I say, “No Kemba, no problem”, but to be honest, I was very nervous about playing a game without Kemba and Al. It’s no secret that we struggle to score the ball, and as soon as I heard that Kemba was having left knee soreness due to some cysts that have been in there since high school, my stomach began to churn. The last thing the Hornets needed was another loss, after losing to the Spurs. This was supposed to be a stretch where the Hornets could make some ground on the Heat, in order to move back into playoff contention. So how did our Kemba-less games go? Much better than I ever could have expected.
The first game was Saturday against the Indiana Pacers. Thank the heavens for long rests between games. To say the least, that game was not an offensive slugfest. It wasn’t exactly a defensive juggernaut either. Lance was going to get to face his old team in his new home. When I throw out numbers like 30.7% field goal shooting and 2-15 from the 3-point line, it really makes one’s heart sink. This is especially true when you see that the other team has 35.7% field goal shooting and have also hit 2 3-pointers. Can you believe we won this game with that terrible shooting? It took some overtime to do it, but we came away victorious 80-71. Led by Gerald Henderson’s 20 points, the Hornets eeked out a win. The only other double figure scorer was Lance with 13. This was just a straight up ugly game, but a win is a win, and I’ll take it all day. It was also a win against an Eastern Conference game, and that is important down the stretch.
The second game was today, against the terrible Minnesota Timberwolves. Again, thank heavens for a couple days off. Again, Kemba Walker would get to rest, but today, Al would get to play some limited minutes to start getting back into game shape and to knock off a bunch of rust. Well, it was a fine game to do just that as the Hornets pummeled the T’Wolves 105 – 80. It was a glorious Martin Luther King early game today, and the team did not fail to perform. Today, Hendo led the way with 17 points, but he had a good bit of help. Brian Roberts had 16, Gary Neal had 12, PJ Hairston had 11, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had 10, Jeffery Taylor had 9, Al Jefferson had 8, Biyombo had 8, Williams had 4 and Zeller had 2. We shot 44.9% from the floor, allowing only 36.2% shooting by the T’Wolves. We also connected on 12 of our 22 3-pointers (54.5%), which was a huge feat for us as we have struggled from behind the arc all season. We out-rebounded 47-42, and most importantly, we out-assisted 27-16. That’s always a huge stat for me because it means the ball was moving well and we were able to find the open man and convert it into points. Lance, though not scoring in volume, had 9 assists. Brian Roberts had 5, and Cody Zeller, who has been quiet as of late, had 4 assists and 2 steals of his own. I say this over and over, but these are the types of games I used to watch our Bobcats lose. They would face a 7-32 team and play down to that 7-32 level, and blow the game. The Hornets kept their foot on the pedal for the whole game and won in like they are capable of winning.
The Hornets play again on Wednesday, at home, versus the Miami Heat. A win over the Heat would be wonderful, since that’s whom we’re chasing for that 8th spot right now. There’s no reason our Hornets can’t turn down the Heat in CLT, and take that 8th spot, and work on climbing the ladder in the East. WE just have to take it one game at a time, continue to play smart TEAM basketball, and execute offensively and defensively.
So, let’s gear up for Wednesday…
Let’s Go Hornets!
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