SB Nation - David West

Mavericks Vs Hornets: Game 25 Preview

Phillip Baggett — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:04:51 -0000

THE MATCH UPS:

If Kidd was in his prime this would be an unbelievable match up, but in 2009 this is not much match up. Kidd is simply just too slow for Chris Paul. Oh by the way, Chris Paul IS the Hornets and without him they are worse than the Nets.

Edge: Hornets

The Mavericks continue to mix and match pieces here at this spot until Josh Howard can return to a full time starter. So far what they have found that the coaches seem to like is JJ Barea. Now I am not a huge fan of Barea's but in the last few games he has filled the spot nicely, but he has been streaky, it all depends on which end of the streak he is on. As for the Hornets they have relied quite a bit on Devin Brown the 31 year old journeyman to fill this roll. If your looking for "PTPers" well don't look here, cause there is not anything special going on here.

Edge: Even

Shawn Marion showed us a glimpse of the explosiveness that we used to see frequently from him in years past, was that a sign of things to come? I sure hope so, but much like his counterpart in tonight's game age has changed their games. Peja Stojakovic still has the ability to score in bunches, but both time and many nights with porn stars has limited his successes this year.

Edge: Mavericks

Dirk continues his push to change the "soft" label that has been placed upon him. For the first time in his career he is in position to be voted a starting forward for the West in the All-Star game. David West on the other hand much like his teammate Chris Paul continues to drown in the misery that is the New Orleans Hornets. David West has struggled this year, every major stat line is down for him this year. The Hornets are going nowhere fast, and it's two top players are unhappy.

Edge: Mavericks

Erick Dampier continues to impress, in his last two games he has averaged 17 points and 17 rebounds, where the hell has this player been the last 5 years? This is the guy the Mavs thought they were getting before the 2004-05 seasons began, amazing what money will do. Emeka Okafor the former second overall pick of the Charlotte Bobcats continues to be nothing more than an average NBA center. The Hornets thought they would be upgrading significantly over Tyson Chandler, unfortunately for them it just has not worked out so far.

Edge: Mavericks

Injuries/Suspensions

New Orleans Hornets

OUT - Ike Diogu

Dallas Mavericks

OUT - None

Prediction: The Hornets rank in the bottom half of the league in both PPG and PPG against, while the Mavericks rank in the top 10 in both categories. This game will be close for about 2 ½ to 3 quarters then the Mavs bench will take control.

Final Score:

Dallas Mavericks: 110

New Orleans Hornets: 97

What We Learned from Chris Paul's Absence

atthehive — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:57:42 -0000

More photos » by Layne Murdoch - NBAE/Getty Images

Finally.

Browse more photos »

19 games into the season: we've fired a coach, hired a GM, hired a "fired" college coach, had the media call out our city as not befitting of our star player, been linked with a trade wherein we'd essentially give away our starting center for free, lost our best player "indefinitely," had our second best player utterly fail to step up in his absence, and seen a newly minted starter perform so poorly he no longer cracks the bench rotation.

Even your average, full season gone horrifically wrong does not include such a plethora of pitfalls.

The Hornets started out the gate, stumbled, fell on their faces, and the race looked over just as it began. But as the dust finally settles, nobody is actually that far ahead. Yes, we're 12th in the conference, but the 8th place Spurs are a mere 2 games ahead. Two of the teams between us and the playoff chase are the Clippers and the Kings, which needs no further comment. The obvious parallel to two seasons ago is probably worth mentioning at this point, with the Hornets in possession of an injury ridden, but talented roster (2006-2007 and November 2009) and subsequent explosion with good health (2007-2008 and December-???? 2010).

There is reason to believe that not only has the nadir passed, but also that the team is better off for having lost Chris Paul to injury.

The "Ewing Theory" was one of those things that has a small cult following for years and years before it explodes and goes mainstream, not unlike the Rick Roll. If you've never heard of it, more information can be found here; at its essence, the Ewing Theory postulates that teams often perform well in the absence of a superstar because minutes or shots are allocated inefficiently with him on the floor. For a while there, it looked like possibly, maybe, potentially, such a thing was happening with Chris Paul. The team was playing decent ball against decent teams. After a while though, it became clear this was more a result of stellar play from M. Thornton and D. Collison. Still, the Ewing Theory contributes to the first lesson we learned:

Lesson #1: Off-the-ball movement is back.

Byron Scott's philosophies have often been described as Princeton-based; ironically, his New Orleans offenses were perhaps more bereft of off-ball motion than any other in the league. Too often, the gameplan latched on to a single successful play (see: Roll, Pick and). The primary offensive change under Bower has been the implementation of repeated off-ball cuts on every play. The loss of Chris Paul allowed the team to explore different types of movement in far more depth than otherwise possible. The acclimation of the Chris Paul Offense to this new, true Princeton style will be gradual (see: Game, Crappy Minnesota). But the end product will be "easier" assists for Chris Paul. As the team was previously constructed, a Chris Paul assist occured in essentially one way: (1) Chris Paul shakes man, (2) Chris Paul attracts second defender/causes teammate to become open, (3) Chris Paul passes to open teammate. With increased off the ball movement, steps 1 and 2 aren't necessary on every single play.

The additional bonus is that all the pieces are there for this to work. 99% of Peja Stojakovic's game is screen navigation. Marcus Thornton has been a revelation off the ball. David West is one of the more underrated passing big men in the league, a central asset to any motion offense.This all leads to..

Lesson #2: The Hornets have more than two competent players.

I know PER is more a catch-all statistic than anything else, but it comes in handy for this simple exercise. Recall that the league average PER is 15. Last year, the Hornets had exactly two players above league average: Chris Paul at 30.0 and David West at 18.9. The next closest player was Tyson Chandler at a woeful 13.4, and most of his offense was CP created anyway.

