The Hornets welcomed back Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers with a win at home.

Two nights removed from posting their lowest point total ever, the Hornets rebounded nicely against the Bobcats. Honestly, that was a lot of fun. 100 points! While the Hornets played a very well rounded game, the story of the night was Anthony Davis. I could wax rhapsodic about him for the whole recap. Seriously, it was that good. The difference he makes for the Hornets when he’s on the court is tremendous. But there were other contributors as well. Let’s do this…

Team Notes

-The first thing that I really noticed was that the Hornets took much better control of the ball tonight. After having 24 turnovers on Wednesday the Hornets cut that number down to 9. Off those 9 turnovers the Bobcats only scored 9 points. Part of this is due to Davis and how quickly he can get back on defense.

-The other stat that really jumps out at me is 29 assists on 43 shots. That’s over 67% (I used a calculator). That really shows how involved everyone was on the offensive end tonight.

Player Notes

-The Hornets need to run a promotion where a fan shoves Anthony Davis before every game. Towards the end of the first half, Davis got into a bit of an altercation with Byron Mullens. And it awoke a beast. Davis just did everything tonight. On offense he was active and moving well. He showed some range on his jumper and a lot of finesse moving in between defenders in the paint.

Defensively, Davis was everything we thought he’d be when he was drafted. He finished with 5 blocks and showed his athleticism on a block with 4:53 left in the 2nd quarter when he closed out on a shooter out by the perimeter. He also showed much improvement with his defensive rotations. There were multiple times where he had to slide on defense to cover the pick and roll, and he did very well with that tonight.

On the night he finished with only 2 fouls. For a guy who flies all over the place on defense and seems involved with everything, it’s impressive how he controls his body movements to avoid sending shooters to the line.

-Brian Roberts also had an excellent game. I’m not on the bandwagon yet, but with a couple more games like this I might consider getting on. Roberts has a nice mid-range floater which he broke out a bunch tonight. Add in 8 assists and the Hornets might have themselves a decent backup point guard this season

-Ryan Anderson is awesome. What a pickup by Dell Demps.

-Robin Lopez started off strong in the first quarter but faded as the game went on. He’s a solid contributor to the team but needs to keep up his production through all four quarters. Offensively, he is patient when he gets the ball and doesn’t try and rush his offense. However, the only real post move he has is a baby hook shot. If he adds another move or two it would really elevate his game.

-Aminu kept of his level of play though he did struggle with fouls. Offensively, Aminu is pulling a bit of a smoke and mirrors routine on the court. Almost all of his makes are right under the basket or off lobs to him. He still doesn’t have a good jump shot or mid-range game. Adding that would make him a much more complete player. Aminu did have a nice play in transition where he drew contact and then nailed a jumper for the and 1.

-Rivers didn’t light the box score on fire, but I think he played a good game overall. He wasn’t trying to over extend himself on offense and did his best to just play a part in what the Hornets were doing. For his development currently, I think that’s perfect.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments and on twitter @nolajake and @hornets247.

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