SB Nation User Blog: atthehive

Guards: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 692,518; Tracy McGrady (Hou) 281,545; Steve Nash (Pho) 272,135; Chris...

atthehive — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:47:29 -0000

Guards: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 692,518; Tracy McGrady (Hou) 281,545; Steve Nash (Pho) 272,135; Chris Paul (NO) 248,049; Jason Kidd (Dal) 207,247; Jason Terry (Dal) 131,422; Aaron Brooks (Hou) 131,167; Chauncey Billups (Den) 112,509; Brandon Roy (Por) 106,416; Deron Williams (Utah) 94,715; Manu Ginobili (SA) 75,392.

Hornets Live Dangerously; Dispatch Wolves Again

atthehive — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:23:04 -0000

Come April, odds are good we'll look back at November and December and rue the should-have-been wins. Thankfully, this won't be one of those, but it sure was close.

Where to begin? At a glance, it's difficult to say how we were in this game at all. New Orleans was unforgivably passive, perhaps more so than in any game all year. The 25 three point attempts and countless long two's speak to this; Minnesota attempted just 9 triples, instead opting to parade around in the paint all night. Additionally, the Hornets visited the line a paltry 10 times in 91 trips down the floor. Chris Paul and David West combined for two free throw attempts. I could go on and on about this- in fact, more on this a bit later (esp. re: Paul)- but first, the key plays that led to the win.

#1- Paul's Lay-Up (Duh)

The game-winner obviously stands out. The Hornets were clearly at a disadvantage with under 10 seconds left and the Wolves with a foul to give. In such circumstances, even a catch and quick move to get free could be easily negated. Tim Floyd and Jeff Bower showed terrific understanding of this. Instead of employing the "pass to Paul, let him do something" technique, they did one better. The original inbound play called for Posey to inbound, Paul to catch, Posey to cut right baseline, and Paul to hit him. Unfortunately, the inbound itself was well defended by Minnesota. Paul couldn't handle a tough inbounds pass, and the play was lost. Minnesota opted to foul CP at that point. Hindsight being 20/20, the Wolves may rue the decision, but it was certainly the right call.

After the subsequent timeout, Jim Flower's decision to go with the same play call was quite gutsy. It would have been one thing if the previous play had disintegrated right at the inbound. Instead, Posey tossed it in and made his run right to the rim. Everyone knew that if Paul had made the catch, Posey had the layup (Minny commentators- who are awesome- saw it right away). The additional wrinkle, of course, was CP as the in-bounder. "Watch the inbounder" is one of basketball's biggest cliches, but Flynn turned away anyway, and that was that.

#2- Brewer's Discounted Shot

This, over at our fellow SBN site, Canis Hoopus, amuses me.

Took away a Wolves basket?

We’re gonna lose by one now. Book it.

by LoveTo on Dec 9, 2009 7:15 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

And...

yup.

by LoveTo on Dec 9, 2009 7:28 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The shot's timing was indiscernible in real time, though it did feel like Corey Brewer had taken his time, a little too much. I'm glad the NBA has its replay system; after seeing a plethora of missed calls in the MLB playoffs and the whole Henry deal in international football, it's clear that fans of the NBA and NFL have it good. Of course, it's easy for me to sit here and say this after the Hornets won by one. Kudos to the Minny commentators for also spotting it quickly and explaining it.

#3- Posey's 3 Drawn Charges

All three happened early on in the fourth (Ramon Sessions at 9:30, Ryan Hollins at 8:10, Corey Brewer at 7:22) but all three were huge. Seriously, I can't overstate how much impact these drawn charges had on the game. He drew three charges in four consecutive possessions! In just over 2 minutes, Posey converted 6 Minnesota points to Hornets possessions (not all 3 shots were going, but Minnesota rebounders were lurking free, on each). The combined value of Posey's three drawn charges is right up there with Paul's lay-up and Brewer's discounted jumper.

Individual Players

Chris Paul had a bad game. You simply won't see him miss 9 shots and lose 5 turnovers on the same night very often. Clearly, there's still some rust he needs to work off. Much of the Hornets' lack of aggressiveness needs to be attributed to him. He simply didn't take the ball up the middle and to the hole in the second half. I say this, but then I take a step back and realize: in what will certainly be one of Paul's worst games of the season, he scored 15 points on 14 shots, had 14 assists, and scored the last-gasp game winner.