Now consider our 2007-2008 season. The number of league average or above players we had was much, much higher. There were Paul and West of course (28.3 and 19.9), there was a healthy Chandler (17.5), a healthy Peja (15.7), a pretty confident JuJu (15.4), and late-season, but competent contributor Bonzi Wells (15.1). That's six, compared to a mere two in our pathetic 08-09 campaign.

This year marks a return to 07-08 in this regard, and it's taken Paul's injury to show us this fact. We have Paul at a ridiculous 32.4, and while West has been poor, he's still been around league average at 15.5; Darren Collison is at 17.6, Emeka Okafor at 17.4, and Marcus Thornton at 15.2. Forget the numbers themselves for a second; they're unimportant. The take-home message is that we once more have players not named West and Paul that can create and finish plays. Balance has returned to this team, in large part due to a terrific draft, but it took an injury to open our eyes to it.

Lesson #3: This team, at long last, has a bench.

James Posey is the third, or even fourth, best player off our bench, and that's all that really needs to be said. I don't mean that as a shot at Posey; in fact, Posey probably is at his best when he's in that sort of supporting starter, but not really go-to bench player, role.

In Paul's absence, Thornton and Collison have both shown what they can contribute from the backcourt. Up front, Darius Songaila has proven he's still a league average player that can, as a bonus, stretch a defense. Between Ike Diogu's mysterious injury, Sean Marks' neck issues, and Hilton Armstrong's existence, there are still glaring holes up front. But the rest of the second unit is clicking right now, something the Byron Scott era never witnessed.

***

This team still has serious, serious work to do. The introduction of Tim Floyd hasn't improved the defense nearly the way I thought it would; the Hornets are only out-sucked defensively by Memphis and Golden State in the conference. Defensive rebounding and opponent eFG% are two areas New Orleans desperately needs to work on. The offense has its own issues. But as the dust settles, things don't look so awful any more. The team gets its best offensive and defensive player back in Paul. David West can only go up from here, and that applies to team defense too.

Almost 20 games into the year, the Hornets' season finally looks ready to begin.

Daily Links 12/3

FLCeltsFan — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:53:52 -0000

Herald Kendrick Perkins wows one of his Chief fans
Nets lose NBA-record 18th straight to start season
Scouting report: Celtics at Spurs
Ron Artest’s best shot: Cognac
Ron Artest says he drank during games
Nothing but Nets! NJ’s worst ever
On-Court Bobblehead dolls entertain Celtics fans in between games
Globe Spurs thumbnails
Hapless Nets fall to 0-18
He’s front and center

CelticsBlog   Bonus (Random) Links
Honoring The Beast
Loy's Place    Lots of Love for the Beast
Celtics Stuff Live    iCeltics Versioning: From the Files of ManchvegasBob
Gang Green: Season 3, Episode 7
Kendrick Perkinstein
Celtics 17   Shelden Williams’ Improvement Could Cause Celtics to Make A Move
Putting a Finger on the New Scoop on Ron Artest
Iverson to rejoin 76ers(!?!).
Shelden Williams’ Improvement Could Cause Celtics to Make A Move
Putting a Finger on the New Scoop on Ron Artest
Iverson to rejoin 76ers(!?!).
Tim Donaghy has a new publisher.
Red's Army    Your KG Face of the Day
And the player with the highest basketball IQ is...
Ron Artest: "I used to drink Hennessy at halftime"
Dime Magazine Disrespects Rajon Rondo
Your Morning Dump... Where Perk makes Chief reminisce
Live blog tonight... and get your picks in
Perkisabeast    EXTRA** EXTRA** Ron Artest still a jerk
CSNNE    Beast unleashed: Perk becoming major force
Beast unleashed: Perk becoming major force
Celtics Hub Nobody Can Stop Sheed But Sheed
The Semi-Transition Game: Embrace It
Some Love for The NBA’s Best Shooter: Kendrick Perkins
Examiner   The Tiger Woods story: What if it was KG instead?
Review: When the Game Was Ours, by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson with Jackie MacMullen
North Station Sports     Brandon Jennings May Be The New School Of One And Done
Goldie's Preview - Celtics @ Spurs
Celtics Town    Doc Rivers (again) discusses minutes
Rasheed Wallace surprised Antonio McDyess by signing with Boston
Celtics power rankings
The Morning Walkthrough: Kendrick Perkins earning a little admiration
Kendrick Perkins, fourth-best shooter in Celtics history
Hardwood Houdini    Iverson Comes Out of "Retirement"
Celtics December Tour Coming to a City Near You
Lex Nihil Novi    Parish and Bird Lead C's to Victory over Blazers 83-84
Celtics Seek to Silence Sixers and the Strangler
Paul Pierce Isn't League MVP Material
CelticsLife   East is Better
JR Giddens' Twitter
Today's Video: Ray Allen Mix- Shut It Down
Nets fall to NBA record 0-18
Gino's Jungle    Bruins vs. Celtics
Today's Headlines - As Seen By Gino
Hoopdata    Thunder Making Noise with their Improved Defense
D-League Digest    D-Leaguer of Intrigue: Orien Greene
Slam Online    Raptors Call Out Their Coach
Waiting for Next Year    Cavs 107, Suns 90: Z Leads Cavs In Romp Over Suns
Sports of Boston   Ray Allen: Father First, Celtic Second
Project Spurs    Gameday Q&A: Graham Brunell of Celtics 17
News OK    With Philly out of the way, it’s derby time at Ford Center
My San Antonio    Former teammates to meet when Spurs face Celtics
Games in the City    The Race for Number Eight Games In The City
MetroWest Daily      Streaking Celtics, Spurs to square off
Dimemag   Brains vs. ‘Bron Brains vs. ‘Bron
Pass The Mic: Top 10 Point Guards Over The Next 10 Years
NY Times Disgraced Referee’s Book Describes Gambling on N.B.A. Games
Philly.com   Phil Sheridan: Sixers take a bizarre step backward
ESPN   Video: Celtics-Spurs preview
Once a gatherer, Perkins now a hunter
Kendrick Perkins' and Tim Duncan's stocks are up, while Jose Calderon's and David West's values are down
Parker keeps raising bar, then clearing it
NESN    Celtics May Be Good, But Lakers Are Showing Us How It's Done
Since Near-Loss to Knicks, Celtics Have Been On Point
Return of Glen Davis Should Make Celtics Even Better
Dueling Couches    Doc Getting A Little Concerned About Sheeds T's
Glen "Big Baby" Davis Injury Update
Bleacher Report    Prodigal Iverson: The Answer To Philadelphia's Prayers?
WEEI    Danny Ainge on WEEI
Jackie MacMullan on WEEI
Josh Q Public    Celtics: Shooting The Lights Out
Mass Live Doc Rivers walks a 'fine line' with veteran minutes, Shelden Williams gives the team flexibility, and more
Tennessean    Johnson to Rondo: Bring it on
Damn Lies and Statistics    Daily Lies & Statistics
CBS Sports    Celtics-Spurs Preview
Cleveland Leader    Cavs Still Working It All Out
Hardwood Paroxysm   Surprise! Kendrick Perkins Is Eating Your Face!
Yawkey Talkies    Celtics looking to continue domination on the road |
OSC    D-Fenders Acquire Los Angeles Native, Gabe Pruitt
Sports of Boston     Maine Red Claws Acquire Mario West
Charlotte Observer    Ajinca deal made sense, but hasn't panned out
Sporting News    Celtics-Spurs Preview
Sheed

