At times, that’s what it felt like. Globetrotters v Generals. I mean, what do you say about a 100-59(Box Score) drubbing that was essentially finished by halftime? You can’t talk about the serious basketball because the game was over so quickly. Even the back and forth first quarter was a little bit of fools gold for the Hawks as seven of their 17 points came on two long jumpers from Josh Smith and another from Jarron Collins. You have to expect those were not the optimal shots the Hawks were looking for.
It was pretty ridiculous how bad the Hawks looked.  None of them seemed to care, and Jamal Crawford never passed once the ball hit his hands, shaking and baking to a sad 14 points on 13 shots as Willie Green, Belinelli and Paul had their turns forcing him into fadeaway jumpers. The Hawks also got nothing from their point guards as Jeff Teague and Mike Bibby combined for 0-15 shooting, zero points and 4 assists.
The Hawks scrubs didn’t even seem to care much. Damien Wilkins, he of the 10-day contract, played a little bit, but the rest weren’t really interested in trying to play for pride at all. The result is numerous Hornets fast breaks that were 4 on 2 or 5 on 3. They weren’t even beating Mbenga up the floor.
As for the Hornets, West got steamed and T’d up and then punished the Hawks for it. Quincy Pondexter kicked off the game with 5 quick points, 2 assists,(one an oop to Okafor!) and a steal. Just a great opening for the rookie.
Belinelli was making me giggle because he drilled a really deep three pointer and on the next position ran to the same spot on the floor, a good six feet behind the three point line, and then danced back on forth on the balls of his feet until Paul whipped the ball to him. With no hesitation, he launched and hit it. Ridiculous.
I saw the first two bad turnovers by West, but wow, I didn’t realize he had 6 turnovers in 29 minutes. Usually that’s three full games of errors for him. It was fun to hear him shout “Nice Boy! Nice!” when Paul did a slick in-and-out dribble to free himself up for an open layup. He gave Okafor a loud “Nice!” too when he put down an alley-oop from Paul.
Anyways, it was nice to sit the starters in the fourth. Keep ’em fresh for San Antonio, who had to play their whole game. What was your favorite moment of the game?
46 responses to “The Hornets beat the Washington Generals”
LOL @ Jim Henderson saying on Jason Smith’s dunk… “Jason Smith brings the Vanilla Thunder to the Phillips Arena”. LMAO!
It was nice to be able to hear the name of some of the plays and hear Monty and Chris talking. Thanks pathetic Atlanta fans.
Great game. More minutes for Q-Pon and Thornton in the future if Q-Pon will play that well and Green that bad. I think a Jack-MT-Pondexter-Smith combo is really by far our best off the bench. MT is becoming a fantastic rebounder. 7 rebounds tonight in 22 minutes. Good stuff, even if it was garbage time.
Oh, and favorite was the Pondexter to Mek alley oop followed closely by the Belinelli back to back 3’s. Paul running in the 2nd quarter was great to see as well. He really torched the ATL D.
I loved when CP3 got called for a foul and you could hear his protesting louder than anything else in the arena.
I loved West getting pissed. I always do.
He’a such a monster when he’s angry. I always like him when he’s angry.
As soon as he got the double tech, I knew that he was going to turn up the intensity. And then that staredown after the flagrant was just cold. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of that stare, I don’t think.
Can call West David Banner from now on LOL
Forever: Ding!
Tell him what he’s won . . .
Yup, that’s the one. It watched 10 times.
And I never want to be on the business end of that stare, either.
I know I have said this a bunch of times on this site but RESPECT us even the damn clippers have had more nationally televised games than us what do we have to do to get respect
A win tomorrow night will certainly solidify a good amount of respect.
Chris Paul brought that up on TNT last night. He said it’d been years since they’d been on national tv. Charles Barkley told him that EJ was in charge of scheduling, so talk to him. They played it off as a joke, but he should have embarrassed them on air for passing judgment on the franchise when they never scheduled Hornets games.