Jonny Flynn, his counterpart, was solid. Al Jefferson raised a lot of eyebrows this summer when he noted that Flynn could eventually be as good as Paul. I don't know about that, but he did hold his own. In my mind, his biggest asset is the ability to get into the paint at will. Minnesota dominated the paint, in no small part, thanks to him. He finished with 14 and 9, with just 2 turnovers. He did finish with a team-worst -12, but much of that was due to his match-up with Paul.

Ramon Sessions, on the other hand, puzzles me. More specifically, the Wolves' use of Sessions puzzles me. I loved their pursuit of him in the offseason. After a turnover-prone rookie campaign, he became a much better decision maker last year. Certainly, Sessions looked like he could turn in an All-Star type season in 2009-2010. But so far, he's getting fewer minutes with Minnesota and doesn't have nearly the same role. He racked up six assists in just 14 minutes.

Darren Collison took over the role of "Chris Paul," down the stretch in the fourth quarter. He crossed over, got into the paint, and found James Posey for the go-ahead three. On back-to-back possessions at 5:00 and 4:00, he got into the paint and made a floater, then a lay-up. While CP plays off the pick and roll heavily, Collison often takes defenders from isolation situations. It's a good change of pace to force a defense into guarding him. Dimes finished with just 4 points and 4 assists, but those two shots came on high-leverage possessions.

Kevin Love, staying on the subject of former Bruins, turned in a great game too. It's really hard not to like the guy. In limited minutes, he destroyed the Hornets' front line (which, to be fair, featured James Posey and Darius Songaila playing the 4 and 5 in the second half) on the glass.

Devin Brown did not have a turnover for the first time since November 2nd, when he played 4 minutes.

Emeka Okafor didn't do too much, again. Jeff Bower noted a few days ago that he was looking to get Mekatron involved more. Some foul trouble hurt tonight, but again, Okafor didn't have much of a scoring role. I'd like to see Paul play the pick and roll with Okafor, something we haven't seen much of. Most of Emeka's touches come on the low block. A slightly crazier idea would be a West-Emeka two-man game. With West's underrated passing game, it could certainly work. Let's see what Jim Flower comes up with over the next few games.

David West continued to struggle with his shot. 6 for 15 can be overcome against the Wolves, but it's certain doom against higher caliber opponents. And a measly 6 rebounds in 28 minutes didn't help matters at all.

Marcus Thornton is the man. No armband tonight, but he bust out in a big way on the road. He had an open three and free throw rim out too. The stat line of 20/2/1 is something we should get used to- a classic JT line for MT. Don't sweat the rebounds and assists because dude is all about one thing- buckets.

James Posey deserves another mention. Not only were the three charges huge, but he also put in the big go-ahead three. On top of that, he could have had the game winning layup too, if the inbounds play were better. With Thornton and Collison producing, the pressure on Posey to be "the" bench guy is off. I think the effects of that are becoming more obvious by the game.

Final Thoughts

New Orleans got beat on the boards and in terms of aggressiveness, in what could have been a painful loss. Instead, we're now 10-11 with a revenge game vs. New York upcoming. Monday, we're off to Dallas, to potentially rise above .500 once again.

The game flow was pretty wild- really the definition of back from the dead. Credit to the guys for sticking with it, and pulling out just our second road win of the year.

Game 21: Hornets @ Wolves

atthehive — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:54:29 -0000

Game 20: Hornets vs. Kings

atthehive — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:48:07 -0000

What We Learned from Chris Paul's Absence

atthehive — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:34:51 -0000

More photos » by Layne Murdoch - NBAE/Getty Images

Finally.

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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.

Game 19: Hornets vs. Timberwolves

atthehive — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:54:42 -0000

Game 18: Hornets @ Lakers

atthehive — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:42:38 -0000

Game 17: Hornets @ Kings

atthehive — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:08:11 -0000

Darren Collison Bests Brandon Jennings

atthehive — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:55:35 -0000

Darren Collison Bests Brandon Jennings

I saw the fanshot below about his three... thought I'd link up my piece on him post-game.

More than anything, I can't believe his defense. Looks like a skilled veteran out there.

Young Buck Stops Here

atthehive — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:03:11 -0000

More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

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That rookie label, it doesn't really matter." - Lil Dimes

Amen, Darren.

