Game Thread: Charlotte @ New Orleans 1-18-08

[SteveMorrison15]

Raymond Felton: Raymond needs to come through for us tonight. Since Okafor has been struggling, Felton is more likely to help J-Rich and G-Force out.



Chris Paul (CP3 ): He's awesome! He's been huge for that team by running the Offense. New Orleans has a great team of players, but if you have CP3 running that squad, they are a powerful team!



Memphis Grizzlies: They have a powerful shooting team. We need to look to stop New Orleans in preparation for Memphis.



VOTE VOTE VOTE!



Vexco, is Chris Paul the best Point Guard of the 2005 draft?

[BigSlam]

Looking forward to Walts "highlights of the night"!!

[Bowens]

This is a game where need to start this lineup

C-Nazr
PF-Mek
SF-Wallace
SG-JRich
PG-Raymond

If Nazr and Mek can battle West and Chandler to a draw, then you have Crash against Peja and JRich against Mo Pete. That is 2 matchups we should easily win. Obviously Paul will dominate Ray, but if Ray can slow him down just a little bit, I feel we can win this game.

We need Ray to bring his A game on defense. This is also a game on offense where I'd like to see Crash handle the ball more and work the 2 man game with JRich. I cannot see Mek or Nazr getting anything done worthwhile on offense unless West and Chandler get into early foul trouble. And I can't see Ray or McMinus beating Paul off the dribble.

So this leaves us with Crash as our primary ball handler in this one. If he has Peja guarding him, look for lots of drives to the hoop to try and draw fouls on Chandler and West or kickouts to a wide open JRich and Carroll waiting on the wings. Can't see JRich being effective along the baseline in this one unless Chandler or West is out of the game.

Also we need to be aggressive as a team on defense and not give these guys room to shoot and penetrate into the lane. If that happens it's going to be a long night. Emeka is going to have to step it up because if he lets Chandler get position on him, we're sunk. It would be nice if SV gives you help and starts Nazr in this one, but we all know he's clueless and will probably start McMinus who will proceed to get torched by either Paul or Mo Pete.

All I can say is if we start off the same way against NO as we did against the Magic, we're not coming back. Reason being, Chris Paul. He won't make the same mistakes the crappy guards on the Magic did.

[Paydro70]

I agree Bowens, this is definitely a game to go big. I don't know if Wallace can handle West for long.

Ray is a pretty good defender on small guards (like he was on AI recently) so hopefully he'll hold Paul to 20 or so. The matchup in question is definitely defending West, and we'll really have to destroy the wings. To be honest I don't like our chances, especially on the road, but the team has me at a MUCH higher confidence level than I was 2 weeks ago. Maybe we can pull it out.

[Bowens]

I agree Bowens, this is definitely a game to go big. I don't know if Wallace can handle West for long.

Ray is a pretty good defender on small guards (like he was on AI recently) so hopefully he'll hold Paul to 20 or so. The matchup in question is definitely defending West, and we'll really have to destroy the wings. To be honest I don't like our chances, especially on the road, but the team has me at a MUCH higher confidence level than I was 2 weeks ago. Maybe we can pull it out.

I don't really care how much Paul scores, what I don't want him to do is get easy penetration into the lane. If that happens, it's going to be like shooting fish in a barrel for Peja and Mo Pete on the outside and Chandler under the hoop. Thats why I feel it's so key for Ray to get physical in this game, get in Paul's face and throw him off his game. At least enough so our other guys have enough time to rotate and we're not scrambling around.

Also I don't think the zone defense will work in this one. Paul is smart enough to shred that and if Mek is covering Chandler without Nazr in the game, I can see Paul dumping it into him for easy looks over Mek or kickouts to a wide open player outside.

But like you said, we're playing at a MUCH higher confidence level and sometimes that is enough to get the job done. Hopefully we bring it from the opening tap.

Please dear God no McMinus in this game.

