Somebody forgot to let the Hornets know that they had to stick around for all 48 minutes tonight.
Last week the Hornets traveled to Chicago and nearly came away with a win against one of the top four teams in the NBA. Then just a few days later they beat the defending champions at home, and it got Hornets fans thinking that perhaps this team was only a few moves away from being respectable. Enter Reality and the cold gust of wind she brings with her. Tonight’s game showed just how far this team away is from being able to compete night in and night out with even the middle tier teams in this league. Tonight was embarrassing, and perhaps it is best we just move on without throwing up artificial grades.
What I will say, however, is that this is a team that prides itself on not giving up- but in a way, doesn’t that make blowout losses like this even more sad? I mean, if you quit and a team holds you to 10 points in a quarter, that is one thing, but if you are TRYING to score and you can’t…. Well, that’s just pathetic. They couldn’t hit from the outside, couldn’t put it home when they got the ball on the inside; heck, they couldn’t even make shots when the defense was standing still as they bricked free throw after free throw.
Some nights you just don’t have it, but that’s okay, our old buddy CP3 had our back as the Clippers took on the Wolves. He would find a way to make this night bearable, wouldn’t he? Wouldn’t he? If you don’t already know how that game ended, I don’t want to spoil it for you here because words just won’t do it justice. Overall, a tough night to be a Hornets fan, but one that will be well worth in the end when we are repaid with 14 years of Anthony Davis rocking our ugly Mardi Gras jerseys.
21 responses to “Hornets Take Second Half Off as Blazers Cruise”
The Mardi Gras jerseys are glorious.
Perhaps as disappointing as this game was going to one of my neighborhood bars and finding the game not being played on tv despite 40 or so people being there. I was the first and only to one to request it on even a single TV, and that was in the second half.
this is a HUGE problem everywhere i go in baton rouge.
last year, a manager at a certain chain restaurant refused to put the hornets game on the big screen, because these guys had been watching the spurs game. F that! NEW ORLEANS. HELLO?
similar experiences elsewhere. why should i even have to ask at a “sports restaurant/bar” to put on a local game?
big problem.
12 mile limit in Mid-City is a true Hornets bar. You never have to ask them to turn on the game.
Even Walk Ons and Happy’s, corporate sponsors of the Hornets, don’t have the pre-game show on their TVs most nights when I stop in for a drink before home games.
I love Mardì Gras jersey too and i love the Hornets logo.
*That’s* why I’ll believe it when I see it that some group of wealthy people are *really* going to fork out close to $400 million, at least on the conditions set out by Stern. In fact, and granted I have absolutely no inside scoop or connections, I’ll be at least mildly surprised even at this late date if the team is sold in the next few weeks and on the terms Stern has been indicating it’ll be sold on. If it is, I bet the Legislature is going to have make available more revenue streams and subsidies than they’ve already agreed to.
When is the Jarrett Jack and Chris Kaman experiment over? I rather lose by 15 watching Vasquez and Solomon Jones playing 30 mins a night rather than see a 7 footer not named Dirk fire away 18 footers with no one under the goal or watch a PG that can’t stop a soul and can’t get consistently get into an offensive set. The Hornets best stretch of the season Jack was hurt and then later coming off the bench. He comes back we get one good win against Mavs and blown out in 3 other games. Young guys can’t develop when the vets ahead of them aren’t playing good basketball while commanding those minutes. I enjoy watching the team but Jack and Kaman are making it difficult.
I am 100% behind Jack. And with Okafor out you want to see 36 minutes of Solomon? Did you see when he was put in the game and LA annihilated him after being pretty quiet for the first half? Vasquez is far more reckless than Jack and as the fellas on the podcast pointed out today, he isn’t that young. What we’re seeing from The General is what he will most likely be in his career. Without Jack and Kaman taking those shots who else would take them? You don’t want Vasquez and Solomon to take those on, I guess it’d all be on Ariza? Truth be told those are our most gifted offensive players. Jack has fulfilled the leadership role CP3 left behind and needs to be on the court. Kaman needs to be showcased so that some foolish team will trade us their draft pick for him. Games like this are rough but there’s this silver lining, and its name is Gustavo.
Your points are well taken but there is more to basketball then making a couple of jumpers. When Jack is in the game there are rarely easy buckets for anyone one other than himself, and everything is usually a force shot at the shot clock buzzer. 3 straight games he hasn’t even been a speed bump on defense. Beaubois destroyed him, Collison got into lane at will, and even tonight Felton got into the paint and threw several alley oops cuz Jack doesn’t even try to play defense. Leadership? He just wants to take the important shots. He carries himself like a 5 time all star but he is an average player at best. Kaman is even really worth a rant. Turnover waiting to happen and an ill-advised jumper that is hot and usually cold. Even when they go down they are usually horrible shots. I understand they are undermanned and going to lose most nights but I don’t wanna see the same ole same every night. In both Pacers and Mavs game Hornets have had a 8-10 point lead when Vasquez goes back to bench in 2nd quarter just to have offense stagnate as soon as Jack comes in with his style of play. Not quick enough to dominate and not a consistent enough shooter to force guys to play him right. I’m not impressed at all with his play.
@ Zombian you are 10000000% right …so many people bash Jack but show me a better option. I agree Jack is not a great player but he’s the best option we have as of now. Vazquez is a decent player with high energy but he is about at his peak… I really think the real reason we bash our PG is because we were all spoiled by CP3 and now we have no star to look so it’s even harder to find a pleasing PG.