s Techs Can Set Perk on Straight and Narrow?

Lakers-Hornets Preview

DexterFishmore — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:00:20 -0000

When the New Orleans Hornets last came to visit, they were decomposing before our very eyes. It was early November. Their season was already heading south. They were the only team in the league to have lost to the Knicks. The players had stopped even pretending to play for tenuously employed coach Byron Scott, with franchise talent Chris Paul looking especially angsty. They were a wounded animal, barely clinging to life and staggering onto the highway just as the Laker 18-wheeler was starting to gather speed.

Sure enough, the Lakers splattered them all over the concrete in a gruesome 18-point blowout. The L.A. bench played almost half the game, and DJ Mbenga logged his only career double-double. Soon afterward, Scott was informed that his services as New Orleans coach would no longer be required.

The Hornets are back in town tonight, but the teams' lineups look a bit different than they did in November. Chris Paul is out with a sprained ankle, and Peja Stojakovic might miss tonight's game for personal reasons. The Lakers, on the other hand, are nearly at full health, with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, whom the Hornets didn't have to face last time, back in action.

In other words, the highway's about to get bloody once again.

Just for giggles, though, let's start with some positives as far as New Orleans is concerned.

Weirdly enough, they've actually played pretty well without Paul. The Hornets have won four of their seven games with him on the shelf, and they're coming off a particularly impressive five-game stretch. Against opponents with a combined winning percentage of 0.634 (Phoenix, Atlanta, Miami, Milwaukee and Sacramento), they've held their own, going 3-2 in those games while both scoring and allowing 1.08 points per possession. Not bad for a team missing its only A-list talent.

New Orleans' strong recent performance is due in large measure to their promising rookie guards, Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. These two hardly played at all under Scott, who for reasons unknown preferred the dubious veteran charms of Bobby Brown and Devin Brown. With Paul out and Scott gone, Collison and Thornton have seen substantially increased minutes, and both are proving they belong. Local boy Collison has posted strong assist and turnover rates at the point, while Thornton has shown the shooting touch that made him SEC Player of the Year.

Collison will start tonight and Thornton will come of the bench, with both of them playing 30 minutes or so. The leftover backcourt playing time will get soaked up by the two Browns. Don't worry, they're still horrible. They're both worse than Shannon Brown, and maybe even "Club MTV" hostess Downtown Julie Brown.

I'm gonna stop saying "Brown" now.

Up front, the situayshe for New Orleans is pretty blah. David West has had a couple good games recently, and there are worse centers around than Emeka Okafor, but those guys are overmatched against the towering Laker bigs. As mentioned, Peja might not go - he missed Sunday's game in Sacramento and is questionable for this one - but it's not like he's some super-scary weapon anyway. If he's out, expect lots of minutes for James Posey and Darius Songaila.

Stop laughing. It's not polite.

The Hornets aren't that great offensively, ranking 16th in the league in offensive efficiency, but man, they just suck on D. (A full stat comparison is at the bottom of this post.) Especially with master thief Paul out of the lineup, they don't have much hope of slowing the Laker attack. Gasol and Bynum will get plenty of tasty looks in the paint, and Kobe Bryant should have another 30-point game if he wants it.

Their solid recent play notwithstanding, the Hornets just don't have the talent to hang with a Lakers team that's been looking increasingly sharp and merciless. Expect first-half pwnage, followed by garbagio time, and then the usual "How much of this lead will the bench fritter away?" festivities.

A true test of the Lakers will have to wait. For now, they continue to munch on low-hanging fruit.

	Lakers	Hornets
*RECORD*	13-3	7-10
*NET POINTS*	+7.9 (2nd)	-4.0 (21st)
*PACE*	98.2 (6th)	94.6 (18th)
*OFFENSIVE RATING*	104.4 (14th)	103.8 (16th)
Turnover Rate (Off.)	13.1% (7th)	12.8% (4th)
FTA/FGA (Off.)	0.25 (26th)	0.26 (25th)
Free-Throw %	73.4 (23rd)	78.8 (5th)
Effective FG% (Off.)	50.1 (12th)	48.7 (21st)
True Shooting% (Off.)	53.4 (16th)	52.8 (21st)
Off Rebounding Rate	28.0% (8th)	27.8 (9th)
*DEFENSIVE RATING*	96.5 (3rd)	108.1 (27th)
Turnover Rate (Def.)	14.7% (10th)	12.7 (25th)
FTA/FGA (Def.)	0.27 (6th)	0.26 (5th)
Effective FG% (Def.)	45.4 (1st)	51.6 (24th)
True Shooting% (Def.)	50.0 (1st)	54.8 (22nd)
Def Rebounding Rate	72.4% (21st)	70.8 (28th)

All statistical terms explained here. Parentheses indicate league rankings. Numbers are courtesy of excellent sites Basketball Reference and HoopData.

