The two teams combined to shoot 32% from the floor. In fact, according to Basketball-Reference.com, this game joins only 8 others where one team shot 34% or worse, and their opponent shot 30.3% or worse in the history of the NBA. So – yeah, one of the worst shooting performances ever. If you recorded the game to watch it later, my advice is to NOT.
My first take from the boxscore: the scorekeepers in Charlotte don’t know what a turnover is, because holy crap there was more than 24 turnovers in that game. No one could dribble. No one could pass. Other than Gerald Henderson and Vasquez, no one could take a shot closer than 15 feet away from the basket.
The game was a mess of badly run pick and rolls, isolation plays that led to nothing, forays into the paint that got cut off and resulted in no advantage, and generally terrible, terrible offensive play. Thus, the numbers mentioned above.
Oh, and if you think that means the game was a defensive slugfest, you couldn’t be more mistaken. It was just sloppy and effortless. In fact, a week ago Monty said he thought Belinelli was “what this team is”. Well tonight that was true. Belinelli didn’t move unless he was on offense – and then only if he thought he might get the ball. He made lazy passes. He refused to come meet swing passes on the perimeter, allowing easy steals. He swiped at players as they drove by him. He reached out with one hand to coral rebounds without moving towards them, allowing them to be stolen or knocked out of bounds. And then, of course, he decided to finally hit a few shots in the fourth to kill the tank when it was looking good. For a few dark moments while watching a terrible terrible game, I hated Marco Belinelli. Hated him.
I felt a bad for Charlotte too. Henderson and Kemba Walker walked around during dead balls with embarrassed smiles on their faces. I kid you not. They just looked like they couldn’t believe how bad this game was either – and this is usual for them!
Paul Silas, just like he did when he coached the Hornets, was indulging in blatant nepotism, allowing his son Stephen Silas to coach the game – and I’m not sure he was doing the kid any favors. Stephen spent most of the game with his face frozen in disbelief after every play, followed by delayed clapping that screamed “Come ON get your crap together!” not “Let’s go guys!”
So, in essence, the Hornets drove out the tank tonight, sitting out Gordon, Kaman, Ariza, Jack and Okafor, three without any injuries, played terribly, and still managed to win the game. I don’t understand. What is going on?
Can anyone explain it to me?
21 responses to “The Bobcats out-lose the Hornets”
Bensanity?
Is there something about the Bobcats that just brings out the worst in the Hornets?
I think at this Point in the season everyone’s just tired of losing and tired in general
I think when basketball historians compare the battle for the Hornets name vs. the battle for the Jazz name, they’ll understand why Michael Jordan traded the Bobcats for a Chick-Fil-A Franchise in 2013
Yummm…Chick-Fil-A….
I love New Orleans. I live in Brazil, but I’ve been in the Big Easy and I loved the city, people, food, music and culture. I just don’t agree to change the team name. The Hornets already part of the New Orleans. Like the Jazz already part of the Utah (Salt Lake City). That’s what I think.
I am from Louisiana. I like the idea of a name change as long as it has some local flair. With that said if they kept the Hornet’s name no loss here.
They should be rebranded to the “HORNets” and have a trumpet as mascot.
What about Cornets? Haha
This was one of the funniest games I’ve ever seen. This gave credence to the whole “Kansas could beat The Wizards” thing. We sat out our starting five and won through our bench not playing hard or well. I think if Kansas and the Bobcats play 100 times Kansas wins 20 times. I hate bashing on bad teams but they are just the worst. I look at The Wizards and I see the hope that John Wall, Nene, a lotto pick, and a FA signing could bring in a couple years.
When I look around the league at teams like this I always think how to change the tide. There are only a few teams out there that I look at and just shake my head and think they are so far out that it will take forever to fix. The Bobcats are surely one of those teams where I just don’t see how to even develop a game plan for them. And they’ve been so bad for so long (apart from making the playoffs simply because they’re in the east) that their fans have got to be so restless by this point. I feel like they have to change quickly (which usually means stupid overpriced FA signings while trading future pieces), or they risk losing their franchise. The long road to turning the ship means at least another 4 years of horrendous basketball. Those fans deserve better.
Long post but I’ll close with this point, I agree there needs to be some kind of anti-tank rule but more for teams like the Bobcats, warriors, nets, raptors, and wizards. If you get lotto picks year in and year out and can’t turn things around, then theres a sign that there is something wrong with your teams culture (or extreme bad luck). I propose that if you’re in the lotto for 7 of the last 10 years then you lose your ping pong balls. Tanking one season isn’t fun but being an absolutely miserable team isn’t fair to the entire leagues fanbase. I like it when the Hornets win but I don’t want gimme games. Imagine what the score would have been if we rolled out a healthy starting five that were motivated tonight.
Also this is the most aptly-named post ever, barely beating out Jason’s recent ownership and stadium updates.
Agreed.
I agree wtih you Zombian; not sure what the percentages actually are, but it seems like almost ….. every ….. freaking …. year we see the Bobcats, Timberwolves, Kings, Wizards, Warriors, Nets, Raptors (am I missing anyone else?) in the lottery. Occassionally one will get out, but they seem to return the next. Only problem is not sure what to do to incentivize them to get better, maybe penalize the owner? not likely to work.
It is not my intention to start an argument here. But, I think Kansas can only beat the “tanking” Bobcats or Wizards. In other words, only if Bobcats want to lose the game, just like last night. We all know very well that not all college players can play at NBA level. I think Kansas has only 3 players that are close to the NBA level. That’s it. Any NBA team can easily beat Kansas if they want to. That’s what I think. I have no idea who “originally” said that Kansas can beat an NBA team but that is a very unnecessary comparison.
Wait a minute. Kansas? I’m talking about Kentucky. You got me confused Zombian! 🙂
No more wins this season guys! PLEASE STOP! lol
Fwiw, Washington only has two top 10 picks since devin Harris.
Agree that wall, nene, seraphin, booker could be a good start
This game was so bad it was comical. It had me laughing out loud. As for the name change-please don’t get so caught up in worrying about our culture that we do something really stupid. I actually heard some guy on the radio Friday say the Hornets should be renamed the Bon Ton Roulet’s and their mascot should be the Mardi Gras second line umbrella. Huh?
“Suck for the kid from Kentuck”
Players shouldn’t be asked to do the tanking. It’s demeaning for those who have to play the games. MJ has it right. Monty should step aside and have one of the assistant coaches drive the tank from here on out. Or in especially difficult situations like last night, y’know maybe the assistant trainer or towel boy.