Ahead of the game, I was focused on one thing: the NBA's rookie PER leaders facing off, in Brandon Jennings and Marcus Thornton. Both had sustained high levels of basketball for multiple games, and I figured both would be on the floor with the game on the line. 25.2 points/36 minutes versus 25/36 minutes. The off-the-dribble revelation versus the off-the-ball machine. Buckets North versus Buckets South.

Instead, both guys found themselves watching a third rookie steal the show. One watched from the comforts of his warm-ups and the bench, and the other watched from a little bit closer, but ultimately, watch was all they could do with this guy on the floor.

The end-game statistics will say Darren Collison wasn't overtly spectacular. His 18 points on 12 shots, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, and 5 turnovers barely edged Jennings' 14 points on 15 shots, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, and 5 turnovers.

But Collison provided two things tonight that the box score won't tell you about: resilience and high leverage performance. The two went hand in hand.

Consider Dimes' initial play. Among other things, he missed multiple lay-ups, had a discontinued dribble in the first, threw the ball away on back-to-back possessions in the second, traveled in the third, and lost the ball to a huge, momentum-shifting, late-game, fast-break slam by Hakim Warrick. His first 28 minutes of the game had seen him produce 10 points on 10 shots, and just 6 assists versus 5 turnovers. It was not a good night, by any measure, regardless of the fact that Jennings had been just as mediocre, across from him. His finish, though, and his ability to shake off a mediocre game, was thoroughly impressive. His last 8 minutes saw him produce 8 points on two shots, 2 assists versus 0 turnovers, and a huge strip of Brandon Jennings.

Collison could easily have folded when Warrick through down that dunk. He had struggled immensely, and the spectre of Devin Brown loomed large from the bench. Instead? He canned another critical three pointer and played huge offense and defense with the game on the line. Throughout the game, Dimes made rookie mistakes; down the stretch, he made plays that most veterans in this league won't make.

Team Thornton was established a few nights ago; now it's Dimes' turn. Team Collison, rise!

Game bullets thoughts after the jump

David West gets credit tonight, too. While I still felt like he ceded too many late-game boards to Warrick and Co., West was certainly more aggressive on offense. Seemingly for the first time in a while, he was also involved in the passing game. This is the West we know of the last few years, and performances like these against teams like the Bucks should hopefully become the norm again.
Okafor again straddled the line between irrelevant and sort of useful. In many ways, he's becoming a kind of "specialist" player for the Hornets, not too different from a lefty middle reliever in baseball. Sure, he starts. But the team sets up very few plays directly for him (as opposed to the Byron Scott strategy). Then, he's pretty much yanked until the team is desperate for his rebounding or his defense. Watching Chandler's poor and injured play in Charlotte still indicates this was the right move... but using Okafor so minimally makes his contract seem far larger than it should be.
Peja Stojakovic nearly lost this game single-handedly (lots of Hornets are trying to accomplish this feat in the early going). 3 for 16 is just absolutely awful. A measly 8 boards in 40 minutes just made matters worse.
Speaking of three point bombers, Michael Redd looks super rusty. He figures to be one of the bigger players in the upcoming summer bonanza, but he'll have to play a lot better than this.
Marcus Thornton struggled on offense (3 charges) and even more on defense tonight. The defensive end will certainly be his biggest stumbling block as a rookie; there were times tonight when he really, really struggled to keep up with Luke Ridnour (who, to be fair, was among the more highly touted point guards in the L, just a few seasons ago). In fact, he was benched in the 4th quarter after giving up back to back open J's to Luke off screens. After the second occurrence, both Byron Scott and Chris Paul were letting him hear it from the bench. Not a good day for Team Thornton, but I trust he learned more in this game than in any other thus far.

We started with Team Collison, so let's end with him. On the other hand from Marcus, Collison is an amazing defensive rookie. I credit a lot of Jennings' sub-par performance to him; even on Jennings' blow-by lay-up in overtime, Collison stayed with him for almost five to six steps of the drive. Collison's most impressive attribute is his lateral foot speed (which, with modern block/charge rules, I consider to be the single most valuable attribute a defensive player can possess). It's simply uncanny. Tyson Chandler was another player with incredible lateral abilities, but he was D'ing up centers. Staying with opposing point guards is a tough, tough task in the NBA, especially with the perimeter hand-checking rules. But Collison doesn't care. That rookie label, it doesn't really matter.

Happy Thanksgiving.