a shot in the process. He had a nice drive shortly after that got him a bucket of his own. Three assists in five minutes is nice enough for me to give him one of the few A’s today. |  |
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Carl Landry, PF 14 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | -20Landry came in only four minutes in and Monty obviously thought he would provide some spark to a lifeless offense. He was really wrong. Landry looked as dazed as the rest of the team, and in 13 minutes contributed more fouls and turnover than he did points, rebounds, assists, and blocks combined. |  |
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DaJuan Summers, F 13 MIN | 2-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS | +4He came in early to try to stop the Hornets bleeding, but was unsuccessful in doing so. Had a few nice moments late, but that was in garbage time. |  |
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Greivis Vasquez, PG 26 MIN | 3-5 FG | 4-4 FT | 1 REB | 8 AST | 10 PTS | 0Greivis had a number of nice passes (his 8 assists were a career high), but unfortunately that number was too close to how many bad passes and turnovers he had (4). He was also one of the reasons why Atlanta too so many open three pointers. Still, it was an efficient game on offense so I can’t hate too much. He also struggled to get up the court in the fourth quarter when Hinrich pressed him. | |
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Gustavo Ayon, PF 25 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 7 REB | 2 AST | 6 PTS | +7Was really just outworking his mark on offense, cutting all over the place and losing his main in traffic. He used his now signature fake-up-and-then-go-low-around-his-defender move, which resulted in an easy two. He was one of the lone bright spots tonight, even though his jumper reminded me of Emeka Okafor’s circa 2011. | |
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Al-Farouq Aminu, SF 27 MIN | 2-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | -7Aminu missed the backboard on a layup at one point. What? He got to a few rebounds that I didn’t think he had any business corralling, but overall had a poor game. His defense was off, he had multiple unforced errors/bad turnovers, and he wasn’t efficient on offense. |  |
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Xavier Henry, SG 7 MIN | 1-3 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 4 PTS | -5Started the fourth and after faking a three from the corner had a nice drive that sent him to the line. He hit a three from that same spot the next time down the floor, which was ended the Hornets field goal drought at right around nine minutes and thirty seconds. | |
Five Things We Saw
- Unlike Wednesday’s game against the Magic, the fans started leaving toward the end of the third quarter.
- As Ryan talked about, the Hornets give up a lot of three pointers. It’s hard to win games when the other team shoots over 50 percent from there, but this one can’t be blamed on the ball bouncing the wrong way. Nearly half of the made shots (by my count) were by wide open Hawks.
- Attendance was 14,962 meaning the Hornets officially surpassed the requirements to extend their lease. Yay! We win!
- Hawks played really good weakside D and did a great job with ball movement on offense, but not as good a job as the Hornets made it out to be.
- Someone guard Jeff Teague
60 responses to “New Orleans Hornets Get Destroyed by Hawks”
Dr. Kevorkian … paging Dr. Kevorkian ….
is there a mercy rule in the NBA because they should
At least it was a good night for the draft.
Aminu stinks. He sucks!
Amen brother
agree Aminu is Julian Wright long lost brother.
You got that right brother Aminu plays like a WNBA player with no talent lol
Monty, please! Don’t put more Aminu and Ariza together on the court! Don’t make life easier for our opponents! Thank you.
I’m thinking the A+ grade for Landry is a mistake? Or is it intented to be ironic?
Needs sarcastic air quotes.
i like the carl landry grade…what?
Total no-show by everyone but Ayon. Slow, stupid, apathetic, and therefore pathetic. The quick-closing active defense we saw against Orlando never happened against Atlanta. Atlanta got so many offensive rebounds and loose balls it made me sick. We had a chance down 5 in the third with the ball, but bone-headed turnovers and fouls and putrid offense swung it out of reach.
It really pissed me off to see Willie freaking Green outscore everyone on my supposed NBA team. That says it all. Hornets, you owe me 3 hours of my life back….
The Hornaints stink i seen a guy wearing a bag over his head at the game oh year that was me
Should get some yarn hair and googly eyes to class up your bag head.
