Not Gently

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Published: April 14, 2013

Now is the time to turn the tide
Now is the time to fight
Let us not go gently
To the endless winter night

Now is the time to make the time
Hope is still in sight
Let us not go gently
To the endless winter night
Let us not go gently
To the endless winter night

— Rush, Red Tide

Sports

The New Orleans Hornets era closes this week with the last home game at 5 CT today, the final game Wednesday, both against the Mavericks. Both games are on Fox Sports New Orleans and the Hornets Radio Network. Tonight’s game is also on NBATV

The Hornets went 1-3 this week, landing them at 27-53 with 2 games remaining. They will likely end up with the 5th, 6th, or 7th lottery slot, which puts them likely picking 6th or 7th but with a good chance at a higher pick.

The Suns game was a close 95-92 win. The game was one of strongly won quarters with even play on the court, except with the Hornets having some better rebounding and sinking 10 additional free throws, missing only 2 on the night. Remember that. Also, Beasley had a 9.1 TS%

The 104-96 loss to the Lakers was another hard-fought game that was tied going into the fourth, and tied again with under 6 minutes left to play. From that point on, their backcourt (Steve, Kobe) just outplayed the Hornets backcourt (Eric, Greivis).

The 121-110 loss in the second night of a road back-to-back to the Kings was the only game of the week that was not competitive, with the Hornets only closing the gap to 11 in garbage time. The 11 point advantage at the line (80% conversion rate) and rebounding advantage just was not enough to overcome fatigue and the Kings’ offense.

In the 96-93 loss to the Clippers, the Hornets were short-handed, having lost Davis for the season and Vasquez for the game, out-played the Clippers, even with allowing a surge in the fourth, except that they managed to leave enough points at the line to lose the game. This was uncharacteristic given performances earlier in the week. When you outplay a better team, you can’t have luck turn against you, and that’s what happened. Tough loss.

News

The big news this past week is, of course, Davis’ injury.

New Orleans Hornets rookie F/C Anthony Davis sustained a sprained Medial Collateral Ligament and bone bruise in his left knee during last night’s contest against the Sacramento Kings. Further evaluations and an MRI performed today by team physicians revealed no additional structural damage. As a result, Davis will miss the remainder of the season.

The injury occurred with 5:45 remaining in the fourth quarter of last night’s game at Sleep Train Arena when Davis collided with Kings G Marcus Thornton. Davis (6-10, 220) is averaging 13.5 points 8.2 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks in 28.8 minutes per game this season.

In the too-little-too-late department, Eric Gordon is free of all medical restrictions and played in his first back-to-back in over a year.

Second to that would likely be the shouting between Monty and Gordon. More on this below.

In rebrand news, pelicans.com redirects to the Hornets site. It used to be a band’s website. Thanks to GEAUXmedic on Hornets Talk for this.

Lastly, in a follow up to last week’s piece, I took a trip out to the practice facility, and the new office space is buttoned up, but I’m sure has a ton of work left on the inside. The practice facility itself is still a frame. A big frame.

Around the Site

In the In the NO podcast this week, Ryan and Mike discuss the Monty-Gordon incident, then get into looking at guards for the Pelicans. Continuing on with these themes, Michael takes an in-depth look at Shabazz while Jake looks at what was before the incident if not behind it.

Finally, with the final home game for the New Orleans Hornets upon us, we remember “Hornets.”

`Voices’ of the People

Another thing to think about is that the current makeup of the Hornets have a ton of solid role players at almost every position. We don’t need any more role players. We need star potential. Players who can take over the game, esp offensively. Smart and Shabbaz both fit the profile. Smart won’t be there at #5, Shabbaz will be. Let’s roll the dice and see what happens. — edbballin504

I don’t disagree that L.A. is the better team (esp. with AD23 on the bench), but the real difference in this game was when much-maligned Clippers Head Coach Vinny Del Negro went with a smaller line-up in the 4th quarter, putting Eric Bledsoe at the point and CP3 at SG.– come on pelican

As much as I am on board with Pelicans, it will be a little sad to watch the last New Orleans Hornets game ever. I’ve only been a really involved fan for a few years, mainly because of CST’s lack of coverage. Thus, I can imagine the feeling of those who have been in at the start in NOLA, or even before in Charlotte. It’s a good duo of teams to end the home games on as well; the obvious Clipper connection and the Dirk flop-fest a few years ago in the playoffs are great send-offs. — Will

42 Sense

Gordon has been playing pretty efficiently (well, scoring efficiently), so I took at peek at what he’s done in his 40 games all season, grouped into arbitrary 5-game blocks.

This shows that he’s become more consistent of late. While his TS% has dropped each season he’s played, this is positive news. Also, his earlier outbursts show he has some still in the tank. Not that kind of tank.

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