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Quite an entertaining game on Orlando tonight, as the depleted Hornets came out on fire and dropped 70 points in the first half, taking a 15-point lead into the break. They were able to weather the Magic storm in the third quarter but it was too much Vince Carter in the end that buried them. 123-117 was the final score.

Vince Carter

Carter dropped 34 points in the second half and 48 total, his biggest scoring outburst in more than 9 years (Update: Elias says he scored 51 for the Nets once, so maybe not). There wasn't much the Hornets could have done differently against him. He had some open looks in the game, but more often than not he was taking well-contested shots. I'd go so far as to say that many of them were ill-advised. But he was hitting them, so it worked out well for the Magic.

Darren Collison

Collison played extremely well in the first half, pushing the pace when appropriate, making patient plays in the halfcourt, attacking Jameer Nelson and sticking a bunch of jumpers. He had 16 points and 8 assists heading to the break. In the second half though, he was a completely different player. He appeared much more hesitant in driving the ball and he was front-rimming his jumpers, leading me to believe that his legs were failing him out there.

Collison also had trouble keeping Nelson out of the lane, though that was mostly because of the solid high screens set by Dwight Howard and poor help defense by the Hornets bigs at the back. Nelson didn't score much himself off those drives, but he got the majority of his 10 assists that way, usually kicking out to the left corner for an open triple.

Dwight Howard vs. the Hornets bigs

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Let's see if the Hornets can pull off another surprising road win. They play the Magic in Orlando tonight in a nationally televised game on TNT. Action tips at 7 Central.

At 34-17, Orlando are tied with Denver for the third-best record in the NBA. The've won five of their last six and are 19-5 at home this season. Like the Bobcats, who the Hornets just beat on Saturday, the Magic are known for their defense, holding their last six opponents to an average of 88 points per game. Reigning defensive player of the year Dwight Howard has been on a roll recently, averaging 21 points, 15.2 rebounds and 3.6 blocks in his last five.

The Magic are coming off yesterday's big win in Boston, bouncing back from an unexpected loss to the Wizards at home on Friday.

Numbers:

Pace: Magic 95.0 (15th), Hornets 94.2 (20th)
Offensive Efficiency: Magic 106.4 (11th), Hornets 104.9 (14th)
Defensive Efficiency: Magic 99.4 (2nd), Hornets 105.7 (19th)

The Hornets are looking for their fifth straight win on the road, but may still be without Marcus Thornton who's listed as questionable for tonight. On Saturday the Hornets ended a three-game losing streak by beating the Bobcats in Charlotte, thanks in large part to a career-high 24 points from Darren Collison.

Rival bloggers: Orlando Magic Daily (THN) | Orlando Pinstriped Post

(Many thanks to Dariusz for today's banner featuring Bobby Phills. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz's designs in our Wallpapers vault.)

Normally after a game, I want to write about some items of interest about the Hornets game plan, and then bring up some other items to  illustrate styles of play from either team.  Tonight, however,  I'm flabbergasted.  Nothing in that game was normal or consistent.   Well, other than the fact Tyson Chandler wasn’t playing and Okafor was.

Where was the vaunted Charlotte defense?  Why did Nazr Mohammed not play in the second half for the Bobcats?  When was the last time Peja Stojakovic took 12 shots and every one was a different type of shot?  How does Morris Peterson end up with the best +/- of any player in the game?

Darren Collison

Tonight Collison had to score rather than create.  Despite having a great skillset for a rookie, he does not have the best court vision on drives.  He’ll find guys in the corner, or the big rolling to the basket, but he rarely finds the shooters on the wings unless he’s turned back on his drive and uses them to bail him out.  The Bobcats are a disciplined team, keeping fairly tight on the guys in the corner, and mostly relying on the guard and big in the paint to contest on penetration.  That style of defense left Collison with few of the passing options he was comfortable with . . . so he did other things:  he pushed the ball hard on fast breaks,  hit a few nice foul-line jumpers, and got to the rim on the biggest play of the game, dropping a tough layup over Ray Felton with his off hand.  Big shot.   He’s proven to be scary good in the closing minutes of games this season.

David West

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After going 0-3 on their homestand, the Hornets are back on the road again with a stop in Charlotte this evening. Game tipping at 6 Central.

The Bobcats are 24-24 on the season, but they've been outstanding at home, boasting an 18-5 record and holding opponents to NBA lows in points per game (90.6) and effective field goal percentage (46.2). Kevin Arnovitz showed why Charlotte are so good defensively on TrueHoop a few weeks back.

The Bobcats are coming off a six-game West coast road trip which saw them go 3-3. On Wednesday they lost 97-99 to the Lakers, despite 30 points on 16 shots from Stephen Jackson. All-Star Gerald Wallace did not play in L.A. due to a hamstring injury, but is expected to play against the Hornets.

This will be the first meeting of the Hornets and Bobcats since the Chandler-Okafor trade last summer. Okafor has yet to miss a game this season and is averaging 11.3 points and 9.6 rebounds, while Chandler has played just 25 games due to a foot injury and is averaging 6.6 points and 7 rebounds. Don't get your hopes up for a battle of those bigs tonight though: Tyson has not played since December, and while he did practice fully yesterday he remains on the inactive list for tonight's game.

No word yet on whether Marcus Thornton (lower back contusion) will return to action for the Hornets tonight. Hopefully so, because they'll need all the help they can get trying to put points on the board against these Bobcats.

Numbers:

Pace: Bobcats 93.2 (27th), Hornets 94.3 (20th)
Offensive Efficiency: Bobcats 100.7 (25th), Hornets 104.8 (14th)
Defensive Efficiency: Bobcats 100.0 (4th), Hornets 105.7 (19th)

Linkage:

• Lagniappe: Hornets' Haiti telethon plus some video
  
• Rival bloggers: Queen City Hoops (THN) | Rufus on Fire

(Many thanks to Dariusz for today's banner featuring Matt Bullard, who played 31 games for the Hornets back in 2001-02 and is now an announcer with the Rockets. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz's designs in our Wallpapers vault.)

Another one of those games where the Hornets dig themselves a double-digit hole but come back to make it tight down the stretch. In the fourth quarter, they were able to stop the Sixers for stretches and they were able to score for stretches, but unfortunately those two facets didn't overlap enough for the Hornets to pull it out.

94-101 the final. Here's your boxscore.

Sixers fastbreak

Philly feasted on defensive boards, quick outlets and fastbreaks. They made the most of Hornets misses and turnovers, running the ball hard and getting easy baskets at the other end. They finished with 23 fastbreak points (the Hornets had 10), but also picked up plenty of points at the free throw line due to the Hornets frequently fouling them on the run.

On the season, the Sixers average 18 fastbreak points per game, second in the league only to the Warriors. They're built well to run with horses like Thaddeus Young and Andre Iguodala. Last game against the Hornets they had a 23-11 edge on the break.

Hornets slow-starting offense

While the Sixers were finishing many of their offensive trips within seven seconds, the Hornets seemed to be painfully slow at getting into their halfcourt sets tonight. Granted, they're not usually speedy in that regard even when Chris Paul's healthy, but it was remarkable how many times the ball had yet to be moved inside the three-point line and the shot clock hitting single digits.

A lot of that was probably a consequence of the Hornets trying to run more off-ball screens and get guys like Peja cutting through the lane while Darren Collison waited out high for someone to come open. That may actually be good in the long run, since the Hornets could always do with more variation and balance in the offense. Tonight though, they probably would have been better served falling back to the pick and roll game more and letting Collison cause some havoc in the lane.

David West

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