I liked Greivis Vasquez. I think he was our best player tonight. Although that’s not saying much.
Attendance keeps the opt-out off the table.
So do you think the new lease wont have that attendance clause?
You think it will? How could you possibly know? Oh wait, I forgot your a simpleton troll.
Correct his points. Don’t insult.
J has the right to speak his mind and for you 504ever to say “troll” as an insult to someone what you’re a “Mary” dude keep the childish insults in the 4th grade dude be a man.
I find it ironic you say not to pass judgement on J’s post and then past jodgement on mine.
A) Please read my posts on the subject
B) I think it will be benchmark free for the rest of the current lease and the extended portion
C) I was told this
D) I’m working to get this told to me again and again and again as things evolve by different people
E) Most NBA leases don’t have them , ours didn’t at first
42, J didn’t make a point so I can’t correct him. J just injected Hornet negativity without facts as usual. This time he did it just as we cleared the attendance benchmark.
42, I find it odd you allow F-bombs, which may offend a lot of readers, but we can’t point out what J really is.
All, here is a link to the definition of “troll”: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=troll
Fact: It totally applies to J.
Who said troll was inaccurate or insulting? Not me.
If he made no point, what was negative? If he did, respond to it. He could just as easily be challenging me on the notion he may find absurd of a benchmark free lease… or just asking.
Cussing is ok to a point but gets old, like anything. Insulting more regularly replaces informative conversation with ininformative conversation.
J blows with the wind. Let him.
I should confess that as a fair rhetorician, linguist, and scholar… cussing doesn’t bother me. I try to put myself in other people’s shoes, but a definite direct insult is worse to me than going blue or whatnot that may offend some.
When properly motivated, I’ve been known to use a cuss.
Jason Calmes, scholar. Now that is funny. And insulting.
I’ve got the same credtentails as you, Dr. Online. What did you think about the Hornets?
Admittedly, much shorter career at this point, so not as much done with it.
Not sure how ir’s insulting, but I don’t have to understand.
This is a middle school team with a coach who is a idiot.lets get a real coach who’s not a knee jerk and get rid of Aminu,Kaman and Squeky no talent Johnson.
Dude if you are gonna insult someone spell his name right, it is: S Q U E A K Y
And this may be news to you, so you might want to take a seat in case your standing because this may come as a surprise. The NBA is hard. Any given team can win any given night. Last year the horrible Caveliers upset the Miami Heat. This is the first huge loss of the year, coming at a time when our best player is still resting his knee. Aminu has more talent then Julian Wright ever did. Is JuJu playing in the NBA right now? No. Is Aminu? Yes. One bad game and you race to insult Monty, Aminu, and Squeaky (who had a pretty solid game).
We just blew out a playoff team, Orlando, and we also happen to be rebuilding. So if your gonna come up in here and bash the team every loss that we have. Then I am going to have to ask you to jump off the bandwagon and run a long.
I agree. Detonate Squeaky makes no sense.
But Aminu is terrible. It gives me chills when he has the ball in his hands! The horror!
And Monty was very bad tonight. When he put together Aminu and Ariza on the court, what we saw was a real freak show in the offense. That’s when the Hawks took off for the comfortable win.
Yeah I agree that lineup didn’t really work well for us, but that’s what the beginning of the season is for, to find out what works and what doesn’t work. Aminu is still only 21 tho, people just look at him after he has a few bad games and automatically compare him to JuJu. He is hot and he is cold. I remember a game last year when he lit the hornets up. Give the kid some time to develop, we aren’t going to see any major changes from one game to another. We gotta let him develop and suck it up this year. Next year if he is still playing the same way, then maybe, just maybe we can start making some comparisons to JuJu
Yes,.he is young.
Yes, he does have potential.
But at the moment, he is an athletic forward. A poor offensive talent who plays solid defense most of the time. A decent rebounder.
JuJu would be described as the same at any point of his brief NBA stay.
JuJu is a fair comparison at this time.