Thank god for the lockout shortened season. I don’t think I could handle 82 games of this garbage. The draft can’t get here soon enough.
That game was brutal to watch but those ping pong balls are a pretty idea too. In the past when the Hornets would have a night like this I’d be in a bad mood afterwards cursing Bower, Butler, Morris, Ariza, Okafor, or whoever else I could direct my fury at. But this season with the absence of Chris Paul and the hope for lottery picks it creates an interesting dynamic where I am happy if they win but I don;t want them to win too much and I’m happy when they lose but I hate rooting against my own team.
In the end I’m glad we have a team that plays hard. I can’t express enough how good it is to see players like Jack pick up where CP3 left us as a leader. Oh and did you hear the interview with Paul on the BS report? total class act. Dude says he watches all our games still. I wish he had stuck it out with us here but who knows if we would have been able to turn it around with him here and that guy deserves to win more than anyone else in the NBA.
One side not on the potential Rondo trade, can we not get him? Dude is great but has the worst attitude of all time. I really dislike the Celtics because they never smile they never enjoy themselves, they’re just ego. I don’t want a cancer like that affecting our rebuilding team.
couldnt agree more. CP3’s Hornets always ruined my night if they lost. But now, always happy when they lose in a close game, and lose period. Still happy when they win to show they know how to play under Monty. Just don’t win too much.
I still love Chris Paul no matter what. i’m gonna check out that podcast
No Celtics for me.
I’m so sick of the Chris Paul loves New Orleans crap. He needs to move on and we need to move on because he ain’t coming back. I don’t understand the sentiment that he deserves to win a championship more than anyone in the NBA. I hope he doesn’t win a single NBA championship. Don’t get me wrong, Chris Paul didn’t owe it to the Hornets or Hornets fans to stay here to try to win a championship. He did, however, quit on us… leave us… choose to be somewhere, anywhere but here. I appreciated his play and cheered for him while he was a Hornet. Now he’s a guy on a team that is not the Hornets. I don’t despise him like I despise Kobe and the Lakers, but, I have no interest in seeing him lead another team to a championship.
jack make my eyes bleed
Dag folks! I know watching your team lose like that does not feel good but that’s 99% how you take things. This wrap up kind of bothers me more than the way the team played in the game. Drafts, injuries, Dealer Dell and all of that aside, I enjoy rooting for my hometown team and just watching what’s going wrong on the court and how to fix it. Isn’t that the fun of trade proposals? Finding the perfect trade is like a Rushmore daydream. Plus I like basketball and sports in general. Not complain, I’m just saying.
As for the game, it looks to me like a Bullet Scenario that Ciach Williams can stomach. I too would rather watch Vasquez start over Jack. Vasquez is not 23, bu he’s younger than Jack and plays better than Jack already plus Vasquez should develop as gets more years in the league. (Like Ayon) On top of that, players are hitting their peaks later.
I figure you always play the best player at all positions whenever you can, especially at PG and C. That is unless you are in a Bullet Scenario. Then you play cheap 10 days and rookies. (looking for talent and developing talent)
For an explanation of the Bullet Scenario go here:
http://arturogalletti.wordpress.com/2010/09/25/build-me-a-winner-rev-2/
Anyway, that’s my two.
Also I’ll say premptively that I read a lot of WP48 analysis as its the best I’ve found. Most of how I assess players and management uses that perspective as a springboard …
Jack looks at the floor and the feet of the man guarding him, waiting for the opportunity to dribble the ball off of them and maybe dive on it after it rolls away. Is it any surprise that he never finds an open cutter? Vasquez at least tries to get the others involved, and succeeds with Ayou at least once a night, rewarding him for his work to find open spots.
To blame Aldrich’s scoring run on Jones is ridiculous. Jones has Armstrong/Okafor hands so you can’t pass to him in traffic, but other than that seems to be a solid player. He appears to be limiting his tries to shots he can make for the most part. I love his screens.
The tank rolls on, but I think we will see the biggest drop-off in the history of the NBA in season ticket holders barring a lot of luck in ownership, the draft, and free agency. Two or three listless efforts for every energetic game is sapping my enthusiasm greatly….
Will Solomon Jones be signed for the season?
God, I hope not. Solomon is a guy who should be your 13th guy, someone who dresses only when you have a big injured. The one good thing about Solomon signing for the rest of the season would be if the Hornets need a big with Kaman traded and gone. Let’s hope that’s the case. Never to root for anyone to get injured but it would be nice if a Houston or Indiana or some other team had a big go down and all of a sudden needs Kaman.
good shooting marco 🙂
good job marcus 😉
maybe you do the hornets a favor and give the game away just like you did last night.
Not sure why so many fans are pro-Vasquez and anti-Jack. Lets face it neither are the answer, but I would much rather Jarrett than General Greivis with the ball in his hands.
I’m sure he’s not leaving this year(barring a breakout performances in the tourny), but I really like Michigan freshman PG Trey Burke. He reminds me of Paul. An undersize scrappy kid, high basketball IQ, can get his own just as easily as he can creates for others.
On the subject of Paul. I don’t forgive him. If he truly cared so much he would have stayed. It’s like a girl dumping you because she felt you weren’t good enough then she still wants to be friends after. I’m coming back home just so I can boo him. I hope the hive is with me on that day!