There were some questionable calls in that game. They went both ways. That’s all I’ll say about that, because here’s the rub: the Hornets should never have been in that situation. Their defense opened the game allowing four straight shots at the rim, and the defensive intensity didn’t show up at all during the first quarter.
And then Okafor went down. You can apply the label “MVP” to a lot of things, and there are good cases for several Hornets players to receive that label.(It’s still Paul, people!) However, the MIP for the Hornets is Emeka Okafor. And I don’t mean Most Improved Player.(a label which I still would probably apply to him)  I mean Most Irreplaceable Player. Marcin Gortat had his career high in seventeen minutes against the aimless flailing of Jason Smith and flowing locks of David Andersen.   Can any of you remember a single good play moving towards the basket that involved Smith or Andersen? Do you remember any defensive resistance in the paint? Me either.
Observations:
- Ariza had some huge plays at the end of the game to almost get the Hornets back into it, and I loved the switch of him onto Steve Nash – Nash doesn’t have the jets to burn Ariza, which gives Ariza’s defense an advantage.
- Thornton cleaned glass tonight. I wish a few more of his layups could have been finished, but I can’t complain about the guy. He even got four assists!
- Willie and Thornton led a nice blitz to get back into the game in the second. When the could coax the ball out of Jacks hands.
- Anyone know why Jarrett Jack either sucks or is excellent? There is no in between for him.
- West was a game-low -14. I have no arguments there. He got in early foul trouble, and when Okafor went down he didn’t help at all defensively. Not one iota. If he hadn’t put down some big shots in the fourth, his stat line would have been absolutely abysmal.
We’ll have the podcast covering the fourth quarter of that game up in a bit. If you want to go back through that game again. I think you’ll find us somewhat defeatist, as the lack of Okafor tore out our souls and filled our beings with emptiness. Seriously. We couldn’t even muster lots of outrage at the end of the game.
54 responses to “The Suns beat the Hornets”
So… How soon can we get a back up big?
And someone better send this tape, and the Indiana tape to the league office of those final shots. Just absolute B.S.
This team doesn’t get any respect from outside of the league.
The Chip on our Shoulders can NEVER be brushed off.
Amen AgentZiko!
I’m more pissed about this loss than the Indiana one and I didn’t think that was even possible. LOL!! I saw some bad calls today in the Heat/Thunder game. I thought it was wrong and I don’t even give a damn about either of those teams. When it’s wrong, it’s wrong.
Have to get a quality backup big, and now every fan knows it. if Emeka is out for any length of time our 3rd seed in the Wesern Conference is on the line and there is no telling how far we will fall!! With Emeka, if we go around .500 from here on out the d seed should be ours. Without Emeka for any length of time, we are looking at 8th or Lottery. It’s that bad.
Agreed @AgentZiko. Although, it will be bittersweet to get that, “yup, we screwed the pooch, but you have to eat it anyway” letter from the League.
Yeah, we can call Mek the MIP (Most Irreplaceable Player) right now because West or Paul hasn’t missed time. Knock on wood and thank God. Imagine Jack or Green trying to fill in for CP3. Imagine Jason Smith or David Andersen trying to fill West’s shoes. Ha!
“There were some questionable calls in that game. They went both ways. That’s all I’ll say about that, because here’s the rub: the Hornets should never have been in that situation.”
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cosign
Can’t blow that call at the end. Unacceptable.
Further, not to review the play is completely moronic. The Hornets needed to complain about the goaltend instead of the CP3 flop.
Well, I agree with the Hornets not saying anything until the end. They had to play it out, and who knows, CP3 still could have won it. Of course, with those refs, they probably would’ve called a tech after the final whistle and let them tie it up.
$tern’s NBA refs have been known to swallow their whistles at the tail end of games for awhile now.
All teams get in that situation. It’s up to those imcompetent mofos they call officials to earn their effing money and get it RIGHT! I don’t want no damn letter saying oh we screwed up. What good is that? That’s just like the article I read the other day about all the rescinded technicals that’s been going on throughout the league. They are quick to tech players up, toss them out, and then take it back when it’s too doggone late. And they say respect the game? LMAO. Laugh it all the way off!
I’ll get video of the missed Goaltend up once I have the game converted from TIVO that can be a pain-staking process, though.
I know everyone, certainly myself included, is making a big deal over the no call on the goaltend and it’s not just failing to call a little contact, or letting them play, it’s an egregious miss; but, that said, I agree with your point that it shouldn’t have come to that. Team needed to bring it earlier.
