The Hornets continue their roadtrip, traveling to the Mile-High city to take on the Nuggets, where they hope to end Denver’s 3-game winning streak.
Keys to the game
- Remember there is an opponent three point line too
- Limit offensive rebounds
- Get to the line
Perimeter Defense
It seems like I was just writing a post about the Hornets and their great defense. What a difference a chain of four games can make, as the Hornets are now posting an abysmal defensive rating behind horrible perimeter defense and a sustained barrage of threes I don’t think I’ve ever experienced.
The good news about tonight’s game is Denver is one of the poorest three-point shooting teams in the league, connecting on 31.3% of their threes. Of course, neither the Pacers nor Suns were particularly good at three point shooting coming into their games against the Hornets, so here’s hoping the Hornets don’t remedy that mark for them.
The Nuggets Offensive Rebounding
For a team that was a dominant offensive squad last year, the Nuggets are only league average this season. They post the 18th best eFG%, are 21st at turnovers, and 24th at free throw rate – all numbers that fail to strike fear into your heart. They are, however, the best offensive rebounding team in the league, grabbing an amazing 35.6% of missed shots. With the Hornets managing a below-average defensive rebound rate, this is something the Hornets will have to put special focus on in order to come away with a win.
Cheap, Easy Points
On the defensive side, the Nuggets are again mediocre to bad at shot defense, forcing turnovers and defensive rebounding – but again are good at one thing: They allow very few free throws. Since drawing free throws is actually one of the Hornets better offensive traits this season, that’s the last of the Hornets keys to the game. They need to get to the line to make this a game.
The Nuggets are still finding themselves, and normally the Hornets would have a great chance to come in and take this one off them, but New Orleans is so badly undermanned at this point. Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis and are out.
Prediction: Hornets scrap until the end, fall by 8.
19 responses to “Game On: Hornets @ Nuggets”
Eric “ghost” Gordon is out! Gee whiz!
Is Jason Smith playing or not? I’m thinking about laying a grand on the Nuggets if he’s out. Need this info ASAP but of course local Hornets coverage SUCKS.
/banghead.
Unless we give up a 17 point lead again, there’s nothing the Hornets can do to bum me out more than the Saints have. With AD, Smitty and Matt Carroll (which is the equivalent of the roster spot I prefer not to mention by name until he actually plays), I’m not expecting anything special tonight against Denver except for effort. Just tell Ryan Anderson not to get my hopes up by being unconscious from behind the 3 point line.
looks like he’s in a warmup thank god i didnt bet. sure the hornets will still lose but it was only a sure thing if we only had 1 center.
Hornets win by 7
oh god not this starting lineup again…
As a said before Miller can contribute to this team so far 6mins 4pts and 3 reb.
Ignoring contracts, who would you rather have on the roster Lopez or Okafor? I find this an interesting question as I watch the game.
Okafor more athletic and better defender
What about offense? Did we ever run plays for Okafor? Lopez’s higher PER: 16.75 to 15.5?
Okafor is more athletic, but I think Lopez’s length makes him at least as good of a defender.
Okafor all the way of course.
Mzurk, why?
Okafor sucks. Dude is softer than a sponge.
Okafor and that’s a no brainer
Too bad Lopez is 7 foot tall but doesnt rebound well for his height. Also he always hurts the flow of the offense.
Igoudoula has taking GV out of the game we can’t even get into our sets
This one is ugly. We have shooting guards that can’t shoot, no back-up point and our starting point doesn’t match up with quick guards. Lopez in averaging less than 6 rebounds a game while playing lots of minutes. His post up offense is offensive. He can block an occasional shot but gets lots of his own shots blocked even through he’s 7 feet. Aminu completely disappears for long periods of time. Now we hear that Davis will be out for multiple weeks. What must Ryan Anderson be thinking? When do we play the Wizards?
When your best perimeter shooters are bigs (Anderson and Smith), you have a big problem.
Lopez is 7 foot and only hit double digit rebounding ONCE He has to get more assertive on both offensive and the defensive glass going forward.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/FreeAgents-12-13/nba-free-agents-2012-2013
Schwan is the best sports reporter in New Orleans…. Who might we be interested bringing in..