The Charlotte Hornets (12-9) sweep the regular series
against the Dallas Mavericks (4-16) tonight in a 109-101 win in Dallas. Mavericks
was missing Seth Curry (knee) and Dirk Nowitzki (achilleas) and with 45 seconds
left in the first quarter Andrew Bogut injured his knee would not come back. While
the Hornets only injured player was Marvin Williams (knee). It was a hard,
fought out win for the Hornets. Slow start for both teams, Dallas started the
game 3 for 11 from the field. But the tempo would pick up and by halftime the
Dallas Mavericks would lead 50 to 48. Dallas went on an 8-0 run to start the
second half and increase their lead to 11, the Hornets would cut the lead back
down to three to end the third quarter. The Hornets would take the lead mid-way
through the fourth quarter and with a Cody Zeller block that followed a Jeremy
Lamb three-point dagger that helped get the win for the Hornets
The
three ball on offense and defense killed the Hornets for most the game, Charlotte
wouldn’t hit their first three pointers until 49 seconds left in the third
quarter and only shot 16% while the Dallas Mavericks shot 36% from the three-point
line. The biggest the reason the Hornets stayed in the game when the Mavericks
took an 11-point lead was there free throw shooting, past few games the Hornets
have been awful from the free-throw line but today they shot 93%. It was nice
seeing the Hornets shoot lights outs from the free-throw line, that’s was one
of the strongest suits for the Hornets last seasons and for the early part of
this season so hopefully this means the Hornets will go back to their good free
throw shooting. I do have to give props to Harrison Barnes who 10 for 21 with
29 points and 7 for 7 at the free throw line, I never thought Barnes was ever
going to be good in the NBA, but he has proven me wrong this year shooting 45%
from the field and averaging 20 points a game for the Mavericks. He one of the
only bright spots for the Mavs so far this season.
The MVP for tonight
for the Hornets would have to be Nicolas Batum with 14 points 15 rebounds and 7
assist. He was aggressive early starting the game with 7 points in the first
quarter and would keep that play into second half to help the Hornets outscored
the Mavericks 61 to 51 in the second half. My only is that complaint I wished
he played like that on a nightly basis, if Clifford could rely on him to be our
second leading scorer that would take a lot of stress off Kemba, just like Jeremy
Lin did last year. Other leading scorers for the Hornets are Kemba Walker with
19 points 3 rebounds, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with 11 points 12 rebounds and
Jeremy Lamb with 14 points. Mavericks leading scorers are Harrison Barnes with
29 points, Wesley Matthews with 16 points and Deron Williams with 15 points and
13 assist. The Charlotte Hornets play again Wednesday at home against the Detroit
Pistons.