I’d have loved if when Charles asked him how he feels when there aren’t fans in the arena if he’d said, “How are they supposed to know we’re even still playing, since they never see us on your network? How’re kids supposed to know whose shoes to buy if they can’t see me on TNT?”
I was looking for that famous CP3 edge, but he went for charm instead. Missed opportunity.
and i just love how the national media talking about Love and Aldridge as All Star players but not West WTF
You notice that too heh? Disgusting.
whats up with Ariza
Tendonitis flare-up in right ankle I think.
I’ll have an article about it when I’m by a suitable machine.
how long is he out
It’s nothing serious… I expect him tomorrow. I assume the staff wanted him to rest his ankle after averaging close to 43 minutes a game in at least our last 5. At the latest I see him back for the OKC game but I’d be very surprised if he’s not there tomorrow.
The impressive thing IMO was the balanced scoring. Everyone scored.
The only person who had an off-night was JJ2.
Willie Green needs to go away and we’re set to rock n roll.
BTW 8 game streak vs 7 game streak in the Hive tomorrow night. Be there!
Just wondering what others think cause this thought popped up in my head..
Do you think it was just a coincidence that we played arguably our best game this season in the one game that Ariza missed? Or do you think that his offense or lack there of has been hindering the Hornets to an extent?
Don’t get me wrong, I love his defense. However, I felt like tonight when watching Quincy guard another team’s starter, there wasn’t a huge difference in his defensive play versus Ariza’s. I definitely think Ariza is the better defender, but I also felt like our starting lineup tonight seemed to gel better than when Ariza is in there. I guess that’s because Quincy was actually making shots compared to Ariza’s usual questionable shooting, but again I also felt like there wasn’t that much of a downgrade on the defensive side either.
Yeah, the Hawks played awful pretty much all night, but for some reason I think Ariza would help the team more coming off the bench and in crucial defensive situations. What do you think?
u pose a really great question.. the only way to tell, would be to bench ariza , or maybe just hope he sits out another game.
Coincidence because the biggest reason we won was because of our defense/their shooting. Ariza’s our best defender. If not for a 30 point 4th quarter by the bench, we’re looking at another 90-95 point outing for us on offense.
Pondexter earned more minutes for sure, but no way did he earn the starter’s job.
Like I said before, I’d really like to see Monty give Marcus a chance. Just a chance man. He gives Wilie so many god damn chances and Willie sucks so much. He’s a vocal leader, he can still contribute in the locker room and being a good guy around the bench.
Marcus + Pondexter is such a good combo because of the youth and athleticism, and because the way they compliment each other.
Does anyone else notice how tight Thornton and J Jack are becoming. I noticed Jack grabbing and giving Marcus a pep talk as Jack was going to the bench as CP3 was entering the game in the 4th quarter against Memphis and tonight after Willie Green blew that 5 on 2 break with the missed layup u can see Marcus telling Jack “watch they say its my fault” as Jack is approaching the line to take his free throws. They definitely look for each other on the court.
Just the other night it was Willie Green reeling Thornton in, putting his arms around him giving him a pep talk.
Don’t start reading too much into tonight’s win. Yeah it was a nice blowout and while I feel with the way the Hornets were playing tonight they probably would’ve won anyway (probably not by 41pts though). While the Hornets were without Ariza, the Hawks were also without 2 of their main starters (Horford, Williams). Last meeting they had their players and the Hornets only won by like 7 or so.
“the Hawks were also without 2 of their main starters”
What that means is that the Hawks collapse in the face of adversity.
It’s nice to see a moral victory, but yeah, a win’s a win. It’s up to the fans to bask in the glory, but the organization knows the most important game is the next one.
i thought everyone but willie and jack looked really good out there. even mbenga played very well for mbenga
Hornet… I do agree! I’ve been asking this for quite some time…just give the guy a chance and see what happens. Heck, I don’t even care if he starts…although it would be nice, I think it would be hard to deny Thornton the time. I believe he’s working hard to show he’s worthy…!!! I knew we’d compete with ATL, but I couldn’t never imagined we’d literally ‘blow them out’ at their place! AWESOME!!! We are proud of you guys!!!! See ya at the hive on Saturday!!!! Geaux Hornets… Go Marcus…Keep doing what you’re doing…people are starting to take notice!!!!!
