The Hornets fought hard for 53 minutes, but the Lakers’ big three were too much for New Orleans to handle in the clutch.
It was over when: Metta World Peace pushed down stole the ball from Jarrett Jack, leading to a fast break bucket to put the Lakers up 102-99 with just 40 seconds to play.
It was really over when: MWP blocked a Kaman jumper with 14 seconds left, leading to two Bryant free throws to ice the game.
Hornets’ MVP: Jarrett Jack. 30 points for the Hornets’ starting point guard, who never backed down and showed an incredible degree of endurance as he gave each play 100% down the stretch.
X-factor: The size of the Lakers’ front court, as expected, gave the Hornets nightmares all game long. Kaman was the only active Hornet capable of banging bodies with either Gasol or Bynum, and that simply isn’t enough when you’re playing a team like LA.
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Trevor Ariza, SF 44 MIN | 4-13 FG | 1-1 FT | 6 REB | 4 AST | 9 PTS | -8If you’re assigned the task of guarding Kobe, you’re allowed a little slack in the offensive department. Still, Trevor struggled with his shot all game long and allowed Kobe to score 33 points on 23 shots, despite Bryant logging a combined 101 minutes over the past two nights. |  |
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Gustavo Ayon, PF 32 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 4 PTS | -7Ayon struggled significantly to contain Gasol early as Pau raced to 10 quick first quarter points. He came down to earth afterwards, but Ayon never really made an impact on this game on either side of the ball, even forcing Monty to sub Thomas in for him late in overtime. |  |
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Chris Kaman, C 45 MIN | 9-20 FG | 3-4 FT | 12 REB | 3 AST | 21 PTS | -11Kaman started slow, but stepped his game up as it progressed. He led the Hornets in rebounds, and though he was no force on defense, he held his own against Bynum despite having little to no help from his various other front court mates. |  |
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Jarrett Jack, PG 39 MIN | 13-21 FG | 4-4 FT | 3 REB | 6 AST | 30 PTS | -5The best way to attack the Lakers is to go at Derek Fisher early and often, and Jack was up to the task tonight. He made his first 8 shots en route to a team-leading 30 points. He put on the blinders a little too much down the stretch for my liking, but you can’t argue with his overall production. |  |
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Marco Belinelli, SG 33 MIN | 4-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 10 PTS | -11Marco hit 2 quick 3s in the game’s first few minutes, but made just two shots from the field after that. Thanks to Ariza, Beli wasn’t forced to check Kobe, and he was serviceable enough on D to make sure World Peace didn’t surprise anyone by showing up offensively. Still, a fairly lackluster game from Beli, as we have come to expect. | |
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Lance Thomas, F 18 MIN | 3-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | 0Thomas was solid off the bench, making all 3 of his shots, and stepped up when Monty called his number after Ayon struggled late. He did all you could reasonably expect him to do, given his skill set and thin frame. | |
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Greivis Vasquez, PG 17 MIN | 6-7 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 6 AST | 15 PTS | 0Greivis followed Jack’s blueprint for attacking the Laker D pretty well himself, making 6 of his 7 attempts and leading the team in assists. Solid game for the Hornets’ backup point guard, and I’m not sure why he wasn’t in with Jack for most (if not all) of overtime instead of Beli. |  |
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Jeff Foote, C 7 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | +5One block on Matt Barnes. Pretty much useless otherwise. | |
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Al-Farouq Aminu, SF 24 MIN | 3-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | +8All things considered, Aminu had a pretty respectable game. He didn’t make any stupid mistakes, stayed within himself on offense, and played well defensively. | |
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Xavier Henry, SG 6 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | -1Only 6 minutes of PT for Henry, as Monty utilized a Aminu/Ariza wing combo more than usual to match up with the size of the Lakers’ wings. Nothing doing for Xavier while he played. |  |
Five Things We Saw
- Even when the Lakers have relatively dead legs, they can still rely on their solid interior presence to get buckets when they need it… and then there’s Kobe.
- Bandwagon Lakers fans. Everywhere. Thanks for your money, I guess… may as well take it from you guys since you all have no souls.
- The Lakers are completely immune to 3-seconds calls. Bynum finally got called for one in the 4th quarter after camping out literally all game. It’s incredibly frustrating.
- If Kaman is no longer a Hornet by 2 PM tomorrow, he did a fine job in his last game in a Hornets uniform. Solid work against formidable competition. He could absolutely help a contender.
- Can’t be done talking about this game without commending this Hornets team for hanging so tough. Jack, Vasquez, and Kaman put the team on their backs and fought up until the last minute of overtime. Hell of an effort.
23 responses to “Hornets Put Forth Tremendous Effort but Fall in OT to Lakers”
Vasquuuuueeeezzzzz!!!
Fun game tonight in the Hive…wish every game had this type of crowd…ONE DAY we will get there!
Don’t trade kaman
If this was Kaman’s last game with us what a way to go! If this was it, I hope he goes somewhere where he gets to see the post-season.
aminu showing more and more of what his game can become good to see that still mad bout that block he had taken away on bynum but monty should have pulled the hack artest or hack bynum late in the game and in ot
I still don’t see how that foul on the three point line on kobe was called a shooting foul. It must be nice to be the Lakers…..
