The Hornets beat the Lakers

By:
Published: January 21, 2007

I am positively BUZZING today. Forget drugs man, following the Hornets this season gives you all the highs and lows you need. I'd go so far as to say that the win over L.A. last night was the best of the season. The Hornets may have had better during the 8-3 start, but that seems like a decade ago.

Westward

Before this all gets way too incoherent, lets flip to bullet-mode…

  • Linkage: box | recap | video | photos
  • David West, I missed you man. I can't empahsize enough how good it is watching him pull up for an 18-footer and just knowing it's going in. Marc Jackson, thanks for your efforts, but get back on the bench.

    West really has been unnatural in his first two games back. 19 and 11 against San Antonio, then 26 and 12 last night. Dude misses 28 games with that elbow injury and is able to pick up right where he left off.

  • I don't think it's any coincidence either that the Hornets dropped 113 points on the Lakers last night, their second highest output of the season. West opens things up for everyone else, the defense has to pay attention to him.
  • Tyson Chandler had his best game of the season, scoring 17, grabbing 12 and swatting 3. He was 7-of-13 from the field, making it the first time he's attempted more than 10 shots in a game for the Hornets. He's now averaging 11.1 points, 10.7 boards and 1.7 blocks over the last seven games.

    Pack your bags, Tyson. You're going to Vegas.

  • Altogether, the Hornets had six guys score in double figures. Rasual Butler rattled home 8-of-16 shots for 20 points, while Bobby Jackson scored three points for every cracked rib, including a key steal and finish at the death.
  • Butler, with plenty of help from his teammates, also did a nice enough job on Kobe, who finished with 23 points, although KB24 was more passive than you'd expect. Check this from ESPN's game report

    The Lakers have played 10 games this month, and during that time Kobe has taken 71 percent more shots in the second half (111) than in the first half (65); but he has recorded 87 percent more assists in the first half (43) than in the second (23).

    Vlade Divac wouldn't do that.

  • Maurice Evans came up big for LA, netting a career-high 23-points on 8-of-9 shooting off the bench. Smush Parker was the only other Laker to score in double figures for the Lakers with 13.
  • I don't think I've been giving Rasual enough credit lately. He's making me forget all about that Serbian guy.
  • Berry Tramel tells us that Toby Keith was in the building last night. I have no fucking idea who that is.
  • With West and Bojangles back, the rotation has been shuffled somewhat. Marc Jackson is seeing the biggest demotion so far, playing just six minutes against the Lakers. Devin Brown remains in the starting lineup.

We'll wrap this up with the words of David West post-game: "A lot of people are writing us off, thinking the season is over."

Not me, D. We're 16-23 with more than half the season ahead. That's a lot of basketball left to be played. I'm pumped.

Hornets back in action Tuesday at Philly and Wednesday at Toronto. Winnable games. There's also some big NFL thing today. Kick ass, Saints.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.