Sometimes, there are a great deal of intricate details and sub-plots to games that end up determining which team wins and which team loses. Tonight was not one of those nights. The Hornets lost this game because, quite simply, they were not able to make shots. In particular, they found it particularly difficult to make both close-range and three point attempts. For the season, New Orleans has made 52.8% of their attempts from inside of 8 feet, but the Hornets made just 11 out of 32 shots (34.4%) from less than 8 feet away from the rim tonight. From beyond the arc, New Orleans has made 36.9% of their attempts, but made just 3 out of 17 (17.6%) tonight. Those shooting numbers will make it incredibly difficult to win no matter how well a team plays in other areas, so it’s no surprise that the Hornets suffered a 21 point loss tonight. Of course, it also doesn’t help when your opponent makes 10 of their 19 attempts from long range. With that much established, let’s take a closer look at the three keys to the game.
Three Keys to the Game
- Contain the Warriors’ guards. Stephen Curry was able to pour in 30 points on just 19 shots, but apart from his scoring, the Hornets actually didn’t do that poorly in this regard. The trio of Curry, Thompson, and Jack combined to total more turnovers (12) than assists (9), and it took the latter two 22 shots to score 24 points. Curry’s production hurt, but quite honestly, I expected the other two guards to have a greater positive impact on the game for the Warriors than they did.
- Don’t give them second chances. Mission accomplished here, as Golden State only pulled down 6 offensive rebounds from their 35 missed shots, resulting in an offensive rebound rate of a paltry 17.1%. Those 6 offensive boards resulted in 9 points, which would be a worrisome ratio if the rebound total was higher, but not a huge concern since it was that low. Good job by New Orleans of keeping the Warriors from getting second chance points.
- Beware the Curry/Jack/Thompson/Lee/Bogut lineup. Well, this went about as poorly as it could have. Outside of the Warriors’ starting lineup (Barnes instead of Jack) which was used for 15 minutes, this lineup was the second most common, getting 10 minutes of playing time. The result was a 22-5 scoring margin, thanks to an effective FG% of 62.5% and 15 rebounds (4 offensive) while holding the Hornets to just 2-15 shooting. Yikes.
On Wednesday night, the Hornets will welcome the Celtics to town for their only trip to New Orleans of the season. Boston is fresh off of a gut-wrenching two point home loss to the Heat, who were able to extend their current winning streak to 23 games. Another tough test for this young Hornets team.
20 responses to “Hornets’ Inability to Convert High-Efficiency Shots Leads to 93-72 Loss to Warriors”
Those photos make me cringe. We are bar none the worst fanbase in the NBA. Maybe major pro sports.
Well when you lose in the fashion that we do as often as we do and you’ve had a gm (bower) make the atrocious team crippling trades promising to make us terrible for years to come, couple that with no home love ever from the refs (border line hate) and some more losses with the city not being as great of a basketball city as some of the others then you get us. When we start winning the fans will come, hopefully the re-brand brings some fire to the pelican fans chest
Also, when 870 our home station of the Hornets doesn’t have a pre or post game show and bumps our pro bball team for just about anything also doesn’t help. If LSU or the Saints have something going on at the same time as the Hornets, 870 will put the Hornets on another station. There is only 1 show dedicated to the Hornets and it comes at 8 pm when basically no one is in their car. Long story short, this team has to be promoted in other ways besides ticket sales campaigns. I think the Pelican brand will be promoted better so with that will come more cheeks in the seats at home games.
It’s an opportunity to buy great seats to single games for super cheap on the reselling market. People should go and fill those seats. You get a view of the Hornets, and the opponent like no other. It’s great for analyzing the teams and players.
I was fortunate enough to have seats directly behind the bench (first row) and I payed close attention to how players interacted on the bench.
Clearly Jason Smith is the heart and soul of the team and most likable guy. Lance is the same way. They’re always joking around and are by far the most enthusiastic on the team. Gordon and Anderson were relatively quiet. AD was joking around some in warm ups but you can tell once the game starts he’s 100% locked in.
