NBA Scores And More: New Orleans Hornets No Longer Undefeated After Falling To Mavericks
Even when winning, the New Orleans Hornets had their weaknesses. Those weaknesses showed up down the stretch in Monday night’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Plus: We recap all the night’s other NBA action.
With six minutes and five seconds left in this game, Peja Stojakovic hit a three-pointer to give the New Orleans Hornets 90 points. It looked like they were going to stay undefeated, using the same formula that got them their first eight wins: a lot of Chris Paul, timely three-point shooting and good enough defense. Five minutes later, the Hornets still had 90 points, as the Mavericks went on a 10-0 run to take the lead. Eventually, Dallas hung on for a 98-95 lead when Trevor Ariza missed two wide-open threes.
So what happened during that five-minute stretch? For one thing, Paul decided it would be a good time to become a scorer. Paul had carved up the Mavericks defense as usual by deceptively changing speeds and using his ability to set up his teammates to keep the defense off-balanced. Dallas kept trying to trap Paul on pick and rolls, and Paul made the Mavericks pay by finding open teammates in rhythm for wide open jump shots. It was an odd strategy considering Paul’s reluctance to shoot perimeter jumpers and the Mavericks’ decision to sag off Rajon Rondo effectively in a win over Boston a week ago.
But down the stretch, I thought Paul forced it a bit. Suddenly, he was coming off pick and rolls to score, rather than reading the defense and making the right play. The Mavericks deserve a lot of credit for stepping up their effort and their weakside rotations, but they didn’t fundamentally change their coverage on Paul. They still brought their big out to trap him instead of dropping him back to contain. But they stepped up their effort, and Paul found he had trouble getting by his man off the dribble. When Paul can’t get by his man, the entire Hornets’ offense breaks down. Hence, the scoring drought.
Not having David West in the game hurt too, of course. West had five fouls, but Monty Williams probably should have kept him in there once the Hornets' offense started sputtering.
Meanwhile, the Hornets’ defense had its issues down the stretch too. The Mavericks got way too many clean looks from three, as everyone sagged off their man too much when Dallas got into the lane. Even when winning, the Hornets weren’t very good at defending the three-point line (sixth-worst in the NBA, per Hoopdata), and that burned them tonight. The Mavericks made six threes in the final period, including one to tie the game and one to take the lead for the first time.
The Mavericks deserve a lot of credit for this win. They executed extremely well in the fourth quarter, and once again, Tyson Chandler was a difference maker defensively. Dirk Nowitzki was spectacular, with 25 points on just 12 shots, and Terry came alive after a slow start. But I think this game is more about New Orleans than it is about Dallas. The Hornets are a very good team, but they have limitations that they've shown in their eight wins. In fact, this team is probably a lot like the 2007/08 team, in that they're decent at everything, but not great at any one thing other than having Chris Paul. That's all well and good, but it can cost them on the road against good teams.
On a much lighter note ... Mavericks fans love Dirk wayyyy too much. This is getting uncomfortable.
Play of the Game: This was a pretty incredible pass by Paul.
From the blogs: At the Hive writes that the Hornets got dominated in the fourth quarter and that Paul was bad in the second half, while Mavs Moneyball has a postgame report from the arena.
Oklahoma City Thunder 115, Utah Jazz 108
I really can't think of anything more astute to say about this one than this: the Thunder just made shots. Their offensive sets were still too simple, and their defense still let them down a little too much, but they won because the perimeter jumpers they often miss were going down. Kevin Durant hit some tough shots over Andrei Kirilenko, and the secondary players were on their game in this win.
The Jazz played fine. Deron Williams had an outstanding game, with 31 points and 11 assists, and the Jazz shot over 50 percent from the field. But there were times -- and I stress that it wasn't the whole game -- where they really struggled with Oklahoma City's length. That'll be a recurring theme for them going forward. They only shot 22 free throws the entire game, and while most Jazz fans will probably point to the officiating, I didn't notice anything too egregious. I think it really was just Oklahoma City's ability to contest without fouling that did it.
This is blurry, but it doesn't look like Serge Ibaka fouled Kirilenko on this key late-game drive with the Jazz down three. The referees look like they got it right.
Speaking of Ibaka: with Jeff Green injured, he provided 22 points and 11 rebounds, along with excellent defense, in 39 minutes. In fact, playing him that many minutes may have been the difference. Scott Brooks needs to seriously consider putting Green on the bench and rolling with Serge as his starting power forward.