Could he become better? Yes.
could he be a star someday? Yes.
Could he be out of the league in two years? Yes.
Do I hope Monty helps develop him into a BEAST? Yes.
Rico, are you related to J?
Just curious.
You wish Monty gone? But offer up Floyd as his successor?
Did you follow the hornets during the Floyd era?
Not a pretty sight.
Calling this team a middle school team is absurd.
The reason I call this absurd is…. We are without our best player. Our PG plays with a SG mindset. We are sitting our best offensive big in wait of a trade. We have very few veterans and many youthful guys with potential… We have 6 players left from last years roster with basically no training camp… They haven’t had time to gel…
this team would Destroy the best middle school team, high school team, and the best college team in the nation…
I’m not about insulting my hornets
But the lowest acceptable and valid insult would be to call them the worst team in the NBA… As their record would give you atleast a fair argument… anything less is just silly..
Perfect, Jo D. I totally agree.
But Aminu sucks…
I don’t know the guy
This is hilarious, Jo D: “Rico, are you related to J?
Just curious.”
I find it especially funny because their ‘tag team’ posting makes me wonder/assume they are the same person using two different accounts!!!
Initial findings indicate ‘yes’.
what do you want out of jack??? He is averaging 19 and 7 with a terrible supporting cast… Would you pass the ball if you knew that besides landry, who else can face up and score? We lost the core of our team last season, if you thought this season was going to be a success then you are a delusional fan
504- That’s exactly what I was thinking… I’m glad I’m not the only one who caught that…
What a tough game Ayon was a beast he should start.
Time to move on!!
Hey, Michael Beasley returned to hand the T-Wolves a loss!
beaz actually played well and helped lead them back down 18…kobe was kobe though and thats why they lost. hornets played terrible tonight tho smh..any news on the kaman front?
I rather have Tim Floyd as interm HC then Monty lol
First, INTERIM Head Coaches… They come from the current staff after the current head coach is fired…
Second, To wish Tim Floyd back on this franchise is blatantly cruel… I’ll just take it as a severe failure at humor.
Just ignore him. To think Tim Floyd is better than Monty Williams is absurd.
Tim Floyd? Are you kidding me???
Tim Floyd you gotta be kidding me the guy who took over the Bulls HC job once Phil Jackson left 1) that was some big shoes to fill and 2) it’s Tim freaking Floyd for Petes sake.
So…about those draft picks…
we got Sandusky’d
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I really wanted to think Aminu should be higher on the depth chart than Summers, just dont see it anymore. Yes he’s athletic but he cant shoot, handle, or finish. I really think Summers has more potential cos he is fairly athletic (could grow into an ok defender) has a nice jumper n a good few moves off the dribble. Still think Monty limiting X’s minutes so much is hurting us
Guys… Just remember…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYSqmfWLBUE
Just thought I’d share. Now smile.
All I can say is that Aminu obviously lacks basketball fundamental. From taking care of the basketball and ball handling to on court awareness, he’s just awful. On the upside he’s very young and is really athletic. Is monty really working on Aminu’s game right now? I hoping he is.
What saddens me is that these players we got from the CP3 deal is not coming to terms with the team. Kaman is on the block. Gordon is hurt and now Aminu’s game in question. Sometimes you have to suck first before you get better I suppose and though we’re on the downturn, I still love my hornets.
I think Monty is doing the best with what they handed him. A group of guys who are mostly young and new to the NBA… precious few experienced veterans… and a roster that keeps on changing. He is trying different line-ups to see who works together the best… and then the “star” gets injured and who knows how long he’s going to be out?
I believe Monty’s a good coach and if they ever give him the parts he needs to put his plan to work… and those parts stay healthy… I believe he and the Hornets will have a good future together. Nobody was complaining about his vision when Chris and DWest were still here.
Geaux Hornets! But, Lord…PLEASE… give us an OWNER!!! I’m tired of being the orphan of the NBA.
Anything on the new ownership?
No. I expect nothing concrete until at least mid-March.
Until then, rumor
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