[e4Nf6]

As a Wake fan I use to love watching CP destroy Raymond, now it's not as much fun...

[spectre_]

This is a game where need to start this lineup

C-Nazr
PF-Mek
SF-Wallace
SG-JRich
PG-Raymond

Bowens I think we should take turns posting this in each game thread until it actually happens...then again that might be every game from now til the end of the season.

I don't think this game is quite as bad as others tho; Touche' should be able to guard MoPete without giving up too much...it's the faster 2s he has a problem with. JSwish on Peja, Crash on West and Mek on Chandler isn't that bad. Felts just has to try his best to stay in front of Paul...which he has had some success in the past.

Figure Paul's going to get his...stop the other guys.

I still want to see more of Nazr/Mek...make them deal with our 2 bigs together a little bit.

[fatlever]

wasnt it the jumpshooting west who killed okafor in the past. wallace is a better matchup for west.

[amcoolio]

I agree..just leave Wallace and Dudley on West, and rotate Okafor and Nazr down low. We are going to need a big game from J-Rich I feel to win this one.

[chabber]

This was one of the random match ups Walt and I played last night. Lets hope the outcome is different for our Bobcats tonight.

[fluffernutter]

As far as I can remember, Paul isn't the one that usually kills us when we play NO. I don't think he's had that many spectacular games either scoring or assists. It's everyone else that seems to do the damage! But this year's Paul is a different player. He's gotten better each year, and he was damn good last year. Let's see if Felton can "Iverson" Paul. Actually, Felton did a decent job on Navarro (was that his name, the speedy little Magic PG?), unless they threw a pick his way to free him up.

I dunno. Felton's actually taller than his opponent for once, and they have played against each other a lot... it will be interesting to see what happens.

I personally think the game will be lost and won in the paint, specifically Okafor. If Okafor plays better than average, we have a chance. If not... I'm not very hopeful, no matter what else happens (barring some sort of 40 point outburst by JRich).

[fatlever]

so which of you played as the hornets?

[amcoolio]

West killed us last game, Peja the game before that. Honestly, I think we should shut down the wings and leave Wallace and Okafor on west and dare Paul and Chandler to beat us. Paul is a solid PG but he seems to struggle against Felton. So who knows.

[amcoolio]

32.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.0 steals in his last four games, including a 36-point, 14-rebound performance versus the Magic.

Holy cow. Yeah, I think he's a shoo-in for player of the week.

[chabber]

Went random and got the Heat. I hate them so I pushed right and got the Hornets. Pretty close game. He nailed a few 3's and closed the gap near the end.

Next game though he put a double digit loss on me. It was a scrub match up between the Sonics(Me) vs. TPuppies. Big Al ate me alive.

[Walt Cronkite]

We selected at random and I got the cats. Lost by 2 but came back big in the 4th.

Then we did Sonics/Wolves and I crushed b/c of big Al

edit: or EXACTLY what chabber just said. All time Charlotte-Raleigh matchup currently stands at 2-1

[amcoolio]

Are you playing on 360, or Wii?

[chabber]

Dude, my inside guys had like 2 points combined between Thomas and Collison. I shoulda brought Wilcox in earlier and used him more.

360.

Does the wii have a basketball game? I can't imagine it controlling very well if it did.

[Paydro70]

Come on Chabber, the correct strategy for the Sonics is 50% Durant, 25% Wilcox dunks, and 25% 3pters from Wilkins or whoever. You have no prayer of stopping Jefferson ever, but at least you can score in return.

[amcoolio]

The Wii does, but I heard its not great because developers for those companies refuse to cater to the Wii and are lazy and want to just port it over.

You don't have to use the Wiimote controls for everything. I'm thinking you can turn it sideways and use the 1 button to pass and 2 button to shoot, with moving the Wiimote doing different moves and dunks. But I haven't played any basketball games for the Wii, im waiting until they get it right.