Warriors in town today to take on the Hornets in a merry game of basketball. Game tips at 7 Central.
The Warriors are 7-20 on the season, 3-13 on the road. They've lost six straight and ten of their last eleven. They're third in the league scoring 106ppg, but the 112ppg they give up is worst in the NBA. Monta Ellis leads the attack, scoring about 25 a game.
The Warriors are suffering from numerous injuries, and have been running with an eight-man rotation for the past few games. Kelenna Azubuike, Raja Bell, Andris Biedrins, Mikki Moore and Ronny Turiaf will all be unavailable tonight.
The Hornets are coming off a loss in Toronto on Sunday and are 12-14 overall this season.
Linkage:
- Lagniappe: Hornets elves, Okafor's bench splinters, CP's new shoes
- Rival bloggers: 48minutes.net | Golden State Of Mind | Warriorsworld.net (THN)
(Many thanks to Dariusz for the banner, today featuring Chris Paul. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz's designs in our Wallpapers vault.)
26 jaw-dropping comments post your own
urgmasdaughter
12/23/09 04:24 PM
Did anyone see Bill Simmons article on "how to fix the Hornets contract problems?" It's pretty ridiculous:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/storypage=simmons/091223&sportCat=nba
On a related note we'll see Anthony Randolph tonight he may be playin for his future team...
#1
urgmasdaughter
12/23/09 04:26 PM
Sorry link didn't work, here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/091223&sportCat=nba
#2
Dariusz Ejkiewicz
12/23/09 04:50 PM
I hope that everyone likes the Gameday Banner :)
www.ejkiewicz.com #3
JChangNZ
12/23/09 05:24 PM
Update on Sean Marks:
He’ll still be on the inactive list today, despite practicing fully with the rest of the team.
#4
Julia
12/23/09 05:40 PM
I'm going to the game tonight and I'm excited. My brothers bought us tickets and it was supposed to be a surprise but my mom told me hahaha. Thanks, Mom!
#5
Zwie
12/23/09 08:16 PM
well at the end of the half chris paul hits the last second shot..... but i do believe as he was walking off the court to the locker room, he had a slight limp.. guess hes still not 100%
#6
Mark
12/23/09 09:40 PM
I know they have limited players, but still? Playing 7? If that's Nelson still at the helm, I see nothing's changed.
Win's a win.
www.dogpile.com/ #7
Julia
12/23/09 10:24 PM
I am super glad that we won and I enjoyed it but I am so mad at myself! Chris was about to walk back into the locker room and he stopped at the entrance and took off his jersey and he threw it to the kid right. next. to me. fml. :P
#8
Mark
12/23/09 11:15 PM
Should've robbed the kid, Julia. I know I would've (but I'm not from NOLA, so...). haha
www.dogpile.com/ #9
Julia
12/23/09 11:27 PM
HAHAHAHAH it was funny cause the girl in front of him actually tried grabbing it from him and well, he ended up in the row in front of him in a chair and after he fell she said "oh, did i do that?!" it's like..yes you should wrestled with this guy
#10
Julia
12/23/09 11:39 PM
*i meant yes, you just wrestled this guy
#11
JChangNZ
12/23/09 11:40 PM
Damn, Sean Marks got injured again during shoot around. He just can't get a break can he...
#12
YoungFella
12/24/09 12:24 AM
Bill Simmons' take on the Hornets is a good one, it's exactly what I've been saying since about March of 2009 when it was apparent that this incarnation of the Hornets was flawed beyond repair.
His most important point was C. Chris Paul will leave us anyway. Why hang on for an extra year or two, hemhorage $10MM a year (Simmons' estimates of what we're losing are a bit extreme) and then get pennies on the dollar for CP3 when it's obvious that he's gone anyway?
We're not going to be able to keep Chris Paul. The only inkling of a hope is if we miss the playoffs, somehow win the lottery (or at least get top 4) and land a stud (Kevin Durant type). I'm not even sure if there is a Kevin Durant type in this upcoming draft - but that's what it would take.
So I agree with Bill Simmons that the best/smartest thing this team could do would be to shed CP3/Okafor/West/Posey/MoPete/Peja (or as many of them as we can), acquire young talent/expirings/extra picks, and go into full-fledged rebuilding mode. Bring in a young Scotty Brooks type coach and a young Sam Presti/Theo Epstein bookish GM type.
Basketball will survive in New Orleans. It survived in Memphis - it survived in Minneapolis - it survived in Portland. We'll be fine. Life will go on. Collison/Thornton are your keepers and you grow from there.
This current Hornets team isn't fun to watch anyway. Blow it up.
#13
YoungFella
12/24/09 12:35 AM
CP3 has to dominate the ball to be effective. This is why the Hornets were able to stay afloat and beat two playoff teams when CP3 was out. His impact doesn't correlate with his stats, and the Hornets were arguably a more fluid, better, and more fun team to watch with Collison running the point.
