Bringing Back the Buzz: Zo & '92-93 Hornets

[studbucket]

Detroit hadn’t been having a great season while Charlotte had been steamrolling the league, but you couldn’t tell in this game. Detroit started the game off by raining down threes and led the game all the way into the 4^th quarter. Alonzo Mourning played only 20 minutes as he was in foul trouble all game before fouling out in the 4^th, and the Hornets had 29 turnovers.

Despite all that, Dell Curry and Larry Johnson kept the Hornets in the game and they pulled out a nervy win at the Palace.

Reggie Jackson and Brandon Jennings were on fire early and often for Detroit. Jennings went 6-8 from three, had 9 assists, and finished with 24 points. The Pistons went 15-27 from deep and only had 7 turnovers. All that would normally lead to an easy victory. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t make many shots inside the arc, going 29-74 on those, and only shooting 18-29 on free throws. Once Charlotte started locking down the perimeter, Detroit couldn’t get their points.

The Hornets charmed season continues, as they pick up their 50^th straight win and only have 2 challenging games left on the schedule: April 3 at Cleveland and April 6 at New York.

[trekfan]

Pistons got CLOSE there. When Jennings gets hot, he's near-unstoppable, but if his shot isn't falling, it's not good. Good win, nice highlights, but that one was close.

[studbucket]

The first spot in the East is all locked up, but the Hornets still have their sights on breaking the Bulls’ 72-10 record. With 8 losses and 53 straight wins, nobody should be doubting them, though this will be a tough week with 4 games (3 on road) in 6 days against the Cavaliers, Raptors, Knicks, and Nets. Can the Hornets win 6 of their last 7 to beat the record? It would have to start in Cleveland.

Coach J once again started Andre Roberson to limit LeBron’s effectiveness and had Kendall Gill come off of the bench as a super sub. The strategy worked, even more effectively than last time out as the Hornets got out to a 15-5 first quarter lead and never looked back.

Cleveland was once again able to limit Larry Johnson’s effectiveness but unable to contain Alonzo Mourning. After being completely abused last game, Tommy Camper switched to guard Johnson, while Kevin Love was put on Mourning. The approach helped out Tommy Camper, was he made a bigger impact offensively and played like we were used to seeing him play. However, the effort it took to guard Alonzo Mourning wore down Kevin Love, as he only finished with 9 points, 5 rebounds on 3-11 shooting (1-5 from deep) in 33 minutes of play.

In addition to Mourning’s 31 points, Avery Bradley had a good game for the Hornets, taking advantage of Kyrie Irving’s defensive lapses and ending up with 23 points and 8 rebounds.

Kyrie Irving had 31 points on 13-31 shooting and only contributed 1 assist. LeBron was able to dish the ball, tallying 11 assists but he was pedestrian elsewhere, getting 18 points and 5 rebounds, although his 6 steals were impressive.

[studbucket]

After 54 straight victories, the Hornets streak ended on a 92-96 loss in Toronto. However, it didn't stop there, as Charlotte preceded to lose 3 straight games, including games to the Knicks and Nets.

Chicago's record is no longer within reach, but the Hornets can look forward to cracking the 70 win mark, and possibly facing up against Muggsy Bogues and the Celtics in round 1.

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

After 54 straight victories, the Hornets streak ended on a 92-96 loss in Toronto. However, it didn't stop there, as Charlotte preceded to lose 3 straight games, including games to the Knicks and Nets. Chicago's record is no longer within reach, but the Hornets can look forward to cracking the 70 win mark, and possibly facing up against Muggsy Bogues and the Celtics in round 1.

The Raptors, Knicks, and Nets?! WHY??!

*cue fan overreaction and hot take*

Man, if they don't win the title, this team is a JOKE.

*/end overreaction*

Tough way to end the streak, but with the pressure off now, the Hornets should be able to refocus and bunker down for the playoffs, where things get much harder.

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by trekfan

The Raptors, Knicks, and Nets?! WHY??! *cue fan overreaction and hot take* Man, if they don't win the title, this team is a JOKE. */end overreaction* Tough way to end the streak, but with the pressure off now, the Hornets should be able to refocus and bunker down for the playoffs, where things get much harder.

Yeah, I look forward to the playoffs, although round 1 looks like a cakewalk. We get the Celtics, and well...more on them in my next post. You may remember that they are playing Isaiah Thomas and Muggsy Bogues as their backcourt, for the shortest tandem of all time.

