The story of Marcus Thornton will break your heart, so allow us to numb the pain by reporting that the second-year guard scored 17 points off the bench -- all of them in the fourth quarter and overtime -- as the New Orleans Hornets came back to defeat the Memphis Grizzlies 103-102 for a sixth straight win. Wednesday night was a happy night in the story of Marcus Thornton.
Grizzlies Vs. Hornets: Marcus Thornton Is Magnificent, Leads New Orleans To Overtime Triumph
The problem with Marcus Thornton is that New Orleans coach Monty Williams doesn't really seem to believe in Marcus Thornton, having played him much less than most folks (Marcus Thornton included) would like. That continued in the first half of Wednesday's game: Thornton didn't take his warm-ups off until the Hornets trailed by 11 in the back half of the third quarter. He was the sixth guy off the bench, behind Willie Green, Aaron Gray, Jarrett Jack, Jason Smith and Quincy Pondexter. That's where Thornton's at in Williams' rotation: behind Willie Green and Quincy Pondexter and Aaron Gray and Jason Smith.
Thornton went on to score 17 points on 7-10 shooting, including the game-winner in overtime. That lay-up stemmed from a steal by Trevor Ariza, and followed an ultra-deep three by Chris Paul. Take a look at the last couple possessions.
Hey Grizzlies, Emeka Okafor just bounce-passed you into the loss column, y'all.
Will this be the game that gets Thornton back into the regular rotation? The guard has had performance similar to this before, and something about his game (defense, probably) doesn’t mesh with Williams. But at some point, it becomes impossible to ignore the obvious, which is that Thornton is one of New Orleans’ very best players.
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