Charlotte completed their sweep against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night as they won 104-86. The 18-point victory was ONLY 18 because we were able to let Jeffery Taylor (4 points & 1 rebound in 9 minutes), Noah Vonleh (10 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 16 minutes), and Jason Maxiell (14 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal and 4 blocks in 20 minutes) in this game. The lead often grew into the 30s, but games like these are where you have to get your guys that are in need of minutes on the floor, and let your starters rest. Granted, the Nuggets were without the “Manimal”, Kenneth Faried, but we were without starting PG Kemba Walker, Bismack Biyombo, and Marvin Williams. I did see someone make mention that the reason we were winning was because the lack of Faried…but we beat them with him playing too, so, nah, that wasn’t it.
Stats for the night were astonishing for the Hornets as they out-rebounded the Nuggets 57-44, and out assisted them 32 – 21. Lance Stephenson set a career high for assists on the night with 13, to go along with 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. I’ll 100% allow his 3 turnovers against the 13 assists that he had. Perhaps he’s turning a corner for the Hornets and finding what his role needs to be. It was a given that he isn’t a prolific scorer, but as a distributor, he can be amazing. Saturday was one such display for him.
Notes to look at include our 0 – 11 3-point shooting. That’s a problem. It wasn’t Saturday night as we were scoring at will in the paint, but it’s definitely something that Coach Price needs to work on with Neal, Hairston, Roberts, and even Zeller. I believe I want Zeller to start shooting the 3-ball as well. I have more to talk about with Cody in a bit. We shot 47.3 % from the floor while holding Denver to 35.9%. Again, the numbers looked better until we brought in the guys who needed minutes. Those guys who needed minutes had flashes of looking good, as well as bad. Taylor got into a few bad situations where he tried to jump-pass and got pinned for a travel, as well as getting blocked easily on a few weak drives. I know he can take it to the hoop a lot harder than he did, but he really didn’t show a ton of his athleticism. The 2 shots he did mate out of the 4 taken, did look good. I hope he can continue to get minutes and we can see Taylor get to where he was before the Achilles tear and beyond. I know we have Hairston, but his 0-3 from the floor, 1 steal, 1 foul, and 2 points weren’t anything to write home about in the 10 minutes he was on the floor. I don’t know why I believe in Taylor so much, but I do. It’s like my belief in Biz, and look at him after 4 seasons. He’s really coming around to be a good C in the NBA.
Noah Vonleh looked quite well in his time on the floor. He has visibly lost some “baby fat” and put on some muscle. He needs to continue to add muscle to his young frame though. Strength is a key in this league if you’re playing the 4. There are so many stretch 4s in the league, if you can add strength to your length, you can be something special. Vonleh had some really good moves on the court, and he did a good job grabbing rebounds. There was one, however, where he threw an elbow at Nurkic. Nurkic flopped a good bit to sell it, but Vonleh was whistled for the foul all the same. He knew what he did, and that’s all part of learning. He’s young and has plenty of time to grow.
I want to shift gears to our Sprite player of the Game, Cody Zeller. As our newest writer, Connor Renfro referenced in the last article, Cody Zeller has truly made monumental progress from last season. About this time last year, we saw Cody starting to get minutes. They weren’t pretty minutes, but he had been adding muscle, adding strength, and really studying the game. No one could have imagined that a year later, he would be our starting C. I fully believe it was the hope of the team, but many fans had written him off. Hard work pays off, and Saturday, Cody showed us just what that means. His stat line for the night was 21 points on 10-11 shooting. He also corralled 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists, 2 blocks and zero turnovers. It was quite the stat line for our sophomore power forward. Just imagine if Noah grows as Cody did this past season and offseason. Everyone loves Al, but if Cody continues to improve and get stronger, a starting 5 that has Cody, Noah, and MKG in the frontcourt makes for quite a formidable “big 3” that could be lots of fun to watch for years and years.
Tonight we face the Washington Wizards on their home court, marking the last game of our road trip. Hopefully we continue our defensive presence (1st in the NBA for January), and grab the win tonight. After tonight, we can head home, rest, and keep working hard as we face…the Washington Wizards on Thursday, on our home court. Let’s keep rolling Hornets. We are the 8th seed, but I say it’s time to start climbing that ladder!
Let’s Go Hornets!
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