Preview: Hornets at Kings

Ziller — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:00:22 -0000

by Bill Haber - AP

Not pictured: Chris Paul's jacked up ankle.

View full size photo »

A brief Sunday preview.

THE OPPONENT

The Hornets come in resurgent, having won six of 11 and four of five. The victims have been no creampuffs -- the Hawks, the Suns, the Mavericks, the Bucks. Of course, none of those have come on the road. On the road, the Hornets have beaten only one team this season: the Clippers. But in fairness to New Orleans, the Kings are only the second below-.500 team (other than the Clippers) they will have faced away from southern Louisiana (the other being the Knicks -- the Hornets lost there, and Byron Scott lost his head).

Since Chris Paul went down, Darren Collison has stepped in ably. As a starter, he's averaged 15 points and nearly seven assists on decent shooting. He is also reputed as a solid if undersized defender -- he did good work on Steve Nash in their most recent meeting.

Fellow rookie Marcus Thornton isn't starting for Jeff Bower, but he's making a good impact off the bench, now averaging 12 points in 19 minutes on solid shooting efficiency. He is a gunner, taking quite nearly half of his FGAs from behind the arc. He is undersized in comparison with the Kings swingmen, and as I haven't seen Thornton more than about six or seven quarters of play, I can't really tell you how he'll do. He did fine last year in the SEC, which seems like a fairly long, athletic conference. We'll see.

David West remains inconsistent. He shredded Milwaukee on Wednesday, but preceded that with games in which he scored 6, 12 and 13 points. The Hornets need a better David West.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Chris Paul	10	33.9	8.5	14.3	59.4	1.9	2.9	65.5	4.9	5.8	84.5	0.3	3.1	3.4	9.2	2.1	1.7	0.0	2.8	23.8
David West	16	35.1	6.1	14.0	43.8	0.1	0.2	33.3	2.9	3.5	83.9	2.9	4.5	7.4	2.5	1.8	0.9	0.7	2.5	15.3
Marcus Thornton	11	18.7	4.5	9.8	45.4	1.5	3.9	37.2	1.8	2.5	74.1	0.7	1.2	1.9	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.0	1.7	12.2
Peja Stojakovic	16	27.8	3.9	10.6	37.3	2.5	6.4	38.8	1.3	1.3	95.2	0.9	3.0	3.9	1.3	0.6	0.5	0.1	1.5	11.6
Darren Collison	12	21.2	3.7	8.8	41.5	0.3	0.8	40.0	2.9	3.2	92.1	0.7	1.8	2.4	4.1	1.8	0.8	0.0	1.2	10.6
Emeka Okafor	16	29.4	3.9	7.7	50.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.8	3.4	50.9	3.3	6.7	9.9	0.4	1.5	0.6	1.9	2.9	9.5
Devin Brown	12	21.0	3.1	8.1	38.1	1.3	3.3	38.5	1.8	2.2	80.8	0.9	2.1	3.0	1.8	1.9	0.7	0.0	1.8	9.2
Bobby Brown	15	16.7	3.0	7.7	38.8	0.9	3.5	26.4	0.4	0.4	100.0	0.0	0.9	0.9	2.6	1.5	0.4	0.1	1.4	7.3
Morris Peterson	7	16.4	2.1	6.7	31.9	1.0	4.0	25.0	0.3	0.3	100.0	0.3	1.3	1.6	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.0	1.4	5.6
James Posey	16	20.9	1.6	4.2	38.8	1.0	2.5	40.0	1.1	1.3	85.0	0.4	3.1	3.4	1.4	0.7	0.6	0.2	2.3	5.3
Darius Songaila	16	15.5	2.2	4.6	47.9	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.6	0.6	100.0	0.7	2.1	2.8	1.0	1.0	0.7	0.3	2.2	5.0
Hilton Armstrong	12	15.4	1.3	3.1	40.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.9	1.7	55.0	0.9	2.7	3.6	1.3	0.8	0.7	0.4	2.6	3.4
Julian Wright	13	14.3	1.4	3.3	41.9	0.1	0.2	50.0	0.5	0.5	85.7	0.8	2.0	2.8	0.6	1.1	0.2	0.2	0.8	3.3
Sean Marks	5	7.4	0.4	1.0	40.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.4	50.0	2.4	1.6	4.0	0.4	0.4	0.0	0.4	1.6	1.0

INTERESTING SIDESHOW

LET'S GO NETS! LET'S GO NETS! Nets at Lakers kicks off at 6:30 Pacific. I gather there will be some scoreboard watching at ARCO, and in the Game Thread. It may seem petty, but why would I care what it seems like?

NUMERIC PREDICTION

Kings by 2.

BOLD PROCLAMATION

Jon Brockman earns a Flagrant 1.

DETAILS

The game, and Game Thread, will begin at 6 PM Pacific. Post-game thread at 8:45.

Udonis Haslem and Dwyane Wade lead Heat back to victory

DolPhanDave — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:35:35 -0000

by Alan Diaz - AP

Get up here and high-5 me Rio

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As the game began there was one thing I was looking at and that was how the Heat would look defensively. After getting a turnover on their first defensive possession, Miami committed back-to-back fouls resulting in 5 points. Meanwhile at the other end Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley both failed to finish on seemingly easy layup attempts. My main knock on Beasley remains the same...he needs to be able to finish drives consistently.

Jermaine O'Neal was very active early in the game, scoring 6 of the Heat's first 12 points. Then on back-to-back plays he was fouled and despite them not counting, hit a couple tough shots. Definitely the most active he'd been in the 1^st quarter of a game since opening night. A scary moment though as O'Neal was seen heading into the Heat's locker room with 3 minutes left in the quarter, but he would return soon after.

