The Hornets came out cold, got back into it, led comfortably through the middle two quarters, and then crashed and burned in the fourth. The game as a whole was not much of a shooting display, with the Hornets shooting 36% and the Warriors shooting 41%. The Hornets had the last shot of the game, down one, but had an awful time inbounding it and got a fading away three from Collison as their last shot. No good.
Let’s get on to some quick observations in bullet-form:
- Despite Thornton’s points and Collison’s control of the offense, my Hornets player of the game was Quincy Pondexter. He was working extremely hard defensively, and when Reggie Williams was torching the Hornets, (Thornton in particular) Pondexter switched to him and held him to 2-9 shooting the rest of the way. That’s good right there, but he also made great decisions on the break, hustled, crashed the boards, provided good help defense, and drew fouls all over the place. He even knocked down a corner three. He played a completely controlled game and did nothing he couldn’t do. Good stuff. Pondexter finished with 14 points on 6 shots, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover. Not spectacular, but very good.
- Brackins is currently exactly what we thought he was: A jumpshooter. He went into the post four times, and came out with a turnover, a beautiful post move than got him a 1-foot open shot that he missed, and two fadeaways after shuffling a little further from the basket. He missed all three shots he took at the rim. Happily, his jumper with his feet set was falling at a nice clip. Offensively, we may have ourselves Channing Frye. Defensively, it was another story. Brackins gave Brandan Wright fits when he was guarding him, and though he was only credited with one block, got close enough on two others I thought he had three. In all, his defense was good. 8 points on 9 shots, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover for Brackins.
- Collison ran the team very well as you’d expect. He also dribbled himself into trouble multiple times, as you’d expect if you watched him last year. As a result, he really had trouble finishing at the rim, and ended up with 9 points on 12 shots, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, a block(?) and 2 turnovers.
- Thornton’s jumpshot was really off early in the game. He missed his first five jumpers, and usually pretty badly. So, he did what he always does, and got out in transition (his speed is still startling) and drawing fouls. He hit some big shots in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough. Buckets got 23 points on 22 shots, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and his usual zero turnovers.
- Maurice Ager, the only other player on the Hornets squad with NBA experience, looked awful, while Aubrey Coleman really tried to be a point guard, but didn’t come close to succeeding.
- The Hornets starting center, Cusworth, looked slow and was not particularly helpful. The 29-year old D-leaguer Sean Sonderleiter, however, played very well off of Collison, knocking down open jumpers on the pick and pop, Songaila-Fashion. He also rebounded okay, Non-Songaila Fashion. Oh, and he fouled a ton, because he had trouble moving his feet defensively.
- The only other player of note for the Hornets was Kyle Hines, a very short(6-6, generously) Power Forward out of NC-Greensboro. He was a powerful rebounder, had a ton of energy and aggression, drew free throws, and was blocked at least three times because he’s just too short inside. 12 rebounds for Hines, 7 offensive, to go with 9 points on 8 shots. As could be said about a lot of tweeners, if this kid was 3 inches taller, he’d be a starter in the NBA.
Have a good night.