Without starting point guard Chris Paul, a game for the Hornets against the Phoenix Suns had the writing of a blowout on the wall, in favor of the Suns.
Clutch shooting by Peja Stojakovic and rookie Darren Collison provided the Hornets with the elixir to beat the Suns, as they managed to win 110-103 on Thursday night.
“It’s still the regular season, [but] for us it was a very important win,” said Stojakovic, who drained seven 3-pointers in a 25-point, 13-rebound night. “We are too good to quit. We have good talent on this team and you can’t give up. … We did struggle in the beginning of the season. Hopefully we can just raise our level of playing and get some consistency.”
Collison, who started in place of Paul, turned the ball over only once in his 32 minutes of playing time. Despite starting 1-of-11 from the field, Collison nailed a 26-foot 3-pointer with only 2:11 left in the game, finishing with 15 points.
“The most important thing when you’re having a tough shooting night is try to get the win, and the second thing is always keep your confidence,” said Collison, a first rounder from UCLA. “You can never let your confidence get away from you in a game like that. If a team’s playing off you and you’re open, go ahead and shoot it.”
New Orleans led this game statistically in virtually every fashion imaginable, as they outrebounded the Suns 56-38, with 25 offensive rebounds. The Hornets scored 38 second-chance points, compared to the Suns’ 13, and beat the Suns in the paint, 36-30. New Orleans also managed to knock down 52 percent of its 3-pointers (13 of 25).
Friday, November 20, 2009 at 8:27 pm by bryan
Hornets PG Chris Paul limped off the court Friday with the help of teammates in the third quarter of the Hornets’ 86-78 loss to the Portland Trailblazers after spraining his right ankle.
Paul made a sweet dish to Hilton Armstrong for a dunk, but he appeared to land on the foot of Portland center Joel Przybilla. Paul had twisted the same foot earlier in the week against the L.A. Clippers.
“I hate to watch and I hate to know that I’m going to miss a game,” said Paul after the game on Friday. “They just took X-rays. I don’t know anything.”
Media reports right after the game projected that Paul would be out for 1-2 weeks; further tests have revealed nothing more than a sprain, and Paul will continue to be evaluated daily, but the Hornets have set no timetable for his return.
In 10 games this season, Paul is averaging 23.8 points and 9.2 assists.
The Hornets’ rough start to the season continues, as they’re now down their starting point guard and their opening day head coach, after firing head coach Byron Scott last week.
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 11:24 pm by bryan
The New Orleans Hornets have fired head coach Byron Scott after getting off to a disappointing 3-6 start.
Scott’s time in New Orleans seemed short anyway given the team’s quick first-round ouster in last year’s playoffs.
There has also been plenty of rumbling that the players never liked Scott, which included star guard Chris Paul.
The lack of respect factor seemed to become a major problem inside the locker room and out on the court.
For now, New Orleans has announced that their general manager will take over as the head coach.
Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 12:09 pm by steve
In the first coaching change of the 2009-10 NBA season, the New Orleans Hornets fired coach Byron Scott on Thursday, just nine games into the season.
The Hornets’ brass decided to fire Scott on the heels of a 124-104 thrashing by Phoenix on Wednesday night.
The Hornets will replace Scott with general manager Jeff Bower, with Tim Floyd as his top assistant. Floyd has coaching experience with the Hornets and the Chicago Bulls, and most recently coached at USC (and resigned amidst allegations surround prep-star O.J. Mayo).
Team owner George Shinn says Bower “knows this team better than anyone” and gives the Hornets “our best opportunity to reach our goals this season.”
Scott is only two seasons removed from winning the NBA Coach of the Year award (in 2008), when the Hornets won the Southwest Division with a 56-26 record on the heels of point guard Chris Paul, power forward David West, and center Tyson Chandler. The Paul-to-Chandler alley-oop became a routine play of the 2007-2008 season as the Hornets cruised into the playoffs, where they beat Dallas in the first round, then lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the second round in seven games.
The Hornets sagged slightly last season, finishing 49-33 mainly due to injuries. Denver hammered the Hornets in the first round of the playoffs, as they lost their final home game in the series by 58 points.
That loss led to speculation that Scott’s job may be on the line, yet he survived a tumultuous offseason, where the Hornets swapped Chandler with the Charlotte Bobcats for center Emeka Okafor. However, nine games into the season, with the Hornets looking rather lifeless with a 3-6 record, the owners decided to make a change before it was too late to save the season.
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 10:25 pm by bryan
On Friday, New Orleans Horners owner George Shinn announced that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, but he remains optimistic that he will prevail over the disease.
“My wife, Denise, and I remain strong in our faith and will maintain a positive attitude as I battle this with intense fervor and drive,” Shinn said in a news release the Hornets issued.
Shinn has owned the team for the past 21 years, ever since he received an expansion franchise in Charlotte, N.C. in 1988. Shinn moved the team from Charlotte to New Orleans in 2002, and worked with the NBA to provide the team a temporary home in the 2005-2006 season after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans.
The Hornets split time between OKC and New Orleans in the ’06-07 season before fully relocating back to New Orleans in the 2007-2008 season. New Orleans fans were rewarded with the franchise’s best season ever, with PG Chris Paul and PF David West leading the Hornets to a franchise record 56 wins and the first division crown for the team ever.
“We’ve been a catalyst to help this city recover and we’re going to keep doing everything we can to keep it that way,” Shinn said at the time.
The news release regarding Shinn’s prostate cancer is full of optimism and hope, as the doctors Shinn has consulted appear confident that he will overcome his disease.
“This is not the first obstacle that I have had to overcome in life, but it will be another one that will be conquered,” Shinn said. “Those closest to me understand my commitment to God and belief in the power of prayer, so all that I ask is for people to add me to their prayers.”
Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 1:19 am by bryan