Mario Chalmers was all over the place in the first quarter, showing us how good he can be when he gets aggressive with the ball. He had 7 early points, slashing and cutting all over the floor. D-Wade was also super active in the 1^st half, playing like the superstar he is. 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the opening half for Wade, who hit his only three-point attempt and stepped it up defensively with two blocks.

The Heat continued scoring at will in the 2^nd half led by D-Wade, who was getting in the paint much more then he had been in the past week. Maybe a little too aggressive (if that's possible for Wade) as he missed 3 dunks, throwing them down a little too hard and clanking the ball off the back iron.

Turnovers were becoming a problem for Miami and that is what was keeping the Hornets in the game. Half way through the 3^rd quarter the Heat already had 10 turnovers. New Orleans was being led by Marcus Thornton, who scored 5 big points at the end of the quarter. Overall New Orleans used a 10-2 run to close out the 3^rd, drawing within 3 points of the Heat.

The 4^th quarter began pretty poorly for Miami. A missed shot and a turnover for Miami turned into 4 quick points and the lead for New Orleans. It didn't last though as Michael Beasley hit his first trey of the game to put the Heat back up by 2, but then the back and fourth game continued when former Heat player James Posey hit back-to-back triples, and half way thorough the fourth the Heat were down by 5. Maybe the 4^th quarter wouldn't have gotten so exciting if the Heat hadn't missed 7 of their first 9 field goals, but I digress...

Bringing the Heat right back was D-Wade who continued his dominance. He hit a couple of treys to get the Heat back in front, the first time this season Wade made more three-pointers then he missed. As the game winded down the Hornets kept shooting from beyond the arc and Peja Stojakovic hit a big one to put N.O. up by 2 in the final minute.

Responding for Miami was Udonis Haslem, tying the game up at 100 with 44 seconds left. Then after Marcus Thornton hit one-of-two from the foul line, Udonis hit another huge jumper, this one off glass, to put the Heat up by 1 with under 15 seconds left. The Heat would then clamp down defensively, forcing David West to take an ill advised jumper (to put it nicely) at the end. The shot didn't fall and the Heat would get a much needed win.

The Heat hit just 6 field goals in the 4^th quarter but still managed to come away with the ‘W'. Michael Beasley and Dwyane Wade each had a pair of triples and Udonis Haslem hit the two BIG jumpers in the final minute. Wade finished with 31 points, 6 boards, 3 assists and 3 blocks. Beasley finished one rebound shy of his 3^rd double double this year, recording 17 points and 9 boards. It was the third time this season that Beasley came up one rebound short of a double double, and his average of 6.2 per game is almost a full board more then he averaged last season (5.4).

GAME NOTES

The Heat put up 59 points in the first half (on 57% shooting), their highest scoring output in a half this season.

Finally the Heat were able to win a game when allowing their opponent to score 100 points. Defensively, Miami held New Orleans to just 39% shooting, but the Hornets hit 12 three pointers which kept them in the game.

With his second trey of the 4^th quarter Dwyane Wade tied Steve Smith for 13^th on the Heat's all-time 3-pointers list.

Jermaine O'Neal had a tough rebounding night, finishing with just 4. He was stuck on just two boards for a while, grabbing two more in the games final 5 minutes.

Daequan Cook came down with an uncharacteristic 6 rebounds in limited minutes but still found himself on the bench during ‘crunch time'. It's going to take a little while before Spoelstra feels comfortable with Cook on the floor down the stretch; maybe when he starts drilling shots on a consistent basis.

Quentin Richardson missed his second straight game with a lower back strain. He's listed as questionable for the Heat next contest on Wednesday in Orlando.

Hornets Fall Just Short of Another Impressive Win

atthehive — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:15:29 -0000

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Well, that was a tough, tough loss.

Of course there was the (lucky?) Haslem bucket to win, but we shot ourselves in the collective foot with missed opportunities aplenty. But you know what? It's tough not to be very happy with this team. We came within a few seconds of consecutively defeating the Suns, the Hawks, and the Heat without our best player. At the end of the day, the attitude and spirit of the team should be acknowledged.

Lots to talk about; let's get to some player comments first:

Right off the bat, I've got to hand it to Dwyane Wade. He was amazing last year, he's amazing this year; he's surely one of the top 3 players in the game with CP and LBJ. He was simply in a different gear than anyone else on the floor. Between the threes he hit, the blocks he made, the fastbreaks he lead, Wade simply dominated on both ends of the floor, and even his final stat line of 31/6/3 doesn't really do his game justice.
Devin Brown. As I've said many times before, Devin Brown has his uses. He can aggressively take it to the hoop for a stagnant offense or with the shot clock winding down. He can draw contact and get to the line when the other team is in the bonus. Unfortunately, he's deployed too often for other purposes. He should not be shooting threes early in the shot clock. He should not be the primary ball-handler on fast breaks. That is all.

Michael Beasley had himself a very solid game. More than anyone else on the Heat, I felt like he took advantage of the Hornets being on the end of a back-to-back. By that, I mean he routinely used his first step to get in front of a tired defender. And he often finished strong in the paint. I think Beasley will continue to be a perplexing NBA player for a while longer (ie, won't have the stats his frame and pedigree say he should), but he played a solid game tonight.
How about James Posey? He busted out of a slump in a big way, with 4 threes. He was adequate on defense too, though the days of him staying in front of a guy like Wade are long over. Bower was wise to not try that too often and simply go with what was working.
We didn't see any Hilton today; some of it may have been due to his showing last night. Sean Marks' only points came off his tip-in, and he ended up registering just 10 minutes overall.

