My birthday present to my mom was to take her to a Hornets game. Her birthday is Friday, so I wanted to take her to Wednesday’s Hornets game against the Phoenix Suns. We have gone to Hornets games since before they were Bobcats and Hornets again, so that is always a great gift to give, and share.
I’ve been pretty harsh on the players lately as to who should be traded. If you’re on Twitter, you’ve seen NBA Trade Machine links by me for various players to move. Being “Live at the Hive” last night, I watched 3-1/2 enjoyable quarters of basketball. Beyond that time frame, I watched Kemba Walker put on quite the dribbling display. Each offensive possession consisted of what felt like 23 seconds of Kemba dribbling back and forth around the perimeter, then chucking up a rushed shot. I would say it was feeling that way for at least the last 4-1/2 minutes of the game. I’m not sure if every single play was for him to look for an opening, or if it was to get the ball to Al, and he wasn’t open to pass to, or what, but what it looked like was a coach who is trying to bank on the “clutch-ness” of a player when he shouldn’t be. Last night was a squandered 15-point lead. I commented several times that they looked good playing together. They were function like a team should. You know, players moving around, setting screens, good passes.
I suppose all good things have to end. Al had 18 points in the 1st quarter and looked to be playing like the 13-14 Al. He didn’t net that many points in the rest of the quarters though. He actually didn’t double that number in the rest of the game (28 points, which I’ll take any day). Defense slowed, shots were allowed, and offensive movement without the ball also slowed. Call it what you will, but the bottom line is that we were basically checked out in the 4th quarter and outscored 28-19, resulting in a 106-111 loss.
Do I blame the players? Well, my Twitter feed was blowing up in the 4th quarter. I never like to tweet during a game that I attend. I pretty much hunker down and I watch the whole thing unfold. My phone was vibrating out of control as the game ended and I walked to my car. Why? Well I read that Al should be traded, Kemba should be traded, that Lance was a bum, and that the whole lot should be traded and we should just start over. I probably had 20 tweets from the time I walked out the door until I got to the elevators at the parking deck.
Folks, there’s one simple truth that I will share and it pains me to do it. Coach Clifford is out of his depth with this group. There were timeouts called down the stretch of the 4th quarter where when the offense came out on the floor, no matter what they talked about during the timeout, the offense did the same thing. They did it over and over and over. I just sat and scratched my head. To get open, there must be swift passes, good movement of players without the ball, and some fancy dribbling at times. We got that last one. That’s all we got. If Coach Clifford isn’t drawing up about 7 options on offense when they come out of a timeout, we have no one to blame but the coach. It just keeps happening, and the post-game presser was lots of stuttering and stammering. Clifford has no more answers.
I don’t know how to fix it for him because I’m not an NBA coach. I can offer advice to him, but it isn’t like anyone will take it. We again allowed field goal percentage above 50%, and shot at a lesser rate. Team basketball; it wins games. Just ask the Spurs. They’ve been doing it for a while now and they got a trophy for doing it. They have crisp passes and the ball, and the team, never stops moving. We moved well for a while, but down the stretch, the body language of everyone not named Al or Kemba, showed that they knew just to stay out of the way. That creates animosity, and as we have witnessed for 19 games now, does not create wins.
I never do this. I never bash the team. I never bash the coaches, and I never bash the players. This season, with such high expectations, I’ve stooped to doing all those things. I’m not proud of it because I love my team. Fact of the matter, however, is that I promised to never candy coat it. I have always promised to tell it like it is, and I have to stick to those guidelines. Clifford has poor play calling down the stretch and poor personnel choices. Good passing with good shooters on the floor results in better shots. I can’t figure out why we keep doing this over and over. It’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. If we’re going to continue to blow games like this, throw the likes of Vonleh, Hairston, and now Taylor, into the games. I sat through the Larry Brown era, watching rookies Gerald Henderson and Derrick Brown rot away their first season when they were better than part of their starters were. We’re there now. Coach Brown banked on his vets and that’s a recipe for disaster. We’re doing it again with Steve Clifford. We want Al, Marvin, and Kemba to be the workhorses. Every team in the NBA knows how to shut us down. They shut down Al and Kemba in the 4th, and that’s the end of it because that’s all we go to. That’s a pretty easy plan to scout. Marvin can’t carry the team. Don’t point at Kemba and Al’s points last night either. It’s great that it worked for 3-1/2 quarters, but the well ran dry in the 4th, and we had nothing. Even Michael Jordan started winning more rings once he had a supporting cast around him. There may be nights that your star throws up some great numbers, but most nights, there are 2 big scorers, and then 4-5 other scorers in double figures. That’s how a TEAM wins games.
Regardless of what ANYONE says, we don’t need to trade a soul. We may want to call Nate McMillan, Mark Jackson, or some other coach that isn’t busy, to come in here and coach our players. Nothing else is working and I’m tired of seeing our players getting blames. They’re doing what they are told. Too bad what they are told won’t work anymore.
Next game is Friday in Philly. Ever had a feeling that it’s a game we may screw up and lose. If we keep with our current game plans, I believe Philly might get a win against us. I just pray that the Hornets organization has someone that reads every article about them and this one catches someone’s eye and makes them stop and think.
I love this team forever, but it’s time for a dose of truth, of tough love.
Let’s Go Hornets!
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