[studbucket]

The Hornets may have lost out on their chance to break the Bulls' record of 72 wins, but they still had something to play for. They could get their 70th win tonight and get some confidence back. Larry Johnson hasn't been scoring at his usual clip recently and Alonzo Mourning dipped below 20 PPG for the season.

Coach J wanted to take it to his prospective round 1 opponents and get Johnson back on track. The game also had extra meaning for Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk as they looked to prove to their old team that they should have been kept.

The game started out quite close and pretty rough for the Hornets. Alonzo Mourning had picked up 2 fouls in the first 2 minutes and had to be subbed out. With Mourning out, Tyler Zeller started cleaning the offensive glass and getting 2nd chance buckets for the Celtics. They gained some confidence, Avery Bradley threw a few balls into the stands and David Lee and Isaiah Thomas were hitting their shots.

However, late in the first quarter the Hornets overshadowed backcourt took control. Sessions, Bradley, and Curry combined to help the Hornets pull away the last 2 minutes and finish the first quarter with a surprising 11 point lead (given how most of the quarter had played out).

The game held relatively steady until the 3rd quarter when Larry Johnson and Avery Bradley took over the game for good and led the Hornets to an easy victory.

Mourning did end up logging 22 minutes, but only tallied 6 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.

[studbucket]

The 2015-16 regular season has come to an end, and the biggest stories are the possible beginning of one dynasty, and the likely end another. The San Antonio finished a woeful 33-49, third worst in the West, and missed the playoffs for the first time since Tim Duncan was drafted. Hit hard by injuries, the team threw away what may be Tim Duncan’s final season, despite Duncan managing to NBA All-Defensive 2^nd Team. In the other conference, fans saw the Charlotte Hornets come from seemingly nowhere to ride a trio of rising stars to a 71-win season. Is this the start of a multi-year stretch of dominance, or will the young Hornets fall flat in the playoffs or fall apart due to egos and contract issues?

Western Conference

Partway through the season, it looked like the West may have been turned on its head. However, as the season has finished, the West looks pretty much as expected, not counting the Spurs. The biggest story is probably the fall of the Suns and Blazers following their Tyson Chandler trade. The Suns went from the top of the West to the 7 seed, and injuries to Lillard, Plumlee, and Kaman meant that Chandler could do nothing to help the Trailblazers from falling out of the playoffs and finishing 6 games under .500.
However, as a silver lining, if the Blazers can stay healthy, they have Lillard, a much improved Plumlee, and a lottery pick to build on for the future.

Fans in Minnesota are excited to see the young Timberwolves in the playoffs, though they will likely just be a roadbump on the Rockets path to the next round. Both the Warriors and Thunder under-achieved this year, and their reward is a first-round 4 vs 5 matchup and must-see TV.

Eastern Conference

The top of the East was full of good basketball this season, which resulted in a boring race for the 1 and 2 seeds. However, below that, the 3-6 seeds were all separated by 4 games and fought hard for the ability to delay their date with the Hornets until the conference finals. Below that, 5 teams were within 4 games for the 7^th and 8 spots.

The Knicks may have ended up with the 7^th seed, but could be dangerous in the playoffs if they manage to get healthy enough to have ‘Melo, Porzingis, and Fletcher all playing.

Monthly Awards

LeBron James finished and started with the player of the month awards, as did Kevin Durant. Durant managed a 3^rd award on the season and led the league in scoring, but that may not be enough to win MVP. As the season closes, the media is giving a slight edge to LeBron over Larry Johnson, but we’ll see how the votes tally up.

For rookie of the month, you could see all the rookies fade a bit down the stretch, but Mourning was able to rebound and get the Eastern conference’s award in April, and Mudiay stepped up and has been the sole bright spot for a terrible Nuggets team, stealing the last month’s award from the fantastic D’Angelo Russell.

Hornets

There were no major changes in the Hornets production as the season went along. Mourning and LJ still averaged double-doubles, the rest of the starters were in double-digit scoring, and distribution of the ball was evenly split amongst Johnson, Gill, Sessions, Curry, and Gill. Mourning’s points did dip below 20 as the season wore on, but he stayed above 11 rebounds a game and managed 2 and a half blocks per game, deterring other teams from entering the paint.