Weren’t they in the penalty?
Not getting into should it have been a shooting foul, but you don’t get 3 shots when fouled in 3 point land just because you are in the penalty / bonus / whatever. If so, every team would get three shot at the end of the game when the other team is playing foulsies with them.
Therefore, the fact that it was 3 shots means that it was called a shooting foul.
the real travesty was the continuation, how u can get fouled at the free throw line, take 2 steps and gather urself then dunk can be continuation is a joke. thats a call kobe, wade and lebron get exclusively
F@#k the Lakers!!!!
Greivis Vasquez played for only 17 minutes. His numbers were excellent: 15 PTS (6-7 FG), 6 ASSTS, 3 RBS and 1 STL.
Marco Belinelli played for 33 minutes. His numbers were very bad: 10 PTS (4-10 FG), 1 RB, 2 ASSTS and 1 BLK.
Honestly, I would like to understand some of the attitudes of our coach. He urged Belinelli when Vasquez was fine in the game. What Belinelli made throughout the game to earn 33 minutes? Vasquez played just 17 minutes. Why is that? I confess that there are nights when the Monty Williams’ work makes me deeply disappointed.
Any high-school coach knows that Vasquez should have stayed longer on the court as a PG tonight, with Jack going to SG and eventually helping to position 1. Only our prodigious coach is that didn’t see it. This absurd insistence on Belinelli is something I’ll never understand. Belinelli is the most inconsistent player in the roster, in terms of production / minutes. It is horrible for the team. And our coach continues to insist on error. It’s unfortunate. Tonight, Monty Williams earned an F with praise.
I agree!!! When the game is on the line you must not have Belinelli on the floor, I been screamin for that Vasquez/Jack line-up in the forth quarter all season. Jack is really a shooting gaurd with some point skills and Vasquez is a point that can shoot so I dont see why they both cant play together!!!
can you imagine Jarret Jack or to a lesser extent GV checkin Kobe or World Peace????
We have Ariza to check in Kobe. Belinelli is useless defensively.
Not sure what game you were watching but when he got switched onto kobe he was very good on him, and actually denies his man the ball extremely well. Even if Ariza is checking kobe imagine world peace posting up JJ or GV. If your having trouble remembering that, think of last years playoffs with Beli and multiply it.
I also want to know why bellineli’s go to shot is off balance. I cringe everytime i she him take a running shot or a crazy layup. He will never be a starting caliber shooting guard.
You can’t talk about this game and not talk about Jack’s decision-making in the last 90 seconds of regulation. How is it that on two consecutive possessions with a chance to score a basket and practically end the game, that we have 2 straight possessions where no one else touches the ball? The 2nd of those 2 possessions was the worst. He drives into the lane and gets his shot blocked by 3 Lakers at once. I’m tired of that dude treating this season as his own personal fantasy camp.
If the Hornets insistence on playing Jack for big minutes at the point isn’t a deliberate part of the tanking strategy and they actually are playing him because they believe he gives them the best chance to win, then I think it’s seriously time to reconsider whether or not Monty Williams is a good coach, because it shows an alarming lack of tactical awareness.
I be saying the same thing, it seems like at the end of games he runs around with the ball until the last seconds of the shot clock and does something stupid!!! the hornets have lost close to 10 games this season blowing double digit leads!!!
Whilst I whole-heartedly agree an wanted him traded/ off the team by next year. Without him we were never even in that game.
Defensive play of the guards:
Vasquez cannot stay with the league’s quicker guards, needs help from the team’s defensive schemes. He does have size so can defend in the post better than Jack. Jack is barely passable on defense at the point guard slot, he too gets sliced up by the likes of Paul, Westbrook and Lawson. At the two, he is a true defensive liability. At the two guard spot Belinelli catches a lot lf heat from some, but not his coach. That’s because fundementally he has deveoped as a consistent DEFENDER, he can usuallykeep his guy in front of him, and he is the very good at shading into the lane to help with the post defenders. He not the quickest guy, but stays in good position to play defense.
Offensively, yeah Beli is inconsistent with his shot. However, if his shot isn’t falling he will defer and try to get others involved. The worst thing that happened to the Hornets last night was Jack thinking he had total discretion to shoot in the second half. He will continue to shoot no matter what… while the other four players watch on offense. Vazquez is a beeter distributor, if that what you want your point guard to be, then he should be in that spot in crunch time.
While offensively Jarrett and Greivis make for a good backcourt pairing (and probably should have been used more last night), defensively they’re both really bad and that’s just not going to fly with Monty. Greivis has the size, like you say, but he’s a lightweight and gets beaten regardless of whether he’s playing the 2 or the 1. No matter how you view Marco on the offensive end (and I don’t disagree, he’s been bad this season), he has dramatically improved his defense. He was routinely beaten on screens last season, but that’s no longer the case, and his ability to know when to double team in the post has really helped the team.
Beli is a genuinely good perimeter defender, he denies his man the ball very well for the most-part. I really don’t get the flack he cops from people on here about it
im glad we lose