Kings vs. Hornets Preview: MAD LIGHT INSIDE THE DARK

After winning their first 2 games of the season, New Orleans has gone 2-20. N.O. has won one of their last 15 Gms, with that win coming against Orlando who failed to score 70 pts. New Orleans had high hopes for the season after the CP3 trade, but Eric Gordon bruised his knee in the season opener and ended up missing the next 4 games including the one against the Kings. He returned January 4th for one game, but has been out ever since. Gordon turned down a four-year extension January 27th.

Our 1st meeting, back on Jan 1st, was a game of extremes. New Orleans out rebounded the Kings 60-41 and 22-12 on the offensive glass. Cousins was absent, told by coach Paul Westphal to stay away from the team. Several players expressed frustration with the team’s poor play after the Knicks game. But, Cousins felt singled out by the coach and the two had heated words. It would be the last home game Westphal would coach.

The Kings dominated the Fast Break Pts 32-12, and the Hornet went Zero for 15 from beyond the 3pt arc. Hayes and Hickson started for the Kings and combined for 10 pts and 19 of the teams 41 rebounds. Tyreke and Thornton combined for 52 pts 10rebs and 4 assists. Salmons had a good game, scoring 13pts on 5-11 field and 2-6 from three, and the reserves (JT, Jimmer, Outlaw and Garcia) contributed a combined 21pts & 8 rebs. Jimmer was the leading assist man with 5 in 21 minutes off the bench.

The Hornets got most of their scoring from the front line, Ariza had 17pts 5rebs and Landry had 12 & 5, while Kaman contributed 14pts 15rebs off the bench and Okafor added 13pts 12rebs starting at center.

In spite of the tremendous season DeMarcus is having the Kings have only out rebounded their opponent in 8 of 23 games. New Orleans ranks 2nd in Def Reb Rate, while the Kings are last, and even though the Kings are 2nd in Off Reb Rate, the Hornets are only 5 places back. But, it does seem likely the rebounding numbers could change in this game. Chris Kaman has been held out while the Hornets tried to trade him, so even though he is expected back for Monday’s game against the Kings, his conditioning may be questionable. Carl Landry hurt his knee in the Detroit game Saturday and will miss the game. Landry posted on Twitter Sunday that he has a sprained medial collateral ligament. How long he is expected to be out is unknown. But, more importantly The Cuz is back.

The Hornets have already had 11 players start at some time during the season, so your guess is as good as mine as to who will start this one. Jarret Jack had been starting at PG but missed the last two games with again a knee injury which isn’t thought to be serious. I see him returning for this game although he’s still listed as questionable. Last Wednesday, Hornets coach Monty Williams decided to start DaJuan Summers at shooting guard for Marco Belinelli. The 6-8 second year forward saw his minutes drop from 15 on Wed. , to 13 on Thurs and then only 8 on Sat. so who knows whether Marco will get his starting job back.

We will see Emeka Okafor at Center, and Trevor Ariza at the SF. Seven footer Jason Smith, will most likely start at the PF spot, but he too is listed as day to day with a possible concussion. That leaves 6-9 2nd year Al-Farouq Aminu, 6-10 Rookie Forward Gustavo Ayon, and Kaman as your back up front line players. In the backcourt, you’ll have 6-6 2nd year guard Greivis Vasquez and rookie 5-10 guard Carldell Johnson.

With such an injury depleted team, the Kings new found interior defense, even in its early stages of development should win the day. The only question seems to be " will Coach Smart play his starters hard to guarantee a victory?" or "will he rotate his reserves to keep his starter fresh for the 2nd game of the back to back against Minnesota which looks to be the harder of the two games?" I’d look for the Jimmer.