reNew Orleans
Clubbin' with Rasual Butler
So we did play poorly down the stretch and when I watched the Hornets play the Mavs on ESPN for the season finally a couple things were clear to me and very important to our chances of beating the Mavs (about Paul)
1) We can play in the 1st Quarter, for some reason CP3 had been holding back in 1st halves. It looked like he has been trying to figure out who he can get involved on the offensive side of the ball. CP3 decided to turn it up for the 1st quarter in the Mavs game and did what he wanted at will really.
2) Dirk could not step out on the high screens quickly, Paul had them beat everytime and will have that mismatch all night w/ Kidd/Dirk "trapping him", meaning West will be open. Paul can easily drive after beating Dirk up high and have plenty of room to operate.
3) Stephen A and the ESPN crew were making a HUGE deal out of Paul not playing for 9 minutes in the 2nd. They thought Byron was just being plain dumb, and Stephen A proposed that we really wanted to lose that game. In reality the last 6/7 games we have been purposefully playing our bench more, especially the last 4 games or so. It appeared that finally in our last game vs the Mavs the bench started to come together, I just don't think you'll be seeing Hilton Armstrong and Mike James playing 15-25 minutes in a game. We were trying to get our bench some PT so we could get them some experience heading into the playoffs. We've basically been giving select players more PT during games down the stretch.
Also no one, absolutely no one is giving us a chance. Everyone says the Mavs are experienced, want to get the 1st round win after last year, Kidd knowing some of our playbook since he played for Byron, blah blah blah. We've used this type of billboard material all year. People thought we'd go away and finish a 7/8 seed when we first got hold of the top spot in the West, and it continued until finally people saw we were actually competitors. Our last season losses combined with the public perception has given us an opening. Obviously this does not play in the Mavs favor. It may not be said but now that they've been dubbed the winner by the fans/media/whoever they will feel less pressure and may not be coming out ready to play. It in no way helps them is what I'm trying to get at. They might be too overconfident.
Our defense has also been a big problem during this late stretch. But Byron came out saying:
"I woke up this morning for the first time after getting some sleep,'' Scott said. "The last couple of nights, it had been four-something (waking up) because of my mind running with defensive things and how we have to do certain things. When I sleep good like I did last night, then obviously I feel pretty good about our chances and what we've been working on the last couple of days. But I'm still concerned because we haven't had this experience of going through this as a team.''
This is good for us if our defense is back, especially as a team. We can have stifling team defense and if Byron is satisfied, I'm hoping that he seen reason to believe that this type of defense is back for the playoffs.
Obviously our inexperience has to be a concern, but how can he not mention that. I am a little concerned the Hornets might try to play every possession too hard and get in early foul trouble but Byron is a good coach, several guys do have experience, even if it's limited. Paul is Paul, i'm not worried he has no experience.
And of course for the last 1 1/2 to 2 months we've played 2nd halfs and 4th quarters very strongly, especially at home. I've made this point time and time again when betting on my Hornets. We may be very close to go into the 3rd but we've blown out teams by 20+ in the 4th to easily cover the spread. It's a playoff game so should be plenty more physical, but we like to try and stay away and get the turnovers/fast breaks going, thats what the team feeds off of and its very important for us allowing us to settle in on defense.
New Orleans Hornets -3.5 (-120)
New Orleans Hornets 3Q -1 (-115)
New Orleans Hornets 4Q -.5 (-115) (2 Units)
**We need Peja to step it up and hit some 3's, he's been shaky the last couple of weeks, actually absolutely horrific but he's started to hit a couple at a better percentage the last couple of games. he could break out here, good situation but I'm not so sure he does.
Heading out to the game!!! :cheers:
1) We can play in the 1st Quarter, for some reason CP3 had been holding back in 1st halves. It looked like he has been trying to figure out who he can get involved on the offensive side of the ball. CP3 decided to turn it up for the 1st quarter in the Mavs game and did what he wanted at will really.
2) Dirk could not step out on the high screens quickly, Paul had them beat everytime and will have that mismatch all night w/ Kidd/Dirk "trapping him", meaning West will be open. Paul can easily drive after beating Dirk up high and have plenty of room to operate.
3) Stephen A and the ESPN crew were making a HUGE deal out of Paul not playing for 9 minutes in the 2nd. They thought Byron was just being plain dumb, and Stephen A proposed that we really wanted to lose that game. In reality the last 6/7 games we have been purposefully playing our bench more, especially the last 4 games or so. It appeared that finally in our last game vs the Mavs the bench started to come together, I just don't think you'll be seeing Hilton Armstrong and Mike James playing 15-25 minutes in a game. We were trying to get our bench some PT so we could get them some experience heading into the playoffs. We've basically been giving select players more PT during games down the stretch.
Also no one, absolutely no one is giving us a chance. Everyone says the Mavs are experienced, want to get the 1st round win after last year, Kidd knowing some of our playbook since he played for Byron, blah blah blah. We've used this type of billboard material all year. People thought we'd go away and finish a 7/8 seed when we first got hold of the top spot in the West, and it continued until finally people saw we were actually competitors. Our last season losses combined with the public perception has given us an opening. Obviously this does not play in the Mavs favor. It may not be said but now that they've been dubbed the winner by the fans/media/whoever they will feel less pressure and may not be coming out ready to play. It in no way helps them is what I'm trying to get at. They might be too overconfident.
Our defense has also been a big problem during this late stretch. But Byron came out saying:
"I woke up this morning for the first time after getting some sleep,'' Scott said. "The last couple of nights, it had been four-something (waking up) because of my mind running with defensive things and how we have to do certain things. When I sleep good like I did last night, then obviously I feel pretty good about our chances and what we've been working on the last couple of days. But I'm still concerned because we haven't had this experience of going through this as a team.''
This is good for us if our defense is back, especially as a team. We can have stifling team defense and if Byron is satisfied, I'm hoping that he seen reason to believe that this type of defense is back for the playoffs.
Obviously our inexperience has to be a concern, but how can he not mention that. I am a little concerned the Hornets might try to play every possession too hard and get in early foul trouble but Byron is a good coach, several guys do have experience, even if it's limited. Paul is Paul, i'm not worried he has no experience.
And of course for the last 1 1/2 to 2 months we've played 2nd halfs and 4th quarters very strongly, especially at home. I've made this point time and time again when betting on my Hornets. We may be very close to go into the 3rd but we've blown out teams by 20+ in the 4th to easily cover the spread. It's a playoff game so should be plenty more physical, but we like to try and stay away and get the turnovers/fast breaks going, thats what the team feeds off of and its very important for us allowing us to settle in on defense.
New Orleans Hornets -3.5 (-120)
New Orleans Hornets 3Q -1 (-115)
New Orleans Hornets 4Q -.5 (-115) (2 Units)
**We need Peja to step it up and hit some 3's, he's been shaky the last couple of weeks, actually absolutely horrific but he's started to hit a couple at a better percentage the last couple of games. he could break out here, good situation but I'm not so sure he does.
Heading out to the game!!! :cheers:
