Archive for the 'Hornets' Category

Hornets buzz into Detroit

Published by Matt Watson on March 16, 2008 in Hornets and Previews. 137 Comments

I’ve been looking forward to this game for awhile and it seems I’m not alone: the game was bumped (twice) from it’s original 6pm start time to 1pm so that ABC could televise it for a national audience. For the oft-overlooked Hornets, it’s about time they get a share of the spotlight: they’re an elite contender, sitting just a half game out of the No. 1 seed in the ultra-competitive West and coming into today’s game with a full head of steam having dumped the Spurs and Lakers in their last two.

Plus, Chris Paul may be the best point guard in the game — certainly an MVP candidate and maybe even the best all-around little man the league has seen since Isiah Thomas was still building his legacy and not destroying it. Unfortunately, we may not get to see Paul at his best; he tweaked his ankle late in Friday’s game, and although he almost certainly will play, he may be somewhat limited. Then again, maybe not; as Chauncey Billups said, “he’s tough as nails.”

Hornets fans aren’t quite as excited about facing Detroit’s point guard — here’s Ryan Schwan of Hornets247 delivering the backhanded compliment of the week when discussing the first time these teams met this season:

I remember the game, and Billups was doing his best Bowen impression, poking, slapping and tugging at Paul every chance he got. He’s a savvy bastard on a team of savvy bastards.

I’ll be at the game filing pre-game, halftime and post-game reports for HOOPSWORLD. Enjoy the early tip-off, and do your thing in the comments.

Update: Oh good lord this is pretty:

Pistons sting Hornets

Published by Matt Watson on December 6, 2007 in Games and Hornets. 15 Comments

Before the ball was even tipped, I was nervous about Wednesday’s game. The Pistons were playing their fourth game in five nights, and they’d be winning so easily I figured either fatigue or over-confidence would do them in. For the first 12 minutes, it looked like I was right: the Pistons shot just 30% (and didn’t grab a single offensive rebound) in the opening quarter while stumbling to a 26-16 deficit.

Fortunately, that’s when things started to look up: the Pistons clawed their way back into the game the very next quarter and even managed to enter the break with a 44-42 lead thanks to a pair of free-throws by Chauncey Billups just seconds before halftime. It was Detroit’s first lead of the game, and they never gave it up. From the beginning of the second to the end of the fourth, the Pistons outscored the Hornets 75-50, holding New Orleans under 20 points over each of the last three quarters before winning 91-76.

Because the Pistons had been blowing out opponents the last four games, the starters were actually quite rested. In the previous four games, not one player saw more than 34 minutes in a game, but on Wednesday, every single starter logged at least 35. Some of the guys never looked comfortable shooting the ball all night (Tayshaun Prince finished 3-10 from the field, Chauncey Billups finished 4-16), but it seemed like when Detroit needed a big shot to keep the game from getting out of hand early or to keep the Hornets at bay late, they got it.

Rip Hamilton finished with a game-high 21 points, while Billups finished with 18 (thanks to going 9-9 at the stripe). Rasheed Wallace tallied a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards, while Jason Maxiell scored eight with six boards and two blocks in 21 minutes. For the first time in a while, Max was dealing with foul trouble (he finished with five) otherwise I suspect he would have played more.

Interestingly enough, Flip Murray and Nazr Mohammed (edit: I missed Nazr’s four minutes) never left the bench. Even late in the game as the Pistons were pulling away, Flip Saunders left all of the starters in for the final six minutes of the fourth. I don’t know if there was any particular reason for his doing so, but I suspect watching the bench give up 15 points in the fourth the night before had something to do with it.

The Chris Paul Experience never really materialized — he finished with a modest 14 points and seven assists, shooting just 4-14 from the field. But Tyson Chandler turned in an impressive performance, scoring 17 and grabbing 22 boards in 44 minutes. I think Chandler is a solid, young player, but perhaps more than most his offensive game is a function of playing next to a great point guard, so Paul’s influence was still felt.

The Pistons host the Bulls on Friday. Despite the fact Chicago is struggling, they always, always play tough against Detroit (at least in the regular season) and have actually won three of four. It should be a good one.

Pistons visit Chris Paul and the Hornets

Published by Matt Watson on December 5, 2007 in Hornets and Previews. 32 Comments

While the debate continues regarding whether Deron Williams and Chris Paul will emerge as the best point guard drafted in 2005, the fact of the matter is that just about any team in the league would be happy with both. We’ve already seen Williams go nuts against the Pistons this year; tonight, it’s Paul’s turn as the Pistons visit New Orleans.

How high is Paul’s ceiling? My HOOPSWORLD colleague Preeton Bhattacharya examined that question recently and found that Paul’s third season in the NBA compares favorably to the third years of some NBA greats like Jason Kidd, Gary Payton and Steve Nash, not to mention another guy many of us spent years watching:

Adding someone else into the mix, Paul’s numbers and wins both parallel an all-time great statistically – although many tend to forget that Isiah Thomas was an absolutely amazing basketball player, Paul and Thomas have almost identical numbers in their third year.

Chris Paul: 36.6 MPG, 19.6 PPG, .479 FG%, .385 3P%, .917 FT%, 4.3 RPG, 10.1 APG, 2.9 SPG, 3.06 TO

Isiah Thomas: 36.7 MPG, 21.3 PPG, .462 FG%, .338 3P%, .733 FT%, 4.00 RPG, 11.1 APG, 2.49 SPG, 3.74 TO, 49 wins

Interesting, to say the least. The ball tips at 8pm on FSN. As usual, leave your thoughts in the comments.

Pistons more than OK against Hornets

Published by Matt Watson on January 5, 2007 in Games and Hornets. 3 Comments

Rip Hamilton drives on Tyson Chandler(Get it? OK = Oklahoma? Nevermind…)

With Chauncey Billups ailing and Rasheed Wallace quite clearly playing at something-less-than-100%, the Pistons limped into Oklahoma City on Thursday. Fortunately for them, they arrived to find the Hornets — without Chris Paul, Peja Stojakovic and David West — laid up in a full body cast.

Instead of playing down to their level of competition, the Pistons realized their advantage early and immediately stepped on the gas. Rip Hamilton scored 17 in the first quarter alone and helped Detroit to a 55-32 lead entering halftime. Although Detroit’s offensive intensity waned in the second half, the defense remained stifling as the Pistons cruised to an easy 92-68 victory. That’ll help the ol’ points differential.

As for the Flip Murray Experience, well, you just can’t fit what he brings to the game inside of a box score. Starting for Billups, he scored seven on 3-9 shooting with five assists. Defensively? Well, JackDutch said it best:

is there a stipulation in flip murray’s contract that if you get crossed up by jannero pargo, said contract is null and void? ian, matt, one of you cats is a lawyer, right? there’s got to be a “pargo clause” in there.

Ian is the cat in law school, and he’s pretty sure such a clause doesn’t exist. And that’s a shame, because it should. Continue reading ‘Pistons more than OK against Hornets’

Pistons slide into Oklahoma City

Published by Matt Watson on January 4, 2007 in Hornets and Previews. 7 Comments

Chris Paul on crutchesThe Hornets are playing without Chris Paul (pictured right), Peja Stojakovic, David West and Bobby Jackson. Even with Chauncey Billups still sidelined, this is a game the Pistons should win.

But as we all discovered the last time the Pistons faced the short-handed Hornets, absolutely nothing is guaranteed — a lesson fans and players alike should have learned during the team’s current three-game slide.

The Pistons have played their best when taking part in a back-to-back series. Tonight, they’re coming off of three days of rest with another coming tomorrow. That said, this game will be played in front of a national audience on TNT, so I won’t be surprised if the Pistons come out with more first-quarter energy than we’ve seen in most games this year.

As usual, leave any thoughts about the game in the comments.

Hornets embarrass Pistons: “It’s early, but it’s late enough already.”

Published by Ian Cameron on November 16, 2006 in Around the Internets, Games and Hornets. 10 Comments

Chauncey executes the spectator defense.Prepare yourselves, Piston fans, because the chorus of naysayers is about to get much, much louder.

The Pistons did not — as was expected after three full days of rest — snap out of their supposedly West-coast induced funk last night against New Orleans/Oklahoma City. The at-times listless Boys in Blue allowed the undermanned Hornets squad to sneak out of the Palace with a 100-99 victory. And — for those trying to repress memories of Golden State — were it not for the brief return of Dee-troit Basketball in the second half, the Pistons appeared headed down that same sordid path.