I think it was plain silly for people to yell at Marcus even had he missed that last shot within the NBA rules. And weird. But, admittedly, after a brilliant first half, with 8-8-3, he had a bad second half, and only ended up with 10-10-4. That happens. But he brings a dynamic element this team needs, badly. And the only way he gets better is to play.
“Team needed to bring it earlier.”
Yeah, that’s what the refs said too. “You should’ve brought it earlier. It’s too late and we’re now ready to go home.”
How do you pull this off? $tern banned video sharing on NBA.com and shutdown sites that use his precious NBA broadcasts since 2K10. I was going to have a site to rival Sekou Smith’s until that focker changed the game 🙁
Would they ever go back and give us a win after a league review? Or is it 1000 % final?
It’s 10,000% final.
No. $tern don’t give a fock. Game over.
No. And either way it was only a layup so the game would have been tied, they wouldn’t make them go back and play OT.
They did do that a few years back, when they called a 6th foul on Shaq (on Heat) that clearly wasn’t on him. Played OT months later.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3192421. Saw someone post this on facebook thought it was worth re-posting here.
Wow George. I remember that but had totally forgotten about it. They probably won’t allow that for the Hornets though.
That was due to the official score sheet though, and those are supplied by the home team right? They’re not league supplied like referees, so I think that there is no way that David Stern would admit his officials were wrong enough to go play overtime.
True, I’m not going to be too pissed tonite, since the lakers lost too but sure would have been nice to pull this one out! Anyone know if meks coming back out on tuesday??
I don’t know about Mek but I sure hope he’ll be ok for Tuesday because if not, Javale McGee will surely have a bigger field day than Gortat did tonight. Oh and not only the Lakers but the Jazz are losing tonight too.
Check out this vid….
They don’t even respect Marcus enough to not call him Al effing Thornton!
http://www.nba.com/games/20110130/NOHPHX/gameinfo.html?ls=gt2hp0021000706#nbaGIboxscore
If they are so sure it was a Hill block, why is the vid titled “Hill Block?” With a question mark. ??????
Only thing is, they aren’t showing it to you in slow mo. That’s where you can really see it. 3 refs. 6 eyes. No call.
I missed this game guys only updating the scores every half hour so can someone please fill me in.
What happened to Okafor, was it serious are we looking at a few games off or the season or what?
Whats this call at the end of the game that everyone is displeased about, offensive goalteding again on the final shot or something similar?
Okafor pulled up lame, no contact. He mouthed, “felt like it popped.” Strained hip seems to be the the preliminary call.
Call being talked about is Grant Hill “blocking” MT5’s shot just before the final buzzer, clearly after it hits backboard, so a goaltend.
righto thanks, up to the Okafor bit now watching on League Pass
Watch Belinelli wearing a Hornets’ jersey saddens me…
Every time I stick a pin into my Belinelli and Green voodoo dolls, someone else gets hurt. Time to re-tweak.
How about sticking a needle in the actual person?
Easy now, y’all. I’m all about Thornton getting minutes. But every time Marco is in, I’m cheering for him all out. Same with Green. I disagree with Monty’s rotations, but Hornets are my team. I want everyone healthy and everyone playing well.
Well said.
I want all Hornets to do well. I want all of them to stay healthy. I don’t want one to be hurt so the other will get more PT or anything like that. If all players play well at least most of the time, things should be good for this team.
I’m never very good at conveying sarcasm on the internet.
Oh, and mW, would you like to repeat your statement… except substituting Devin Brown? haha
m-W, thank you for being a TRUE fan.
Hearing someone wants to trade a nice piece we have for spare parts really bugs me. TEAMS win basketball games. Not players.
Hearing someone wants a player on the team injured disgusts me beyond words.
Good thing we have the morally upright AgentZiko.
I know I’m such a jerk for wanting a multi-million dollar athlete, that doesn’t earn his paycheck or his playing time, to just go away.
How do you get off telling people they are not “TRUE” fans because we don’t like Belinelli or Green as our SG’s.
I’d contend that making a joke like that makes me more of a fan than your punk-butt living in California. At least I’ll say the stuff I know is unpopular instead of trying to kiss up to everyone to try to make up for my polarizing comments to start the season.
I will be in the Hive Tuesday, how about you Super-Fan?
And to EVER think that I root AGAINST Marco, Willie, or any other Hornet is ridiculous.
it saddens me to read the witchhunt starting after a pair of bad games. i’d love to see him doing well, as i’d love to see marcus doing well, paul doing well, and hornets win the games. there’s some confidence issues, and I hope he can find a way to stop this struggling… and maybe some fan support will help him.