I'd question Bower's decision to play Marks so little (in fact, he and Emeka combined for just 24 minutes). But there's actually good evidence that this was the right call. A glance at the rebounding figures suggests that both team were relatively even: 41 for the good guys, and 42 for the Wades. However, tonight was a prime instance of raw rebounding numbers lying a little bit. The Heat collected just 4 offensive boards, almost half their season average. On the other hand, the Hornets missed twenty (twenty!) more shots than Miami. The Heat had an opportunity to get their hands on twenty more loose boards than did the Hornets (defensively). So in an overall sense, the rebounding numbers balanced out. But if we look at the rate stats, the Hornets collected a whopping 88.2% of all Miami misses; the Heat collected just 77.6% of Hornets' misses.

All of this is to say that the Hornets were doing fine on the glass with Okafor and Marks sitting. Now, whether that duo could have prevented the Miami lay-up line is another question altogether.

Of course, some of the low PT was due to Emeka's foul trouble. That first half was among the ugliest, most foul-prone I've seen in a while. James Posey racked up 4 fouls in 10 minutes. West, Okafor, and Devin Brown all picked up 2 fouls apiece in the first quarter. Both teams had reached the penalty at the 6:30 mark in that period. The Hornets have to be unhappy with how it all ultimately played out, however. The Heat were able to parlay the foul-fest into 28 trips to the foul line. The Hornets? Just 19.

The Hornets' inability to get to the free throw line in such an oddly officiated game was perhaps THE biggest missed opportunity. The fourth quarter exemplified this- the Hornets had reached the bonus with 6:31 to play. The Heat were fouled just once all quarter. And yet, the Hornets took a measly four free throws in the remaining time, with the Heat achieving just two fewer (2).

Of those four free throws, the one miss was another lost chance. That shot, of course, came off the hands of Marcus Thornton, who had an otherwise exemplary game. It's hard to fault the team for missing just two free throws in 19 attempts all game. But Thornton's miss came in the clutch, and the other miss was by Darren Collison, who shot 95% entering the game, and 90% last year at UCLA. It's stupid to find fault with either player for the misses, but they'll remain in the nagging, back-of-the-mind category.

After a red-hot first half (18 points on 16 attempts), Thornton didn't receive nearly as many chances in the second half (6 points on 3 attempts). I'm not entirely sure why this is; the offense, overall, maintained good consistency though.

And, finally, the last missed opportunity came on the final play of the game. David West has knocked down many, many, many big shots for the Hornets. Those fans during the bleak Dan Dickau years will remember his game winners against Memphis, those fans during better times will remember his game winners against Indiana, Cleveland, and those same Grizzlies. The common thread amongst all those winners? Chris Paul set them up via the pick and roll. Tonight, the Hornets decided to isolate West, and it backfired. I would have loved to see Collison run the same P&R play with West.

Alas, it didn't transpire, and it just didn't happen for the Hornets tonight.

Every Rebuilding Scenario Requires Drafting Well

David Arnott — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:25:12 -0000

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Fickleness is a funny thing. Maybe the first three games of the Stephen Jackson Era have given us buyer's remorse, but in comments here and elsewhere, I'm seeing pleas to blow it all up and start over. The only problem is we can't.

One of my college friends writes Cleveland Frowns, a blog about Cleveland sports, and one of his go-to points about the Browns is that rebuilding them properly necessitates getting worse before getting better. Our situation is similar. Right now, if we decided we wanted to blow up the team and start over, the easiest thing to do, from a roster management point of view, is to simply ride out the contracts we have, only sign low-cost one-year free agents, and draft as well as possible until we have some homegrown stars who form attractive enough a team to bring other players who can support a championship caliber team.

We could also simply overpay for non-superstars and hope we hit the jackpot, like the Magic did with Rashard Lewis's contract. If we do nothing else, in the summer of 2011, we'll have shed Tyson Chandler's and Nazr Mohammed's contracts, which will probably be enough space to overpay for the likes of J.R. Smith, Troy Murphy, and David West. We'll have to draft well in order to make this work, because knowingly overpaying for someone only works when we're knowingly underpaying a bunch of guys, as draft picks are invariably underpaid.

The third option is the most unlikely. We could trade away every attractive player we have, from Gerald Wallace to Stephen Jackson to Boris Diaw, for unproven upside projects. For instance, Toronto might figure their offense is so good this year that they just need a defensive stopper to complete the championship picture, and Gerald Wallace would make sense. Maybe Washington is willing to take a chance on Stephen Jackson. I don't know what other teams will want from our roster, but I do know that those teams won't want to give up their most valuable lottery tickets in exchange for our proven non-superstars.

In the end, every single scenario requires the Bobcats to draft well in order to rebuild. We have to trap players here. Milwaukee showed us one way to do it. Say Brandon Jennings becomes the next Dwyane Wade. They've got him under control for years, paired with Andrew Bogut (another draft pick), and shrewd pickups like Hakim Warrick.

Of course, the current Bobcats brass isn't exactly noted for its drafting acumen. The real change probably starts there.

GAME PREVIEW: SUNS VS. HORNETS (less Chris Paul and Byron Scott)

Wil Cantrell — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:26:56 -0000

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See, Sean Marks everyone! (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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My how the mighty have fallen. The New Orleans Hornets plight is one that every Suns fan can relate to. Sucking, then becoming a contender, and then sucking again. Going through a coaching change, etc. Of course the Hornets descent from up-and-comers to down-and-outers was much shorter than the Suns. What in God's name happened to these guys? In 2008 the Hornets picked up 56 wins, and barely lost in the Western Conference Semifinals to the dreaded San Antonio Spurs. That team was 5th in the league in offense and 6th in the league in defense. That lineup included the youngster CP3, the up and comer David West, the tenacious Tyson Chandler, and Peja Stojakovic. On the bench was Pargo and Bonzi. That year they owned the Suns, taking all 4 of the match-ups.

But last year the Hornets were one and out in the playoffs. Tyson Chandler fought the injury bug. CP3's main target for assists was gone, leaving David West to shoulder the scoring burden, while the gimpy Peja Stojakovic and James Posey attempted to carry the offensive and defensive load.