Play of the Game: Going with full highlights for this one.
From the blogs: A SLC Dunk FanPost discusses Al Jefferson.
Phoenix Suns 100, Denver Nuggets 94
The Denver Nuggets are a really stupid team sometimes. The Suns' major issue is that they have nothing inside, not after Robin Lopez suffered yet another injury. And yet, the Nuggets, for some reason, kept launching contested jumper after contested jumper instead of putting their heads down and attacking the rim. Attacking the rim would have resulted in many easy scores, since Phoenix has no shot blockers without Lopez. At the very least, it would have resulted in free throws. But the Nuggets settled too much, and eventually, they paid the price.
Overall, Denver shot 25 free throws, which isn’t a terrible number, but they also took 28 non-three point jumpers outside of 15 feet. Those jumpers led to long rebounds, which meant the Suns’ lack of interior options didn’t matter as much on the glass. Phoenix’s wings are very good at getting long rebounds, so Phoenix wants you to shoot long two-point jumpers on them. When teams oblige, its lack of rebounding is masked. Denver obliged, and Phoenix got enough defensive rebounds to kick start their transition game.
It's weird, because Denver is always the league leader in free-throw attempts. You'd think they would have feasted on the Suns' lack of interior defense. But as they tend to do, the Nuggets play right into their opponents' game plan. That's how you get a 41-percent shooting performance against a team playing Channing Frye at center.
Hakim Warrick had 21 points on nine shots, while Hedo Turkoglu was 3-10 for nine points. Turkoglu did some nice things defensively at times, but it's getting tougher to justify playing him more minutes than Warrick at this stage.
Play of the Game: Josh Childress does what Josh Childress does, and the Suns announcers pee in their pants.
From the blogs: Bright Side of the Sun writes that the newcomers carried the Suns last night, while Denver Stiffs writes that George Karl did a poor job coaching tonight.
Charlotte Bobcats 113, Minnesota Timberwolves 110
Since this was a game between the Bobcats and the Timberwolves, I didn’t see 47 minutes and 30 seconds of thise one. Apparently, the Timberwolves blew an eight-point lead with two minutes left. That’s pretty awful, and yet, it’s pretty typical.
So instead, let’s just recap the wackiness of the final 34 seconds:
- Gerald Wallace draws a foul, puts Charlotte up 111-110
- Michael Beasley dribbles it off his foot and Wallace does a backflip to steal the ball.
- The Timberwolves foul Stephen Jackson, but the referees miss it, and ten more seconds goes off the clock.
- Wallace misses the second of his two free throws, Tyrus Thomas somehow takes a rebound away from Kevin Love and forces a jump ball.
- Thomas predictably wins the tap, but then Wallace throws it off a Bobcats player, giving it back to Minnesota.
- Wallace commits a touch foul trying to stop Wes Johnson from handing the ball off to Beasley, his sixth foul of the game. Did he think Charlotte had a foul to give, or something?
- Johnson misses his first free throw.
- Johnson misses his second free throw on purpose, Boris Diaw taps it in the air and Tyrus Thomas grabs it.
- Thomas missed the first free throw, and makes the second.
- Love throws an incredible inbounds pass to Anthony Tolliver, who is pretty much mugged by Stephen Jackson on a three-point attempt. No call, and Charlotte wins.
Just your average game between two awful teams.
Play of the Game: This play happened at the en of the half. Wow. Introduce yourself, Derrick Brown.
From the blogs: Rufus on Fire noted D.J. Augustin’s quality performance, while Canis Hoopus found more positivesin a close road loss in the second game of a back-to-back.
OTHER GAMES I MISSED
- Orlando Magic 89, Memphis Grizzlies 72: It's easy to disrupt Zach Randolph when Dwight Howard is lurking. Major credit to Orlando's defense for shutting down a team that can put points on the board.
- Golden State Warriors 101, Detroit Pistons 97: Monta Ellis had 21 first-quarter points, and the Warriors did just enough to hold off Detroit for the win. Dorrell Wright made a huge play stripping Ben Gordon in the final seconds with Detroit down two. Also, Tayshaun Prince got into it with coach John Kuester on the sidelines.
- New Jersey Nets 110, Los Angeles Clippers 96: The Clippers are awful. How can you lose by 14 at home to the Nets?
AND FINALLY...
And this wasn't very nice of Devin Harris.