I am absolutely positive that the Hornets would be better off getting 80% to 120% of market value by trading CP3 soon instead of getting only 20% to 66% of market value and trading him later.
#14
Ryan Schwan
12/24/09 12:50 AM
Sometimes, Youngfella, in your rush to condemn all things about this team, you arrive at some mind-numbingly lame conclusions.
www.hornets247.com #15
LSUhornet
12/24/09 12:53 AM
Yeah this team will never be good with the best point guard on the planet, that's definite. We should try to trade him ASAP, and then maybe we should just try to trade the whole team for draft picks and play with 15 rookies! That's how you put together a winner. More rookies and lottery picks, yeah that's it.
#16
LSUhornet
12/24/09 12:59 AM
My mind is past being numbed. I think there are chunks of my brain on my screen at this point.
#17
YoungFella
12/24/09 01:13 AM
LSUHornet, your constant rays of sunbeams and lollipops are not reflected in the standings or the general outlook of this franchise. Guys like Simmons wouldn't have been saying this team is in trouble as far back as November of 2008, and wouldn't be writing articles advising us to dump our franchise player to avoid another Baron Davis situation if your viewpoint was closer to reality than mine.
And Schwan, what is so lame about my conclusions? 10 months ago I was a lone pessimistic voice screaming in the wilderness. Now virtually 66% of knowledgable Hornets fans agree with my outlook on the team. Harvey Hornet is saying everything that I've been saying and then some.
In case you didn't notice, the pre-eminent NBA columnist in the world is suggesting we do EXACTLY what I've been advising we do for the past 10 months.
#18
YoungFella
12/24/09 01:21 AM
"maybe we should just try to trade the whole team for draft picks and play with 15 rookies! That's how you put together a winner. More rookies and lottery picks, yeah that's it."
It's worked well for Portland, Atlanta, and Oklahoma City. Each of these teams is 3 times more fun to watch than the Hornets.
And if our wonderful GM/Head Coach hadn't let cheap young talent like JR Smith, Chris Andersen, and Brandon Bass walk we wouldn't have had to overpay for over the hill bums like Morris Peterson and James Posey. You know - the guys who are necessitating that we trade our All Stars in their primes.
#19
notoriousBEE
12/24/09 01:29 AM
Bill Simmons has a journalism degree, and has never coached or even played sports beyond the high school level. I for one don't want to blow up a team that has wins against Dallas, phoenix, atlanta, and denver (CP3 played in 2 of those games) because a former comedy writer for Jimmy Kimmel thinks we should (thanks wikipedia), but were each entitled to our own opinion. My opinion is that Young fella's ideas are terrible.
#20
MaxALM
12/24/09 01:40 AM
On YoungFella's take:
If we trade away Chris Paul, the Hornet's front office will be getting death threats from the people of this city and they'll probably have to be escorted everywhere by lots of security for the sake of their lives.
You're saying that we should take one of the top 5 elite players in the NBA (currently 24 years old and could possibly be one of the greatest point guards in history), give him away and rebuild the team around our two rookies and a bunch of un-foreseeable draft picks whom we know nothing about?
If that happens, then the Hornets might as well pack up for a different city. They wouldn't sell as many tickets. If you want to drool over all the possible scenarios that Bill Simmons gives us, then go ahead. I guess you'd rather have a total trash team to cry about.
#21
MaxALM
12/24/09 01:43 AM
But it is true that Peja, Posey, Mo Pete, and some others are suffocating the team's abilities beyond frustration.
#22
untitled1018
12/24/09 01:45 AM
I don't know ... despite being fun to watch, Portland, Atlanta and Oklahoma City have not won recent championships. Miami, Boston, San Antonio and L.A. have.
Shinn has shown a willingness to spend money in an effort to win a championship (so I guess that's what he's trying to do).
I would think he and the Hornets would be trying to follow the lead of Miami, Boston, S.A. and L.A. ...
As for Simmons, while also entertaining to watch, (like Beck and Olbermann for example), I probably wouldn't take advice from or site as a defense of my views, opinion journalists.
#23
mW
12/24/09 06:33 AM
Bill Simmons is an unrepentant ass who is more talk radio than actual journalist. He is not a "news source" but a sarcastic instigator. And Youngfella, if you can't have fun watching CP and Peja and D-West, well, you might not like basketball.
www.hornetshype.com #24
Ryan Schwan
12/24/09 10:51 AM
I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you Youngfella. You cherry pick anything negative you can find about the team, and repeat it in every forum you can find as proof that the Hornets are the worst team on the planet.
It's a simple truth, however, that you do not ever trade a young superstar in their prime. There are 3 players of Chris Paul's caliber in the league. He leaves, you won't get another shot at a player of his ability for 20-25 years.
www.hornets247.com #25
Julia
12/24/09 05:25 PM
Hahaha. I just laughed really hard. It said "25 fluffy comments". These comments do not come off as "fluffy" for me ! hahhah. Maybe I'm just freaky
#26