New Orleans Hornets Cool Off Over Thanksgiving Holiday

With the dwindling of November came the first cold weather in New Orleans, and with that came the first significant taste of defeat for the city’s ballers. 

After completing a solid trade (on paper) with the Toronto Raptors, the Hornets (12-4) dropped three of four over Turkey Week, prompting skeptics and fans alike to begin discounting their blistering beginning to the season.

Forget the first one, a 99-95, skin-of-the-teeth loss to the Los Angeles Clippers (3-15).  Clippers’ power forward Blake Griffin is an indomitable force, especially off the offensive glass, and the nature of the NBA makes that kind of early upset both plausible and common. 

It was nice to see backup point guard Jarrett Jack transition seamlessly into the rotation, getting 12 points and four assists in 16 minutes, but the game was meaningless for the Bees beyond that.

And the San Antonio Spurs (14-2), who beat the Hornets 109-95 on Sunday, are the best team around right now, looking eerily similar to the championship squad that boasted the highest winning percentage in professional American sports for a decade.  And the Hornets’ normally stellar defense collapsed in that game, giving up 65 points in the second half alone.

So the most disconcerting part of the Thanksgiving skid has to be Wednesday’s 105-87 loss to the Utah Jazz (13-5).  The Hornets were just four of 19 from downtown, committed 18 turnovers, and were outscored and out-defended by Utah’s bench—true rarities for the Bees this year.

But the main reason Utah is such a threat to New Orleans is also the most obvious one: point guard play.  Chris Paul dominates virtually every point guard in the league except for his good friend and fellow 2005 draftee Deron Williams. 

Like Paul, Williams is a true point with a pass-first mentality that also defends with the physicality and quickness that constantly create fast-break opportunities.  But that doesn’t mean he can’t score off the drive or from beyond the arc. 

When New Orleans has its main positional advantage neutralized and the remaining starters don’t shoot well, it puts too much pressure on the young bench to narrow the gap.

Utah is now 12-3 against New Orleans in the Paul-Williams era, and like the Hornets, has had a surprisingly good start despite losing power forward Carlos Boozer, shooting guard Ronnie Brewer and three-point artist Kyle Korver to the Chicago Bulls this offseason. 

They’re fairly young, athletic, defensively sound and fueled by stellar point guard play, much like the Bees, who undoubtedly view the Jazz as pure kryptonite. 

And it’s not just Williams.  Forward Paul Millsap is having a career-year, averaging 19 points and eight rebounds as a starter, and when center Mehmet Okur returns, current center Al Jefferson can shift to the four position and give the Jazz more size underneath.  Translation for the Hornets: hope to avoid this team like the plague come May and June.

But the Hornets’ Turkey Week woes weren’t without silver linings.  Jarrett Jack started strong and subsequently cooled off, but he’ll be a huge asset for this team with more consistent scoring. 

Willie Green is still playing lights-out on both ends, and Marcus Thornton, who was all but written off, finally contributed 11 points in 20 minutes against the Spurs. 

And most importantly, they’re still the No. 2 defensive team in the league.  The rotation is still a work in progress, but there’s no question this squad still belongs in the “NBA elite” category.