Also, saw Bogut talk so trash to Lopez and Harris, and kept holding Lopez’s arms and jersey when he came through the lane. He’s listed as only 5 pounds bigger than Robin, but he looked at least 15.
Curry’s jumper… Just incredible.
The trash talk Jason Smith and Lance was giving to Jarrett Jack was hilarious.
The lack of fans in the seats is the most disappointing thing this year. 1,500 fewer fans on average this year compared to last year when we had no owner and a bunch of D-leagers. Fans show up if you either win or at least play exciting basketball. The Hornets don’t have the talent to win at this stage and Monty plays the most boring, slow pace brand of ball around. Dell has lots of work to do this offseason and Monty needs to realize that the NBA has changed over the last 10 years. If this team can’t win, the fans at least need to see offense that doesn’t put us asleep.
Don’t those attendance numbers and actual attendance.
This level of actual attendance is perfectly normal for a team that has the factors the Hornets do: record this season, record last season, star power, legacy. Low on all counts.
I’m not sure why people are paying attention to this. The lease was changed.
New Orleans has a reputation for being a “great fanbase” because the Saints have had passionate support since 2006. But the ugly truth is that the Superdome was frequently 2/3rd full during the first half of the 2000’s and the Saints only became “hot” after Katrina/Bush/Brees.
I think a lot of lifelong NOLA sports fans were fairly confident that Benson purchasing the Hornets/Anthony Davis/rebrand would have this city buzzing – despite at least one more rough season (this season I mean).
I’m stunned at how pathetic and disinterested our entire city has been about Benson’s hornets. I fully expect Benson to start throwing his weight around with WWL, sponsors, and fans to get this thing back on track.
Make a point, YoungFella.
Its nothing about the lease, it plain sad to see an arena half empty. And that goes for any sport.
Nithinz, my question is why anyone cares.
Jason, I wasn’t thinking about the lease. We all know we have that locked in until 2024 thank goodness. It’s just that lack of fan interest this year compared to even last years poor team. My company hired a couple of Honey Bees this weekend for a boat show and even they complained about the low enthusiasm in the arena this season. Monty needs to put some excitement back into the game even if we don’t have the talent level to win 50 games.
I just don’t understand why people care.
Of course this season has less enthusiasm than last season . . . the prior season’s record is a factor. 2 years ago the Hornets had a valiant fight against the Lakers in the playoffs and some good winning streaks (and a star), plus people had already bought tickets.
This is the danger of the NBA pounding into the fanbase that local ticket sales are the end-all be all.
Now that it is no longer true, we are still checking the attendance figures like Pavlovian dogs.
Except instead of saliva there are panicked and disappointed posts to message boards.
Coming from someone who has studied this issue, researched it deeply, and discussed it with people on all sides of the issue, I think you have diagnosed the situation perfectly and eloquently.
Love that last pic with Jason and Austin injured, but still standing and cheering. Also, Eric Gordon’s opera clap….lol.
This team sorely misses the attitudes that Rivers and Smith brought to the court. Add in the fact that EG10 was sitting the 2nd of a back-to-back and it was pretty much not even in question.
Our backcourt without Gordon and Rivers just plain sucks. Easily worst in the league.
Why in God’s green earth would Monty start Roger Mason Jr., our worst perimeter defender, against maybe the best backcourt in the NBA? Or we can talk about how he started Roberts vs. Portland with EG10 out and GV/BR looked actually decent. You know the old saying, if it’s working, break it.
What ever happened to playing GV off the ball like he mentioned, uhh, less than a week ago?
I hate to pile on to Monty but this dude just doesn’t get it, at all. Just over it. These are decisions a blind squirrel could make. In fact, I’m half convinced throwing random lineups with random players picking numbers out of a hat would work better than some of the crap Monty comes up with.
One last thing that I just can’t stand. Every single night, we let the other team dictate THEIR lineup to us, instead of vice versa. GS goes super small with Thompson at the 3? Fine. How bout you make him guard Anthony Davis with Lopez and Anderson in the game.
Think I’m being ridiculous? Name one time all season that Monty has put a lineup out there that the other team had to account for and make changes.
Is Lopez the answer at the 5…. and Vasquez at PG…
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