Of course all that is ancient history, which leaves the Hornets in the here and now. The Suns destroyed New Orleans nearly a week ago, which may or may not have slammed the last nail in the coaching coffin of Byron Scott the following day. HMM. I suppose the Suns alone cannot take credit for the Hornets debacle of a season thus far, we didn't injure CP3, and the internal problems existed beforehand.

Now, the Hornets are led by Jeff Bowers, who recently picked up his first victory against the Clippers. The win was ugly, but as we all know a W works much better than an L. One a one game winning streak, these Hornets could be dangerous. Yet after looking at the remains of their roster, I gotta admit, I'm not too scared, and I hope I don't have to eat my words (of course it wouldn't be the first time).

Match-Ups

Guards

Devin Brown and Darren Collison do not strike fear into my heart. Collison is the CP3 replacement, a rookie from UCLA who may end up being a nice player, but I see Steve Nash taking him to school tonight. Devin Brown picked up 16 points, dopwning three of six from three point range in the Clipper win, but Jason Richardson is far superior. I predict Rich posting up Brown whenever he can and raining three pointers once Brown begins to anticipate Richardson's intentions. On the bench is Bobby Brown, who evidently has put down the microphone for good, recovered from his ugly divorce with Whitney, lost some serious weight, and has now embarked on an NBA career. Kudos to him, although I really enjoyed his reality show. Another youngster on the Hornets roster is Marcus Thornton, a 2nd round pick from LSU. He has played in 7 games and hasn't done too much exciting stuff. Still, atthehive.com reports that he can "fill it up." So perhaps we'll have to watch for that.

Forwards/Center

David West and Peja Stojakovic are the only real offensive threats on this Hornet squad right now. With Chris Paul out, the onus of scoring falls on these two players. While West is capable of going for 30 on any given night, there's much less of a chance without Paul around.

Peja is averaging way below his career mark of 17.6 points per game. He's shooting 37% from the field and 33% from three point range. The injuries have taken their toll on him. Still, he has a career mark of 17.8 PPG against the Suns. While he certainly isn't having close to an All-Star season, he is always capable of getting hot and doing damage to the opposition.

James Posey is also a capable Forward/Guard who can shoot from long range, but like most of the Hornets, is struggling. At 3.9 points per game, I cannot say I'm real worried about him all of a sudden pouring in 40 to make the difference in this one. Emeka Ofafor is a quality player. He battles on the boards and is an opposing figure in the lane. But he is a waste in New Orleans. He is averaging a career low in points and rebounds per game. It's fairly clear he hasn't assimilated in New Orleans and it's too bad. At the Hive is speculating he could be dealt. I'd love to have him on the Suns.

How many of you knew Sean Marks was still playing in the NBA? Gotta admit I had no clue. He's a Hornet as is Ike Diogu. Will either make any difference? Will either see any playing time. Doubt it. Diogu though makes me wonder. He's now on his fourth team in four seasons. The former Arizona State product was the 9th pick by the Warriors in the 2005 draft. What's the deal? Are the Warriors that awful at scouting college talent, or is Diogu just not NBA caliber. I know he's struggled through some injuries, but to be picked 9 and amount to nothing is kind of odd in this day and age. I realize it happens....Oh well, best of luck Ike...

Predictions

Unless the whole Suns team suffers food poisoning, I don't see us losing this one. In fact I'm predicting a blow out. I don't like to make such predictions, so I'm knocking on wood, but really, the Hornets are down and out. CP3 is the engine that makes the Hornets go, and he's gone. At this point they have no suitable replacement for him. And while Peja, West, and Posey are capable scorers, someone has to consistently get them ball. While opponents had to worry about CP3 taking the ball to the rim and shooting from the outside, they also had to concern themselves with him feeding the scorers. Forget about all that, there's no way we should lose this game.

Pregame Links

Byron Scott Fired....Who's Next?

tenaciousT — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:00:22 -0000

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NBA Head Coaches are like cats on a hot tin roof. You wonder why they're up there and how long they can stay on.

It’s a tough job. You have to be a leader, be a bit mad, and have significant people and organizational skills to be successful. And you have to have "it’ – what ever "it’ is.

The news of the firing of Hornets Head Coach Byron Scott rippled through the nets of NBA newswires.

First, new comer Emeka Okafor is slow to recover from a toe injury, then Rondo challenges Chris Paul, and now Byron is gone. Things ain’t so easy in the Big Easy, and got worse with Paul's ankle inury. With a 3-6 record to start the year, after winning 49 games last year, I guess someone had to be blamed. It will always be the coach.

Honestly, I was surprised the Hornets held it together as long as they did after the first attempt to trade Tyson Chandler to the Thunder. That was as direct a sign of financial needs taking precedence over winning as you can get . Yes, that can affect team morale.

Such a move would not be surprising for a non-contending club, but for a team with playoff aspirations, it was an eyebrow raiser. Then, reminiscent of a Denver flip flop, they tried to compete, even adding Antonio Daniels later in the year. The Hornets had added our own James Posey the summer before, hoping that he was that final piece. My how things change. This roster was never deep.

Scott was Coach of the Year just two years ago. The head coach position is, at best, precarious. Yahoo! Sports Marc Spears reports that it was intimated that there were chemistry issues and philosophical differences between Scott and some players.

Adrian Wojnarowski has more on Byron. Ironically, Scott was ousted from New Jersey largely because of Jason Kidd. This time he makes sure he has a good relationship with his star point guard, Chris Paul – but loses much of the rest of the team. Go figure.

Wojo reports David West says they ‘didn’t really run many plays’, and said they needed a change. It was suggested that CP3 doesn’t really like Jeff Bower. Now the Hornets 'franchise' goes down with an injury. He left the arena last night on crutches.

The devastation in the Crescent City is approaching Katrina levels. There is no truth to the rumor that the Hornets owners, the Shinns, who are as much responsible for the current situation as anyone, are calling FEMA for help. But blame is also shared by Bower, who was lauded a few short years ago.