Hopes for the Pistons’ return to form would dissipate early. While they actually put some points on the board in the first quarter for a change, a lightweight defensive effort led to a three-point, 27-24 deficit after one. And had Tayshaun Prince not decided to dominate the offensive end in the first quarter, it could have been much worse. As it was, the Pistons had to claw back just to cut the deficit to 11 by halftime.

It was the Hornets — in the second game of a back-to-back and missing two frontcourt starters due to injury — that played with an urgency the Piston faithful could only dream of. Rookie Hilton Armstrong, starting in place of Tyson Chandler, contributed 17 pionts and 9 rebounds and hit the game winning free throw with 3 seconds remaining. Chris Paul continued to impress with 20 points (on 50% shooting), 13 dimes, and zero turnovers. Overall, NOOCH rebounded better (leading to 13 more shot attempts), took better care of the ball (only 7 turnovers), and shot better from the line. Simply put, while banged up and fatigued, they were the better team.

I could wax poetic (haiku-ic, even) over some of the moral victories in this one — Chauncey putting up 29 and 9 and showing the “Big Shot” mentality to bring the Pistons back in the second half; Tayshaun’s good quarter (too bad it wasn’t a full game); and Rip’s successful return to the lineup (23 points on 50% shooting) after missing the last two games of the west coast trip. But heaping praise isn’t deserved at this point.

How bad was this one?

“They’re shorthanded – that’s the messed up thing,” Billups said in an unusually somber locker room. “Their starting frontcourt is not even playing in this game, they had a tough trip up here last night, a back to back. It’s a bad loss. That’s the bottom line. It’s a bad loss.”

Or, to sum it up, as Billups told Keith Langlois of Pistons.com:

“It’s early,” Billups said, “but it’s late enough already.”

So here it is. As Cleveland lives up to their early season hype; as the Magic drive their soon-to-be-Piston draft pick further and further from the lottery; and as less-talented teams like Philly, Portland, and Sacramento get the max from their potential — the Pistons limp along, with their enormous sense of entitlement in tow. With every game this team gives away, the questions grow louder. What’s missing? Or, more to the point, who?

Hornets 100, Pistons 99 box score [ESPN]
‘A bad loss’ [Pistons.com]

Hornets swarm the Palace

Published by Matt Watson on November 15, 2006 in Hornets and Previews. 15 Comments

After living out of a suitcase for almost the entire season — five of the first seven games were on the road — the Pistons will play five of their next six at the Palace, starting with tonight’s game against the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, hereafter referred to as NOOCH. Chris Paul drives on the Trailblazers

On to the crib-sheet:

Who to watch: Let’s start with Chris Paul, who has drawn comparisons to Isiah Thomas and has quickly ascended into a small group of elite NBA point guards. He’s averaging 17.3 points and 9.3 assists — he has the potential to murder Detroit’s defense if the Pistons don’t tighten up on the perimeter. If they can contain him (and he’s been inconsistent this year — just two points last night), the Pistons should be okay — no one else on the team averages even 2.0 assists per game.

They’re never out of the game: No lead is safe against NOOCH, not when they have the league’s premier three-point shooting threat. Peja Stojakovic leads the team in scoring by getting almost half of his points from beyond the arc.

What happened last year? Things got a little uncomfortable for the Hornets the last time they came to the Palace, and it has nothing to do with their eight-point loss: the Palace sewers backed up into the visiting team’s locker room, which prevented the Hornets from taking post-game showers. As for the actual game, Antonio McDyess was a beast (26 points, 14 boards), playing starters’ minutes while filling in for Rasheed Wallace, who missed the game after being suspended for too many technical fouls.

Injuries? The word is that Rip Hamilton will try to play tonight but won’t make a decision until shortly before tipoff. The range of motion on his hyperextended elbow is improving but definitely not yet 100%. Complicating matters is the news that Lindsey Hunter sprained his right ankle in practice (not the problematic left ankle that he had surgery on last year). He’s almost certainly out, which means *gulp* more backup point guard minutes for Flip Murray.

The Hornets will be without starting forward David West, who’s still nursing a forearm injury, and Tyson Chandler, who lost a tooth and suffered a concussion after taking an elbow to the head last night. This is a lucky break for Detroit: Chandler leads NOOCH in rebounding and West is the second-leading scorer and rebounder. With any luck, Detroit will exploit the suddenly undersized and undermanned NOOCH frontcourt by dominating the glass.

Game starts at 7:30 on FSN — as always, leave your pre-/in-/-post game thoughts in the comments.