Hornets Hype

Let’s go live this time, and break it down quarter by quarter.

Q1: off to a sluggish start, and the two teams are only separated by a few points. Every time I think any of the starters are playing well, they do something dumb. Hard to feel too confident about our play. Yet Coach K is not too worried and waits until about the 5:00 mark to bring in CP, Wade, and Bosh, leaving Kobe and Lebron out with them. I mean, I guess Lebron can play the 4, but let’s see if he has the commitment to play down low and rebound. Well, we won’t find out now. Not content, Coach K puts in D-Will and T. Prince. Prince comes out hot, getting a 3 and a steal and a jam. Bosh and Wade both look great. I still don’t like CP and D-Will at the same time, though. In fact, the Jazz just botched a would-be assist from CP.

Q2:Coach comes back with Kidd, D-Will, Redd, ‘Melo, and Howard. Howard finally starting to dominate. And why not, they say the guy guarding him is several inches shorter. I mean, why not pump it into him every time? I’ve started to notice that though they keep saying the Angola team is smaller, whoever is at the 3 is torching our out of place 3s, shooting over them and dunking on them. Coach K must still be experimenting; he goes to CP, Redd, Bryant, Lebron, and Boozer. Boozer struggling defensively at the 5; and just got schooled at the other end. Feel free to put in a real 5, Coach. Yes, they are a small team, but why not use what size you have to your advantage? Howard was killing them. Why not sub in Bosh at 5 and Boozer at 4? Lebron, other than a volleyball-style kill block just now hasn’t done anything at the 4. In fact, Angola is on an 8-0 run. Honestly, Wade is keeping the team going. In contrast, the ‘92 Dream Team was tied at 7-7 against Angola. Then went on a 40-1 run. Yeah. No typo there. Forty-to-One. Great steal and fast break instigated by CP, Kobe makes the extra pass to Lebron, who subsequently elbows the Angolan player in the back at full speed and somehow picks up a foul. Soon thereafter, Lebron goes coast-to-coast for the dunk, and somehow they figure to call him unselfish. This about the guy CP had to yell at to let him do what he does and bring the ball up court? CP with back-to-back steals now; he’s starting to look comfortable. Lebron is going to show like 12 points this quarter, but at least four of those baskets have been lay-ups or dunks on the break pushed by CP. I’m not going to pretend I’m not biased, but it’s CP who deserves the credit for those; and I’m not talking about getting assists, I’m saying the lead got pushed to 55-37, and you shouldn’t look to Lebron as the reason why.

Q3: Kidd continues to be completely unimpressive. I’m not only starting to wonder why he starts, but why he’s on this team. Did Doug Collins just say Kidd is a good 3 point shooter? NBA.com says he’s a 33.7% career 3-point shooter, Doug. Kobe is really struggling this game. Man, Angola has actually shortened our lead so far. Okay, a few steals, blocks, and dunks, and it’s back out to 22. Obviously we’re a better team, but can we beat Spain, Argentina, or even Greece with this level of play? No defense from this team, a few missed shots on this end, followed by some 3s on the other, and Angola is on another 8-0 run. So Coach goes back to CP, D-Will, Wade, Lebron, and Bosh. Lead is at 17, so let’s see what happens. Whoa, D-Will to D-Wade, massive dunk. Good O. Interesting, we’re essentially playing 2-on-5. We keep seeing one guy making moves, and other other breaking to the basket, or falling back to shoot a jumper. Noticeably, these plays do not involve CP. It’s D-Will, Wade, and Lebron, mostly. I have to admit, it’s working now, but I’d like to see more ball movement across the floor, and more players involved in each set. I’m not sure this works against a better team. In a time-out break, they explain how some of the guys went to the Great Wall. “No way I was coming to China without seeing the Great Wall,” said Bosh. Nice to see some cultural appreciation. The announcers spend most of the rest of the quarter talking about how CP sparked the team tonight, and then to prove their point, The One picks up a loose ball and throws in his trademark tear-drop over four outstretched Angolans, to lead the team to a 81-53 lead after three. Memo to Coach K and Cavs fans: Team USA looked 100% better after Lebron sat down and CP was able to get guys to play together.

Q4: The team starts with the same line-up of CP, D-Will, Wade, Prince, and Bosh. Let’s see if Chris can continue to get the guys to play together. Nice ball movement finally between CP and D-Will, and Bosh gets an easy basket inside. Good start. Bosh then pulls an oops on the other end, backing away from the guy leaning into him, and the Angolan travels. How scary might him and O’Neal be together next year? The Angolan coach might be wondering that, or maybe anything else, as he sits quietly, his eyes vacant; I can only assuming he’s gone to his happy place, trying to avoid the pain of this game. Hmmm…feeling successful, Coach goes to Boozer at the 5. I know Carlos wants to play, but he’s got to be sick of playing out of position. Prince is lanky enough to stretch to 4 at 6′9″, but he’s so thin, to have him and Boozer as your big guys? Apparently Redd came in for Wade at some point, too. Redd at 6′6″ I suppose is physically more suited to be a 3 than Wade at 6′3″, but Wade’s game actually translates better to the 3. ‘Melo now in for Prince. I’m not sure how Coach expects his PGs to run the offense when you have different players with different capabilities at different positions coming in and out of the line-up constantly. Can a college coach really coach these level of players? It’s not always about having the best 12 or having plenty of energy. It’s about finding the best eight guys and letting them destroy the competition. Lead hasn’t changed this quarter. Still at 28 with three and a half left. Little of note down the stretch, the Angolans get a little closer, and the game wraps at 97-76.

Man, I’m excited to get another big win, but I think Coach K is really struggling to find the line-ups he likes, and the players who depend on consistent team roles seem to be struggling. I think he really needs to better define each guy’s role and keep it consistent. If you haven’t played with the other guys on the floor prior to the last month, you’ve only played a few games together, and you keep coming in at different spots, for different lengths, and at different times, I’m not sure you are able to be comfortable in what role you are playing for this team. Well, enough complaining.

CP Rules!