Hornets fans, our beloved team has now won 2 games in a row. I didn’t write an article after the victory in Philly because honestly, it was a game that we should have won. I mean honestly, a team with 24 turnovers in a game should not win. I feel bad for the Sixers though. They really are trying. They did have 12 blocks on the night. That’s pretty impressive. I want to point out a few points from the game though that should be mentioned.
Al and Kemba chipped in 50 of the 109 points on the night. It just scares me to death that we have to ride those 2 so hard. I fully understand having the starters in the game down the stretch to close out a game, but I also think that we should be able to make substitutions down that stretch to be able to rest the starters. In this game, Kemba and Al both stayed in for the entire game. 36 and 37 minutes of time on the court that I didn’t think they should have logged. Gerald Henderson had 11 points, Gary Neal had 10, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marvin Williams each had 9, and PJ Hairston had 7. Now, this is my first concern with the team; who can we go to down the stretch when a 20-point lead has been built. For the back story, the lead started melting away as we got deeper into the 4th quarter. Al and Kemba had to stay in to finish the game because, as bad as the Sixers are, they were still shooting 45.1% from the floor and 46.2% from the 3-point line. That was better than out 43.9% and 41.7% respectively. They also outscored us in the 2nd half, indicating that we didn’t close out as well as we should have. That screams that down the stretch, like in most of our losses, we should probably have more defenders on the floor down the stretch to get stops.
Flash forward to game 2 of our back-to-back as the Utah Jazz came to town last night. The Jazz have the record more similar to ours, so, on paper, perhaps this should be a close game. Fortunate for us, the game was not a close one. We held the Jazz to 38.8% shooting from the floor and 25.8% from 3-point land. We shot quite well last night: 48.3% from the floor, 40.9% from 3-point land. These were numbers that every Hornets fan should be smiling about. Factor in also that Kemba had 20, Al had 19, Hendo had 17, MKG had 13, Gary Neal had 8, and Cody Zeller and Marvin Williams each had 7. Scoring like that wins games. Grabbing 49 rebounds helps as well. Al and MKG each had double-doubles. We also outscored the Jazz in the second half, which could be an indicator that we are learning how to close out games.
There was a point in the 4th where we had gone back to the”offense-strong” groups on the floor, and the result was the Jazz chipping into our lead. Fortunately, a timeout took out a lightly injured Al and Gary Neal, and MKG and Biz came into the game. For me, this speaks loudly because we were able to finish out the game with Jeff Taylor, Marvin Williams, Jannero Pargo, Jason Maxiell, and PJ Hairston on the floor. I fully believe that this team, with a lead, can throw in a “defense minded” lineup on the floor to close out the game and give the starters some rest. Know that before Taylor, Pargo, Taylor, and Maxiell coming into the game, the lineup was Kemba, Henderson, MKG, Williams, and Biyombo. Neal and Jefferson came out. We were able to hold the Jazz scoreless for almost 3 minutes with that squad on the floor. I’ve always believed that unless we needed points, we needed Al to be on the bench and Bismack needed to be on the floor for defense. A mild groin strain allowed for my curiosity to be tested. We must have a couple scorers on the floor, but defense down the stretch wins games.
Tomorrow, we face the Denver Nuggets. Denver is a 12-15 team, and is a great next challenge for our 8-19 Hornets. A win tomorrow will officially allow us to say we are on a win STREAK. Let’s just hope that these last 2 games really is a turning point, a springboard for our Hornets, and we start winning some games.
Let’s Go Hornets!
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