Of course the story lines will state that the Hornets beat the Timberwolves, who were without Ricky Rubio and Andrew Wiggins. You know how it goes; Hornets beat a team that was shorthanded. Blah, Blah Blah…
Last I checked those wins still count, regardless of who did or did or didn’t play. Here’s the thing though: the Hornets bench is what beat the Timberwolves, not the starters. So how do you write about that? Let’s see: Jeremy Lin was the high scorer of the night with 19 points, 1 rebound, and 3 assists. Jeremy Lamb shot 8-10 from the floor (80%) and 2-3 from 3-point range (66%), totaling 18 points, 4 rebounds, and a steal. Cody Zeller scored 14 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals. Brian Roberts chipped in 4 points and a rebound and Spencer Hawes gave 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. That’s 57 points from the bench. It was a good thing that the bench had a great night, because the starters were struggling a little bit last night:
Marvin Williams – 7 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Nic Batum – 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks (Top starter for the night)
Al Jefferson – 9 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block
Kemba Walker – 10 points, 6 assists, 2 steals
PJ Hairston – 4 points, 1 assist – PJ had dizziness early on and was taken to the locker room
Bottom line is that our bench picked up the slack. They stepped up to the challenge and basically won the game for us. What does this mean? Does it mean out first team sucks? Does it mean we don’t have a chance this season? Are we cursed to the lottery again this year? No. No. No. No. We’re 3 and 4 folks. We got to stop reading into so many things. We have to have faith in our team. How do we expect the NBA, national media, other NBA teams, etc. to give us any respect when we don’t even give our own team the respect that it is earning? I’ve been with the team since day 1. There have been dark days. There have been many, many dark days. It has been said that rebuilding is a marathon, not a sprint. We’re running at a really good pace, securing solid players at decent prices, and for the first time in a long time, we have a solid bench that can come in and do its job. Can we get better? Yes. Can it be done overnight? No. Patience. Must…have…patience…
We can’t constantly talk about whom we should trade to get in order to make us marginally better. Some suggestions I’ve seen are horizontal moves. Others throw handcuffs on us when we know for a fact, if we sign mediocre this year; we can’t do anything next year, when salaries will skyrocket. When we go on and on about moves that look like something someone would try in NBA 2K16…let’s just say it looks like we disrespect the team as much as everyone else does. I believe in this team. I still do. I believed in it when we won 7 games (dark days of Bobcats Basketball). I bee-lieve now. I always will.
I see a bright spot in the bench stepping up last night. We have our first back-to-back of the year. We faced a short-handed Timberwolves last night, and fortunately, that flight from Minnesota to Charlotte isn’t a terribly long one. Our Hornets return home tonight to face the 4-4 Knicks. Both teams are coming off of games from the night before, so you can’t blame a loss on tired legs. Tonight should be a really good game, and I believe that the Hornets should come away victorious. I always bee-lieve that.
Let’s Go Hornets!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
