Warriors Bombard Hornets With Threes, Win

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Published: March 21, 2012

The Warriors dominated the Hornets from behind the arc, and the end result was yet another Hornets loss at home.

It was over when- The Hornets started their nearly routine slide at the end of the third quarter, falling behind by 9 after a David Lee jumper

The Hornets got back into it when- They closed the quarter on a 6-0 run courtesy of Greivis Vasquez and Lance Thomas.

Seriously, it was over when–  The fourth quarter didn’t go well, again. Brandon Rush and Richard Jefferson knocked down threes before the Hornets got on the board, and the Hornets never got closer than five again.

MVP: Klay Thompson had a career high 27 to go with five boards and five assists. The career high earns him MVP honors over David Lee, who contributed 25-11.

LVP: Marco Bellinelli, arguably the Hornets best shooter, scored only five points on eight shots in 30 minutes. He added three assists and… nothing else.

X-factor: Three point shooting. The Hornets let the Warriors take their shots from deep, which wasn’t the ideal game plan in hindsight. The Warriors took 20 more threes than the Hornets did, outscoring them by 33 in the process.

That was…quiet: The Hornets announced attendance at 13.959, but with tornado watches and heavy rain earlier in the day, real attendance was nowhere near that.

Tweet of the Day:@NolaJake (Jake Madison)- “I think that guy who won the contest might have a better 3-point shot than half the Hornets”

 

Golden State Warriors 101 Final
Recap | Box Score
92 New Orleans Hornets
Trevor Ariza, SF 27 MIN | 4-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 3 AST | 8 PTS | +3

Trevor was all over the place early in the game, and then in the second half all but disappeared. I honestly am sitting here wondering if he played more than a few minutes since I can’t remember him doing anything in the second half.

Gustavo Ayon, PF 17 MIN | 4-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 8 PTS | -1

Aside from five good minutes, Gus looked a bit lost out there at times. Not sure what was up with him. Monty seemed to feel the same, as he played only 17 minutes total. He didn’t miss a shot though, so that’s good at least.

Chris Kaman, C 33 MIN | 5-13 FG | 3-4 FT | 9 REB | 5 AST | 13 PTS | -3

Kaman was solid as both a scorer and a rebounder, but at some point I’d love to witness some efficiency. I just feel like he can’t get it going. His shots aren’t bad by any means, but they just don’t seem to want to fall in succession. His big body allowed him to do well on the defensive end, where he rackd up four blocks and was a big (nyuck, nyuck) part of why the Warriors had only 20 points in the paint late with 4:30 to go in the fourth quarter. He made some very nice passes out of the post as well.

Jarrett Jack, PG 31 MIN | 6-9 FG | 4-4 FT | 10 REB | 11 AST | 17 PTS | +1

Jack did a little bit of this and a little bit of that, racking up a triple-double in the process. It’s too bad that his triple double will be forever overshadowed in my mind by a poor defensive effort. Still, he gets the A+ for it being the first one of his career and first of the season for the Hornets.

Marco Belinelli, SG 30 MIN | 2-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 5 PTS | +1

My mom always told me something about saying nice things. I can’t recall what, but I have nothing nice to say about Marco’s game. If he’s not going to shoot, then what is he doing out there?

Jason Smith, PF 26 MIN | 6-12 FG | 0-0 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 12 PTS | -10

Smith looked really good out there. It’s nice to see in person that the concussion hasn’t effected his game too much. It did look, however, that he was a bit out of shape. He started off great and sort of got worse as the game progressed.

Lance Thomas, F 12 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 4 PTS | 0

I’d take 12 minutes like that from Lance Thomas any day of the week. Nothing special, but he was hustling on both ends and doing what is required of a back of the rotation big man.

Greivis Vasquez, PG 22 MIN | 3-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 5 AST | 9 PTS | -13

There were more than a few bad passes/decisions, but I can live with that. Getting absolutely burned repeatedly on defense, like when Brandon Rush’s head fake threw him 10 feet off the ball in the fourth, are less OK. Hard to find anything to love about tonight, but he wasn’t bad.

Al-Farouq Aminu, SF 16 MIN | 1-2 FG | 1-2 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 3 PTS | -11

Aminu, Aminu, Aminu… A career-high four first half blocks and lots of movement on the offensive end had me thinking that this might be a breakout game. Hah! He showed me. Offensively he’s right around where Julian Wright was in year three.

Xavier Henry, SG 26 MIN | 6-14 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 13 PTS | -12

I’ve said it before, and I hate saying it, but dude’s jumper has some mechanical flaws. He might want to fix that. Still, I love the aggression. His dunk with 7:24 to go made me pick me head up to see if thousands more had entered the Arena. If there’s a guy more likely to drive the basket on the Hornets, I don’t know who it is.

Five Things We Saw

  1. Klay Thompson nearly missed out on his career high despite entering the fourth only a point away.
  2. There were some 10-year old kids screaming, “I make it rain! I love to make it rain! I’ll make it rain alllll nighhhhhht looooong if I want to. This is my house!”, from a box after the game ended. I laughed. Clearly they have no idea what making it rain is.
  3. The Hornets had only 5 steals, and the Warriors had only 9 turnovers total.
  4. The Hornets had more defensive rebounds (37) than the Warriors had total rebounds (33). It wasn’t enough to overcome the three point shooting disparity.
  5. No word on if the all the Hornets injuries this year are the result of a ill-planned bounty program.

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