Some Hornets’ management were unhappy that Scott was playing rounds of golf amid such a start, even requiring the team’s to ‘push back a departure date’ to accommodate on one occasion. Coach Scott was 'linking it' with Chris Paul.

Doctors had cleared Emeka Okafor to play at least a week before he actually did. Players were starting to wonder. Did Scott appear to be too lax with players?

If so, that would only be another tiny stick on the fire. The 58 point loss to the Nuggets in last year’s playoffs was a telltale sign that things weren’t right in the Big Easy.

I’m wondering how happy James Posey is at the moment.

So GM Jeff Bower takes over. Never a head coach but with adequate sideline experience, and with Tim Floyd at his side, they will try to resurrect this season. Chris Paul holds that team together. Depending on the extent of his recent injury, an already disastrous start could become a wasted season.

Economic Uncertainties

For other teams, the only fringe benefit from such a team's decline, if the team's direction isn't righted, might be a fire sale on its roster.Though the Shinn's are spending above the cap currently, the previous idea to pair down salary might re-surface. And if you are spending over the cap for a team that hasn't even played .500 ball this season, who would blame them?

Hard economic times haven't shaken out of the U.S. economy yet. Even in a cash rich off season coming up, teams might not have as much money to dispense as before with a lower cap. A new CBA is being negotiated and the possibility of a lock out isn't out of the question. That could all lead teams like the cash starved Hornets to make Draconian moves.

The next question is...who...other than David West and CP3, would you want from that roster?

No one's taking Peja's $29 million off their hands. Okafor, Posey, Mo Pete? Solid players all, but financially, not a bargain among them.

But that's getting ahead of the game. Can Bower, a healthy CP3, and a healthy Emeka Okafor save this season?

In the meantime rumors are surfacing that Don Nelson' s Golden State job might in jeopardy, as well as Mike Dunleavy's in Clipperland.

The Gong Show

Let's take the Chuck BerrisTour around the league of potentially bad acts about to be gonged.

Call it a jump up on the hot tin roof. We are looking for some hot feet. Some other 'cats' might be feeling the heat soon. Remember the domino effect or serial firings last season?

What other head coaches else could be in jeopardy?

a) No doubt, the Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Woodson is on the hot seat this season. You might wonder why.

He has finally gotten Josh Smith to stop taking threes and J-Smoove appears to be playing more within the offense and around the hoop more – where he should be.

At 7-2, and a trophy win over the Celtics in Boston, they are off to another fast start. Can they sustain it? They have a rolling offense (107.8 =4th best) but their defense is giving up 6 points more than last season? Does it matter when you are 7-2?

The big question here is…. What will be required of this team for Woodson to get a new contract?

Another what if…..

b) The Cavs started 3-6? Would Coach Mike Brown be packing his belongings? Remember all the post playoff murmurings about alleged Cavs management unhappiness with Brown?

Cleveland seems to have righted the ship. They just beat a surging and defensive minded Miami Heat. After starting 0-2, they are now 6-1 over their last seven.

But there is a strange trend developing here. Sam Mitchell was Coach of the Year in 2007. He was fired in 2008. Byron Scott was Coach of the Year in 2008. He was fired in 2009. Guess who got Coach of the Year in 2009?

Yep. Mr. Mike Brown step up on to trap door, please. Does that mean he is safe until 2010? Hide that gonger.

Interesting statistic: Shaq has not had an offensive rebound for 4 straight games.

c) The Timberwolves are off to a horrible start at 1-9. Kevin Love out is only part of their troubles. Will Kurt Rambis get the whole year to work with this team, if things continue as they are?

d) Lawrence Frank – the Nets are decimated with injuries. They weren’t going to be all that good if all were healthy. Will he become the fall guy for the 0-9 Nets? It appears so, but it might not happen until the year is over. Can Frank fight the odds, do well enough with what he has to rise a a phoenix? Odds are against it.

e) Mike D’Antoni – the Knicks are 1-9. Why do I feel that he won’t be blamed? Oh yeah, Donnie Walsh hired him.

f) Flip Saunders’ Wizards are missing Antawn Jamison…but they are still playing terrible ball. This one surprises me… and probably everyone else. What is the problem with the Wizards? They are 2-6. Worse they are have lost their last 5 and haven’t scored over 90 points in any of those games. Wait a minute. Whew. They just signed Earl Boykins. Everything is going to be fine now.

g) Lionel Hollins – he didn’t want Iverson in the first place. Can he get the team back on track? They are 1-9 and on a 8 game losing streak.

h) Paul Westphal has the lowly Kings off to a solid 5-4 start, including an impressive win at Utah. His job is more than safe…if they play anywhere near this level for the rest of year.

I) Mike Dunleavy – he won’t fire himself as the GM of the Clippers. But now Donald Sterling may do the job himself. What would it take for his removal? The team is without the number one pick Blake Griffin and shooting guard Eric Gordon. They are 3-7. The league's most frugal owner has spent like a drunken sailor of later ($59 mil) compared to his previous history.

J) And last but not least – Don Nelson. His Warriors are 2-5. Will trading ingrate Stephen Jackson allow this team to play better ball? Don’s not going anywhere with his contract..or is he? Will we get to watch another year of "The Don" in action? I still have fond memories of his resurrection of the Warriors a few years ago, culminating in a Dallas take down. will his friend Larry Riley gong him?

Coaches are an unbelievably positive, tenacious group. Sometimes get out of hand. Someone has to pay for under performing teams. Often coaches are part of the problem. Sometimes, it's just easier to fire one man than trade many players.

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof....
Brick: You'll make out fine. Your kind always does.
Maggie: Oh, I'm more determined than you think. I'll win all right.
Brick: Win what? What is, uh, the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?
Maggie: Just stayin' on it, I guess. As long as she can.

So, what is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof in the NBA?

Maggie knew. Just staying on it, I guess. As long as he can.

Who's next?