I dont forget the 3rd quarter against the spurs, or the 4th against atlanta, when everybody does.
I still can’t believe those god damn Suns announcers, making fun of Thornton for missing a layup that a “middle schooler would have made”. It doesn’t matter who is taking the layup, if the shot is goaltended, you are NOT going to make the shot!
Somebody should tell them a “middle schooler would have made the right call”. LOL!
its so frustrating to watch Jack try to get to the rim in the first 10 seconds when theres open players, to just try to shoot and either get blocked or lose the ball, how many times does he have to do that before he realizes he should pass the goddamn ball? also, why wasnt paul in the court with 4 minutes left when Jack was playing terribly?
id really like dalembert on our team
So would I. But I don’t think we’re going to get him. He’s playing REALLY well right now. And makes almost 14 mil this season. Thats tough to swallow.
There is something I don’t understand sometimes in the rotations.
Okafor goes out injured and Monty seems to think that we will contain Gortat without putting a real C back in the game. Watching Gortat playing against Smith and Andersen was really frustrating.
Even if he is only an average backup Center Mbenga would have at least got in Gortat’s way a bit and tried to make life difficult for him.
I really don’t understand what a coach like Monty is trying to do by fielding players in their wrong positions.
If anyone knows of any reason why this happened please share?
BS ending, BS refs, no more to say…That should have been your post Ryan, Okafor injury 🙁 , BS ending, BS refs…
if i cared about the mistakes the refs make i would have fired them, what retard would allow the same people to keep making the same mistakes over and over again? not me, unless i had an agenda. i hope the hornets fans will accept my apology… if i had one hahaha… get used to it Na-na Na-na Boo-boo
sincerely:
the commiss
david stern
xOxO
I don’t understand how that’s not a reviewable play. They can look at the tape to determine if someone commits a flagrant 2 (which is still completely subjective), but they can’t review goaltending (a completely clear cut infraction that can be verified by slow motion replay)?! Surely this rule will change after this year. A disgusting game on SO many levels!
Even without Okafor, I fully expect the Hornets to take it to the Wizards on Tuesday.
I would NEVER read this blog if I was a Hornets player.
It would make me crazy and unsure.
Last year Mek was bashed and called out.
This year, with a healthy Paul, he is a MVP.
You guys are bashing Andersen when I think he offered a fantastic job off the bench.
You toss Gray around as if you can make NBA centers out of clay and find them everywhere.
NUTS!
They are rare!….Get, RARE!
You want a talented Big man that can run ouside then back inside , defending any shot and then scoring as well?
Well, get the F..in line.
The line started years ago and it’s out the door and around the corner.
You toss around trade options as if EVERBODY will give you what you want so you can win.
Jesus H Chrsit!
Every other team hopes you break both your legs and fall off the track.
You freaking drive me nuts with your borish bashing of your own players.
They are up against other top world players all paid big money to win.
Do me a favor and never root for me. I would feel as if you have a knife hidden behind your back and I’d be to affraid to fail.
You raise some good points about the volatility of the affections of the masses.
the fan want his team to win every game. but, sadly, it’s impossible
Someone call the whambulance. He just blew a gasket!
The whole point of a blog dude is so everyone can say what they think!
Even if at the end of the day it’s just personal opinions it’s nice to be able to share them. As regards to protecting players because they might not like what some people write. I mean come on…
They are NBA players. I would just love to be criticized and get the opportunity they do!
well, maybe it is o this sight.
Only it shouldn’t be.
It should be a place for insightful discussion and fun banter.
I grow weary of the sophmoric thoughts.
It’s like the exact opposite of a fart joke ina movie.
I look around to see the goons breaking up around me.
Look, I know we need to show no mercy for pros, but that’s different from just jabbing and ranting.
They earn their money by playing well, not by getting emotional about what the fans think.
But then we hate them for not being symbals for our kids or rant about their not signing autographs.
Well, what DO we want?
Pros or friends?
Me, I just want guys who work hard.
Win or lose, I won’t put up with athletes who pretend to be warriors but cry about bad press.
But work hard for my ticket money and I’m all for you.
Woork hard at at least pretending to be respectful or thankful for a paying customer and I don’t really care if you win a champinship for me.
After all, I grew up as a Cub fan. Winning wasn’t the end all, or a day at the park was insane.
No, I paid to see Grace, Sandberg, Sutcliff and Dawson because they were hard workers, loved their fans and respected the game.
I’ll sit down now and resume my single malt evening.