Yea J Jack and Marcus Joke around all the time in the locker room
for the sake of full disclosure
I think Willie Green’s play merits time and I don’t necessarily hate Monty’s use of Thornton
with that said , whats great about Pondexter is that he’s almost always looking to attack , he really wants his touches when he is in there. Remember he was the go to guy at Washington, depended on to create offense and score every night. It’s a good thing for our team to have that kind of guy in any capacity
Do you watch Willie play? He’s the crappiest 6th man in the league by a generous margin.
Two points I’d like to point out:
1. Towards the end of the 3rd quarter MT5 got the ball all shot a jumper early in the shot clock. Immediately after that Monty yelled in Marcus’ direction “run the offense.” Right after that Marcus was on point, taking only open shots and shots late in the shot-clock. He’s learning and it’s gonna come to the point where Monty will have no more excuses. You could see the progression in the game between the end of the 3rd quarter and start of the 4th.
2. This is the first time ALL SEASON that the opposing coach had to adjust to US! Rather than the opposite. After halftime the Hawks brought in Crawford for some scoring power because we were dominating. It didnt help but it was nice to be on the other side of the subbing strategy for once
The 2nd time we played San Antonio, Gregg Popovich made an adjustment by starting the 2nd half going small, which turned the game completely around. Our 17 point half time lead turned into a 14 point loss. But yes, it is nice to have the other team have to adjust to us as long as we hold on to our lead. Let’s just hope we can take out those same Spurs tonight.
Let’s also remember that game’s 31 point 2nd half swing is a worse collapse than last night’s Hawks game…
David “point a minute” Anderson!
The Hornets have shown clearly they have a great defensive scheme. Even if Ariza (our best perimeter defender) is out we totally shutdown the Hawks offense.
If we can play better offensively every game, we will be a top 4 team in the west at the very least. The grind-out-milk-the-shot-clock kind of play and still manage to score 100 points tells us we can be pretty good offensively.
If we can beat the Spurs and the Thunder, we will be sitting behind the lakers and a season high 9 game win streak. Nice.
I feel really good about how the guys are playing right now as I’m sure alot of you are. They seem to be playing with so much synergy and everyone is contributing in some way or another. I’m excited about the game today against San Antonio. I got a feeling that the streak extends to 8 in a row! On the subject of this game my favorite moment was just the start from Quincy Pondexter. Very glad to see him get out there early and make waves
Marcus is a streak player. He is not consistent enough to be a starter. I love his game, but when he is cold it is a blizzard. Be patient with him. Everyone was screaming for minutes and now he is getting them atleast. Now he must step up and get big. He has a bright upside in the league. We are a bench by commitee. No one on our bench is consistent every night. It’s usually a combo of bench players that get it done night in and out
Just found this on a New York Times article this morning ….
“Ariza’s defensive reputation precedes him, and though his hands are still the barren wasteland where offensive possessions go to die, he has delivered on his ability to hound opposing wing players. ”
Ariza, …”STILL the barren wasteland where offensive possessions go to die” … even the national media knows. If only Trevor would figure it out and stop shooting so much.
IS THIS A GOOD TRADE?
Hornets send: Marcus Thornton, Willie Green, & Marcus Banks
Bobcats send: Stephen Jackson
then
Hornets send: 9 million Trade Exception
Warriors send: Andris Biedrins
F-West, F-Ariza, C-Okafor, G-Jackson, G-Paul
F-Smith, F-Pondexter, C-Biedrins, G-Belinelli, G-Jack
L_REAZY
We aren’t going over the tax so nix the Biedrins trade.
S-Jax is nice. I think if Thornton digresses or Monty continues to shun him til the All-Star break, you have to do it.
Then the Bobcats could easily be my 2nd favorite team with DJ and MT.
@ Forever504
Blake Griffin
Don’t insult the Generals like that. They may have failed to defeat the Globetrotters for over 40 years. But even they don’t loose 100-59.