Hornets Beat Bulls 98-86, Without Rose in Lineup

The NBA schedule marches on, calamity or not.

In the first game played without guard Derrick Rose who is slated to undergo surgery to repair a torn meniscus muscle in his right knee, the Bulls missed his offense and fell to the Charlotte Hornets, 98-86 at the United Center.

Charlotte outscored the Bulls 31-21 in the fourth quarter to seal the win. Chicago only hit 44.2% from the floor, and shot a woeful 17.6% from three point territory.  Pau Gasol notched his 38th double-double, tops in the League with 25 points and 13 rebounds.  But no other Bull player had an effective night on the offense. Jimmy Butler, who has been the leading scorer, only had 14 points. Aaron Brooks, who filled in for Rose, had 12 on 4 for 12 shooting, and only made 1 long-distance shot in 5 attempts. He also was 3/8 from the line.

The Hornets came in and did not play the foil to a fragile team, which had just lost its leader. The Hornets had balanced scoring from Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Mo Williams notched 17 points, and big man Al Jefferson had 16 points.

Joakim Noah only had 4 points. However, he had 8 assists and 11 rebounds. Kirk Hinrich added 8 points for the Bulls, which could not come up with the points when it needed them in the second half.

The loss drops the Bulls into a tie with Cleveland for the Central Division lead.  Clearly, the team was in some degree of confusion after the shocking news that Rose would be inactive due to a serious knee injury.

Chicago is in the midst of a 7 game home stand that has Minnesota coming in next. Hopefully, the Bulls will be ready.

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Amar'e Debuts, Mavs down Hornets 92-81

The Dallas Mavericks tend to take care of business when they play Charlotte, winning 24 of the last 26 in the matchup. After being bought out from the New York Knicks, veteran forward Amar'e Stoudemire joined Dallas in hopes of playing for a title contender. In his debut, he clocked only 11 minutes, but made the most of his time, dropping 14 points, going 4-4 from the line, and grabbing 3 rebounds.

The Hornets kept within striking distance for the majority of the game, but the Mavericks out paced them. As the game dwindled down, Monta Ellis came through and did his usual 4th quarter take over to give Dallas the win. He went for 23 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Richardson Jefferson got the start in place of the injured Chandler Parsons, who will miss the next 2 games. He got his 2nd double double of the season, going for 10 points and 10 rebounds, along with a vintage slam dunk that you would probably see all over SportsCenter, if he weren't called for an offensive foul.

A stat that might go unnoticed is the Mav's point guard Rajon Rondo and his shooting percentage, he went 4-8 from the field, and if you know anything about Rondo and his shooting, that is the weakest part of the game. He worked with Dirk's shooting coach, and maybe his recent games are a sign of things to come.


 

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The Charlotte Hornets Need To Wake Up

     The Charlotte Hornets are currently 4-15, playing far worse than anybody expected. The expectations put on this team weren't terribly high, but they weren't low, either. Most basketball analysts including myself expected this team to be a threat to win an opening round playoff series, which is why this 4-15 start has all of us scratching our heads and asking "What is going on with this team?".
 
      One might point to the fact that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Noah Vonleh, and Gary Neal have been injured, but that doesn't explain such a poor start. What explains their poor start is that their "money players" haven't stepped up.
 
     Al Jefferson is averaging 20 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, so he is doing his part, but the other three main players on this team (Lance Stephenson, Gerald Henderson, and Kemba Walker) have all played well below their expectations. Kemba Walker is scoring only 14 points per game, which just won't cut it for a guy who is supposed to be the #2 player on this team.
 
     As for Lance Stephenson, his 9.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per contest is beyond disappointing for a guy who signed a three-year, $27M contract. Stephenson was supposed to be the #3 option on this team who would change them from a playoff pretender to a playoff contender. He has instead done nothing but disappoint and leave Charlotte fans wondering if he was really worth the money or if he was just a good system player in Indiana.

     Gerald Henderson, who averaged 14 points per game last year, is averaging only 6.8 points per game while also producing fewer rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. His drop off has been staggering and nothing short of alarming. Out of all the players who have been struggling, his struggles seem to be the most perplexing.

     Whatever the problem is, whether it's Lance Stephenson failing to deliver or Kemba Walker not playing like a legit #2 option, the Hornets have to change something and make a move to energize themselves. The return of the nickname "Hornets" has energized this city, but it looks like more needs to be done to make "Buzz City" a place where playoff teams don't want to go.

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord 

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