Chris Kaman came through big, despite being a game time decision, as the Hornets held on to get a glorious win in their final home game before the annual Mardi Gras road trip.
It was over when: Chris Kaman hit a jumper with 4:05 left in the third, capping a 16-0 Hornets run that spanned five and a half minutes.
It was really over when: Following an absurd Earl Watson three pointer, Gustavo Ayon slammed home a dunk. Marco’s steal on the other end with a minute forty to go put the ball in the Hornets hands with a seven point lead and 100 seconds to go.
OK, seriously, it was over when: After two offensive boards by the jazz with 25 seconds left, Favors made a layup to cut the lead to three with 21 seconds to go. Kaman was fouled on the other end, and made one of two. That would wind up being enough, as Burks missed a floater the next time down the court.
MVP: Kaman by a mile. Every time the Hornets needed a big shot, they went to Kaman. He delivered just enough to secure the W.
That was… “Interesting”– Eric Gordon was tweeting about Syracuse in the first half. After a twitterfire broke out, he started tweeting about the Hornets.
That was… “meaningful”— This game felt so much more important because of the Mardi Gras themed night.
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Trevor Ariza, SF 33 MIN | 3-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 5 REB | 5 AST | 9 PTS | +9Ariza did a little bit of everything, as he’s always expected to do. I didn’t see too much to speak of, but he had a nice game all around. The biggest moment of his night was a rebound with 13 second to go that sealed the deal. It was fitting that he grabbed the final board after the frustrating loss on Friday. |  |
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Gustavo Ayon, PF 36 MIN | 6-7 FG | 1-2 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 13 PTS | -3Gustavo was near perfect on offense and SO active elsewhere. Even though his box score looks pretty good, it was the things he did that won’t show up that were so important. For example, aside from Okafor, I don’t think anyone locates their man on box outs as well as Ayon. He was a beast tonight, and proved yet again that he’s already an NBA caliber player. AYONABEDATGOOD! |  |
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Chris Kaman, C 42 MIN | 12-22 FG | 3-4 FT | 13 REB | 2 AST | 27 PTS | +11Kaman was the Hornets work horse on offense tonight. When they needed a bucket, they threw it to him in ISO for jumpers and some low post work. He also provided the rebounding the Hornets needed, and clogged the middle just well enough so that the Jazz couldn’t make layups (I kid, the missed layups were their own fault). The Hornets went to him late when others struggled, and he came through. While in the end he wasn’t that efficient, he was irreplaceable out there for the Hornets. |  |
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Marco Belinelli, SG 34 MIN | 3-13 FG | 6-6 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 13 PTS | +2Belli’s better half showed up for the first half of this evening. Dunks and threes and steals and fast breaks were ALL on the menu for tonight, although in very limited portions. Frankly, I ate it up anyway. It’s so fun watching Belli when his shot isn’t completely off and he’s attacking the rim. Too bad we don’t see that more often. In the second half he was what some would refer to as sub-par. Others would say garbage. Since we won, I’ll stick with sub-par. |  |
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Greivis Vasquez, PG 38 MIN | 4-12 FG | 3-4 FT | 4 REB | 10 AST | 12 PTS | +11Greivis did his thing, keeping the ball moving for the Hornets and actually doing a nice job hanging on D. He’s one of the leaders out there right now, which is kind of hilarious since he wasn’t on the team three months ago. While he could have been a bit more efficient as a scorer late, I’ll take his final numbers any day of the week and twice on Fat Tuesdays. | |
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Lance Thomas, F 11 MIN | 1-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | -2Thomas was one of the weak spots tonight, as he simply looked smaller and less familiar with the NBA game than his opposition. When you’re smaller, less familiar, and less talented than the guy you’re matched up against, it rarely turns out well. Tonight was no exception. |  |
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Donald Sloan, PG 8 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 2 PTS | -3Sloan actually played some nice minutes for the Bees, but just didn’t get a few floaters to fall. Sample size was too small for me to really grade him fairly. |  |
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Al-Farouq Aminu, SF 25 MIN | 1-4 FG | 2-3 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS | +1Aminu had a dirty dunk in the early fourth, but that really masked what was otherwise an underwhelming performance. I dig his work on the glass and on D, but he’s a liability on offense as of now. When the balls gets to his hands it’s just seconds wasted for the most part. | |
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Xavier Henry, SG 14 MIN | 1-3 FG | 2-7 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 4 PTS | +4When the Hornets got Henry at first I wasn’t very excited. I had, after all, seen his performance last year. Tonight wasn’t much like that. He was attacking the rim every chance he got, and keeping his head on a constant swivel on defense, really doing well as a help defender without leaving his own man open. I was impressed with what he did on both sides, and had Belli not been playing so well I think he would have seen ever more time. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but I came away optimistic about his future. His free throws are sort of a joke, except not in the funny way. Hard to give even a B when he can’t get the free ones. |  |
Five Things We Saw
- When the game ended, the place exploded. No joke. There was confetti, streamers, dancing, LMFAO (or whatever), and screams of joy. It was glorious. We’re going to the Superbowl!!!
- The Hornets forced 9 turnovers in the third quarter, their highest total in any game this season.
- Utah attempted more than twice as many free throws in the fourth quarter (16) than they did in the other three quarters combined (7).
- That was the first Hornets win against a Western Conference opponent this year.
- The Bee-Zanies did a great job tonight. The crowd was a bit apathetic in the beginning, but they kept it interesting in the lower bowl.
Post Game Stuff
- I asked Monty about Vasquez developing as a leader. He said that he’s a natural, and that he’s obviously getting better. Sometimes he said it’s essential, since Gustavo doesn’t really speak English.
- I also asked him who Vasquez is most similar to at his age, and who could sort of model his game after. Monty went with Eric Snow.
- Monty–“This is one that our guys deserve to enjoy….we played hard tonight and fortunately we hit some shots.”
- Monty– “They missed a ton of shots inside, and I think that Goose was big”.
- Monty– “In the third quarter we had 11 consecutive stops, and that broke a record for us”.
- Monty– our guys have continued to fight and they do it for eachother, they do it for the fans.”
Also, We talked with Jarrett Jack after the game, and he said he expected to be back in action this Friday. So there’s that…
Great game tonight. I haven’t gone home this happy all year.
24 responses to “Hornets Hold On, Beat Jazz In Mardi Gras Extravaganza”
Way to go kaman!! Nice job increasing your trade value!!
Oh and xavier needs practice his free throws. A guard shooting 2 for 7 at the line?? Come on now.
pop the bubbly, yaaaaaall
So what is it called when you score more points than the other team? We haven’t done that a lot I must have forgotten.
Don’t worry, Gordon’s knee will get better just in time for him to suit up against Indy at Indy next week. That’ll show all the naysayers
Right now would be a perfect time to offer Kaman to the Rockets for Jordan Hill, Hasheem Thabeet and a first rounder. This Hornets team is an enigma.
Nuggets, Jan 2012
I would like the Hornets to get Lin this summer his contract offer will start at $5 million i believe he’s worth more but thats my opinion
No knock to his game, but he might be worth more strictly from an audience standpoint (Golden state, Houston, other big markets).
People were leaving with a little less than a minute left and us up by 4! We hadn’t won a game in like 2 months, WTF people stick around and soak it up! They had to practically kick me out! And the crowd did explode when we won. It was awesome! 🙂
I think you mean first home win against a western conference opponent this year.
I’m sure Utah’s tight win yesterday played a large role in how they came out tonight, but considering what the Hornets had on the floor tonight, bravo! They are still a good team, and we had no business beating them. Although I want a nice draft pick, you need wins like this from time to time
Kaman’s shot looked so nice tonight. Trade him before we get more wins!
In addition to playing well in all facets of the game, Goose had a really nice block on Favors tonight. I think Goose got dunked on by him as well, but blocking Favors is no small task, as he is an elite athlete. Geese fear no one: I learned that the hard way
Henry is a smooth athlete. Once he develops his shot, he will be a very solid player.
Ole!,Ole!,Ole!,Ole!,Ole!,Ole! More Gus, please!
We have to do the Mexican Wave in the Arena if Ayon is selected as the MVBee of a game. 🙂
We need seven people on the same row to start the wave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9j4Gi0lbR4
🙂 Who’s with me?
Mardi Gras uniforms are legit. Change the blue to Green and make purple green and gold our official colors PLEASE! I don’t like the Mardi Gras Bead trim, but other than that they are great! Made them feel so much more New Orleans. Always great to beat the Azz. I refuse to call them the Jazz.
Ooops. Fun’s over. Hornets declare Gordon to undergo knee surgery. http://www.facebook.com/Hornets.
i agree those jerseys are sweet, didn’t get to watch the game but came home to a pleasant surprise that the hornets had won! beating Utah isn’t the same w/o dwill haha
I liked the way Vasquez, Kaman and Ayon were getting on the court. Some pick-and-pops very interesting. It is a pity that Kaman is to be negotiated. He and Greivis left the game with double-doubles. This night was very nice.
Great team effort, great win! Unfortunately, we were yet to watch another 15-20 point advantage to be erased in the 4th quarter. However, we held on strong this time and managed to win. These kind of wins are very important. Vasquez-Henry-Aminu-Ayon! It is not just about offense or defense or box-score or stat-sheet. They have to taste winning. They have to learn how to hold on to games and how to win. We’re getting there! 🙂 Geaux Hornets!
It was a great win but I was scared at the end!!! Had the Jazz put in Milsap or the other starters back in we might have blew but I think Coach Corbin for showing Coach Monty some brotherly love!!!
Gustavo made the espn ton ten… well kinda…
Sorry Andrew. I accidentally hit “Rate Down”. 🙂
aminu need to throw it down like he did more often
Aminu looked good last night. Didn’t necessarily show up on the box score but he got the ball, made an aggressive decision and went with it.
How come Henry misses so many free-throws? He is shooting only 35% this season with 4/13 in February! He was a 78% free-throw shooter for Kansas by the way! Is he getting nervous or what?