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Going to keep this recap short and sweet, because it's late, and honestly, the basketball, on both sides, was terrible.

Darren Collison sat out the game with an injured knee.  Reportedly, it's nothing serious and he should play again during Summer League, but they kept him out this game just to be sure.  That left the Hornets relying on Bassett, who couldn't handle ball pressure, and Coleman, who isn't a point guard, running the point.  Miami was also able to completely overload Marcus Thornton's side of the floor when he got the ball, making it hard for him to do anything.

The result?  Though the team led for a lot of the game by forcing turnovers, the Hornets had no execution down the end of the game, and they lost in the last minute.

Quick observations:

• I'd like to see Brackins take a shot inside of 15 feet, please.  When I did my analysis of him, we saw he took like 85% of his shots from really far away from the basket.  Tonight, he tool every shot but one from really far away from the basket, and he only hit one of them.  Two of his three pointers were airballs, and one barely drew rim.  Last game he was Channing Frye.  This game, he was Antoine Walker.
• Shavlik Randolph had Brackins biting on every pump fake and spin in the post.  Okay, that's not fair to Brackins - he had EVERYONE biting on them.  It is a bit depressing to watch your team make Shavlik Randolph look like Kevin McHale.
• Because of the defensive attention paid to him, Thornton never got free on cuts, and had to take a lot of tough shots.  I hope the Hornets keep that in mind when its time to pay him.  He's an exceptional finishing in transition and as a complimentary piece to a penetrating ball-handler - as a primary option, he's not optimum.
• Pondexter mostly just played intelligent, hustled, and gave what he could, including knocking down two threes from the wing.  If he can be an energy guy who can knock down the set three pointer, he'll give me everything I was looking for from him.
• There were some other guys on the team.  None made me particularly want to see them again come October.

Have a good night.

Tonight's game was enjoyable but hardly compelling as the only tough defense being played out there was Jared Jeffries earnestly humping David West in the post.  Happily, all that did was make him score more and shout "And One!" a half dozen times, making Hornets drinking games that much more entertaining and inebriating. Otherwise, most players were going under picks, semi-contesting shots, and generally not going at full speed unless they were scoring. 

Still, it is hard not to like West going for 35, 10 and 5, Collison for 26 and 11, and Thornton racking up 20 and 6 as the Hornets hit 9 of 15 from deep with 64% shooting from the floor. 

That trio is the core of most of the things right about the Hornets this past season.  At the All-star break I would have hesitated to put West in that list, but the last two months he's been turning it on, and the result is a PER that is the essentially the exact same it was last year, and the year before, and the year before and the . . . you get the idea.

The 2009-10 Season

The season itself?  Disappointing as a whole, but it was also bizarre in the extreme.  In no particular order, here's a half dozen subjects we wrote about that I would never have guessed I'd be touching on at the start of the season.

1. That the Hornets would have not one exceptional rookie, but two of the top five.
2. Considering(if rejecting) the idea of Chris Paul being traded - because of a rookie.  A rookie picked 21st in the draft, no less.
3. That because of those rookies, flights of fancy like Sign and Trades for Elite players like Chris Bosh are even moderately believable.
4. How Jeff Bower shed $9 million in salary in a bad economy with everyone gearing up for a crazy free agency - without moving any major piece on the team other than the injured Tyson Chandler.
5. That the Hornets will most likely be owned by someone not named "Shinn" in the near future.
6. That Tim Floyd, of all people, would return to the Hornets bench in any capacity.
   

Like I said - a crazy season.

Our Blog and Community Plans

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Heading into an all too early off-season, the Hornets, and their fans specifically, needed something positive. In the final home game of a disappointing year, the Bees whooped on the T'Wolves and gave the home town crowd something to cheer about, winning 114-86, equaling the largest margin of the season.

Sporting a lead of over twenty for the majority of the second half, the Bees looked at ease. Although the team had been expected to win this one, the margin of victory was a relief for a fan base that used to requiring buzzer beaters to beat even the most mediocre opponents.

Okafor Shows Up

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An oft-spirited, oft-inconsistent game by the Hornets tonight. Stop me if you've heard this one before.

The first half was fast-paced and the teams matched each other blow-for-blow, balanced scoring for both clubs. The third quarter was where the Hornets lost it, as the Jazz flipped the switch to playoff mode and raced out to a 20-point lead. The Bees chipped away in the fourth and got it back to within 6 down the stretch, but Utah had too much execution to be denied. Kyle Korver's triple with 1:54 was the back-breaker, James Posey leaving him to help out on the Boozer-Williams pick and roll.

114-103 the final score.

Deron Williams vs. Darren Collison

Darren finished with 28 points and 7 assists, Deron with 27 and 16. Williams seemed to dominate the match-up, able to use his size and speed to give Collison problems at both ends. The third quarter was the most lopsided, with D-Will going off for 14 points and 4 assists, and that effort really changed the game. Williams got to the basket when he wanted, pushed the rock, finished in traffic when he had to, found the open man when the help came, and just really picked the Hornets apart. Not a happy time for DC.

Collison would redeem himself a little by being relentless in the fourth quarter and helping the Hornets get back in it. Lil' Scrappy.

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Just when you thought there was no more excitement to be had this season, the Hornets almost pull off the biggest comeback in franchise history. Down 26 in the second quarter with the Bobcats flexing their defensive muscle and Jeff Bower ejected, the Hornets turned this one around by pushing the gas pedal and rolling with the rookies. The third quarter was as well as we've seen the team play all season, and it looked like they were headed for a double-digit win late in the fourth, up 8 with 3:44 to play. Credit the Bobcats though for getting their defense working again, getting to the free throw line and riding the hot shooting of D.J. Augustin.

104-103 the final score.

Marcus Thornton

Another one of those games where Thornton seemed to unleash every offensive move known to mankind. Really, all he was missing was a skyhook. He had the mid-range working, he dropped triples, he got out on the break, he took guys off the dribble and finished at the rim... and let's pause for a second to give that grown-ass man jam over Gerald Wallace the respect it deserves...

...

... wait, not done yet...

...

... yeah, that's about right.

Marcus also managed to dish out two of the better assists of the season for the Hornets, one a cross-court touch pass between two defenders to Morris Peterson on the break, and the other that skimming bounce-pass between three defenders to get Darren Collison a fast break layup.

On the down side, Thornton did have some trouble trying to beat those Charlotte traps when running point and had his work cut out guarding Stephen Jackson, especially in the first half. Something tells me he'll be a fine defensive player some day though.

Emeka Okafor vs. Tyson Chandler

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