Preview: Kings at Hornets
by Ziller on Dec 8, 2009 1:00 PM PST
28 comments
THE OPPONENT
The Kings know no opponent better than the Hornets, because the teams have already faced off twice. This will be the Kings' second foray into New Orleans Arena. In the first match, the Hornets pulled out a narrow victory with both Chris Paul and Kevin Martin. The Kings knocked out the Hornets minus Paul in Sacramento during the last homestand. Paul has since returned.
New Orleans has played only once in the past week: Friday's home win over Minnesota in Paul's re-entry. Paul played lovely, with 16 points, 15 assists and eight steals. (Yes, eight steals. New Orleans gained nine steals, and Paul had eight of them. Good grief.) Each of Devin Brown, David West and Emeka Okafor scored at least 17 points in that win, too. Al Jefferson was the only Wolf who got off (20 points).
The key question in Paul's return was how the minutes of surprising rookies Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton would be affected. Collison played 18 minutes off the bench, occasionally playing in the same unit as Paul. Thornton tallied only 12 minutes. Upon taking over the team, Jeff Bower made it a point to insist Collison and Thornton would get playing time. We'll see if that increases tonight, especially considering the Hornets play tomorrow on the road, and again at home Friday.
THE KEY BATTLE
Paul vs. Tyreke Evans. This was a dandy of a knife fight the first time around, and I expect nothing less. Paul's quickness versus Reke's strength versus Paul's passing ability versus Reke's penetration ... a bevy of weapons.
INTERESTING SIDESHOW
Given how out-of-control and manic Sergio Rodriguez was during his 12 minutes Sunday, I'll be interested to see whether a) he plays much better, like Sergio! and not Sergio?!?, and b) how short of a leash Paul Westphal puts on him otherwise. I mean, the Kings have a great starting point guard, and a back-up point guard who has played phenomenally this year. If Sergio were, say, a player like Bobby Brown, there'd be no reason to play him ever, except in cases of foul trouble and injury. Third-string point guards get little play around the league. The reason you play Sergio is because he's awesome. If he's not, you can hide him.
BOLD PROCLAMATION
Donte Greene will outscore Devin Brown.
NUMERIC PREDICTION
Kings by 1. And New Orleans will never forget the name Bron Jockman.
DETAILS
5 PM Pacific tip-off. Game thread at 5 PM. Game thread No. 2 at 6 PM. Post-game thread at 7:45 PM. Recap at beer-thirty.
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More Likely to Be
Evans vs. the guy who sets the pick for Paul that he can’t get around and Paul vs. one of our bigs.
"The basis for winning an NBA title is having a superstar in his prime. Not an all-star, or a bunch of all-stars, but a superstar."
by coolcatreportdotcom on Dec 8, 2009 2:36 PM PST up reply actions
Curious
Whatever happened to Julian Wright?
GREENE! You’ve been superfluously apostrophe’d! - andy sims
this is gonna be tough
I do not want to see a 3 game losing streak. We need this win to build some continue building confidence, especially since there are some tougher games coming up. Definitely a must win.
Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance. Vonnegut
by Ice_9ine on Dec 8, 2009 1:19 PM PST via mobile reply actions
I don't think this team has 'must win' games this season
and as much as we would like to avoid them, losing streaks will happen. This is a rough stretch and going 0-4 wasn’t that crazy of a thought.
That being said, I want the win of course. Let’s see if the young kids can pull this one off.
Godfather of the "nice ass" movement.... the future begins now...
Reke’s penetration … a bevy of weapons.
That’s what she said.
Go Kings!!!
"Thou must give props" - Ice_9ine
Very tough game
but winnable I think if we play well.
Anything close to the 1-12 in the first half we got from Noce, JTand Hawes in the Miami game and it will be grim again by halftime.
Now I think its obvious we match up pretty well with that team as evidenced by the last two games – IF the young guys (and Noce) play pretty well.
I’ll let HT do his usual excellent game matchup analysis if he’s inclined.
So imitate the action of the tiger!.
Lend the eye a terrible aspect
- and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii
Shall we replace Sergio?!? with Wergio
Seems fitting that we’d have a Wergio for our Wabeno
Chris Paul is back & Martin isn't
It’s going to take outstanding shooting by all the Kings to pull a win off. Okafor vs Hawes= W Hornets, West vs JT= W Hornets, CP3 vs Tyreke = W Hornets both in rebounding and scoring. Only the bench, is in favor of the Kings.
"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom
I agree more or less
Though Hawes is Capable of matching up evenly with Okafor in a good game. The SG and SF spots and the bench are the keys to a possible win.
One of the other starters needs to be big and/or the combo of guys we throw at people from those positions need to excell.
And yes, I think coaching goes to us.
So imitate the action of the tiger!.
Lend the eye a terrible aspect
- and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii
by lietothegirls on Dec 8, 2009 1:41 PM PST up reply actions
I say start Kenny at the 5
Let Spencer face the Hornets bench.
Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance. Vonnegut
by Ice_9ine on Dec 8, 2009 1:45 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Then Emeka can pretty much ignore Kenny on defense.
And focusing on packing the lane to stop Reke.
Father of the "Natt this!" movement and Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order.
If he does that
Kenny will get double digit offensive boards.
"The basis for winning an NBA title is having a superstar in his prime. Not an all-star, or a bunch of all-stars, but a superstar."
by coolcatreportdotcom on Dec 8, 2009 2:38 PM PST up reply actions
EXCITED...
I can’t wait til Kevin gets back because it will spread the defense and having our bench getting this experience in the mean time will help our bench be solid.
Sergio had his career game picking apart the Hornets
I wonder if he’ll be able to do it again. I doubt it, mainly because they didn’t have a quick ball-hawk by the name of CP3 guarding him.
Here’s my thinking: We barely lost to the Hornets the first time in Nawlins, with K-Mart shooting absolutely horribly, and we had Desmond Mason and Sean May starting. The second game against the Bower Bees, we won pretty handily thanks to them completely focusing on packing the lane for Tyreke.
I expect this game to be pretty close, and to be decided in the 4th quarter. Unfortunately for us, that’s CP3’s time to shine.
Father of the "Natt this!" movement and Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order.
The Hornet know how to defend their Hive
Allot like the Kings the Hornets play better at home than on the road. Their 7-2 at home and 1-9 on the road. And, they defend their home by attacking not defending. Defensively, the Hornets are in the bottom 3rd of all teams in PTS, FG%, 3P%, ORB, DRB, TRB’s allowed. What they don’t do is turnover the ball, and are 2nd in steals given up.
Also like the Kings, the injury to CP3 has allowed Collison and Thornton to accelerate their development that helps to improve the Hornets bench. CP3 returned from injury with a BANG, putting up near triple double numbers in PTs, ASTs, & Steals along with 6 rebounds. Peja didn’t return with the thunder to match Paul, scoring only 8pts on 2 or 8 from 3pt, but he & Posey are adequate and will pose a challenge to Noc & Omri.
Okafor is averaging 17 & 13 over the last 2 games. And, he and West are averaging 17 RBs, with 6 ORB’s for the season, along with 27ppg. Brown is basically in for defense but showed he’s more than capable of scoring, when he blistered the Twolfs for 19Pts on 7 of 10, & 3 of 5 from 3pt range.
If Donte again starts at the 2, Tyreke will get the match up with Paul. It will be exciting to watch but like the last game in N.O. the advantage goes to Paul. Donte should win the battle at the 2, against anyone N.O. plays there. Noc is going to have to stay with his man. He can’t leave them in the corner, to be the 3rd or 4th man helping in the paint as he did against Miami. Peja can hit the 3’s as well as ever when he’s left open.
The deciding factor will be whether or not Hawes, JT, & Thomas can hold their own in the paint against Okafor & West. They have the size advantage but Okafor & West have the speed and athletic ability. Also, foul trouble will rear its ugly head against our bigs, but hopefully when it looks around it won’t see Tyreke.
As always, the Kings need to stay even early. No big runs for N.O. The Kings are still 7-0 when leading at the half, and 9-3 when leading going into the 4th. We’re not yet a come from behind team in the 4th, and certainly not on the road. Hawes & JT need to block out and use their size to out rebound Okafor & West. And, the Kings need to control the pace to limit turnovers. We can outshoot them, but it’s a lot easier when you don’t give them extra possessions. We have the size to switch on the screens, but we need to stay with our man (I’m talking about you Noc), and not double so much.
This is going to be a much harder game than the last 2. JT & Spencer aren’t playing well recently, and we don’t have anybody else to match up against Okafor & West. N.O. has had a lot of rest, playing only 2 games since the 1st. The teams are evenly matched but taking everything into consideration, I’ve got to believe the Hornets prevail. Hope I’m wrong. GO KINGS
"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom
by HighTops on Dec 8, 2009 3:12 PM PST reply actions 3 recs
Sometimes extended rest isn't a good thing
Father of the "Natt this!" movement and Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order.
Good stuff, HT
Lights years better than the previews you’ll find at the Bee, ESPN, or anywhere else. Way to keep it real.
From the people who brought you Reggie Musselnatt.
by My Losing Season on Dec 8, 2009 4:00 PM PST up reply actions
I'm hoping you're wrong too. Rec'd.
Good sh*t, Tops. Thanks for adding this.
I doubt Hawes, JT and Kenny can hold Okafor and West. Actually, I’m thinking West is the only big I’m worried about. He already knows that they can’t stop him from the last 2 games. Kenny has the best chance at being a moderate stopper. Unless Truck Robinson has been putting Hawes and JT through some sort of defensive boot camp, I don’t think their defense has improved so much since the last meeting. Like you said, I hope I’m wrong as well.
33 Wins. Yeah, I said it.
Thanks HT
So imitate the action of the tiger!.
Lend the eye a terrible aspect
- and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii
by lietothegirls on Dec 8, 2009 4:56 PM PST up reply actions
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