GT: Hornets vs Magic Wed 3/16 7PM EST

[ChokeFasncists]

Oladipo is a warrior, reminds me of a Muay thai fighter. When he gets the jumper going, he's gonna be a big star

[yosemiteben]

That guy who started the MVP chant for Frank deserves a hammer.

[Snidely FC]

Batum Batum Batum is on fire. We don't need no water let the mother fu**er burn

[antique0o0]

Don't know why we play one style to get a huge lead and then take the air out of the ball to feed it to Al over and over again. Its one thing if hes having a good game but when we are clicking on all cylinders and he can't throw it in the ocean why do we insist on tailoring the entire offense to him while they slowly get back in the game?

If Al isn't involved in the offense, what else can he do?

[bws94]

Lin needs to stop being so one-dimensional. 3s or drives. Get the damned mid-range going again. In all of his good games he combined drives, mid-range shots with some 3s. He goes too deep into the paint trapping himself too often. He's too long in the league to do the same stupid things over and over. He needs to play smarter, more diverse, with more force and put his imprint on the game like he's capable of doing. It isn't only a shooting slump, he's limiting himself. He had some really good moments in this game but some really bonehead ones as well.

In all those games he had the ball a lot and got into the flow of the game. You cant excpect someone to that wants the ball in his hands to make plays being anything than OK when he is playing without the ball. Plenty of times this game Lin barely touched the ball. hell kemba played almost the whole 4th quarter when the team led by 20! Lin barely did anything. is that on Lin? yeah but it's not all on him either.

he had plenty touches, did some good things in the first half, bad in the second half... again, seemed lost at times, one perfect example is in early fourth, Kemba brought the ball up, swing to Lin... he dribbled a couple of times with no purpose, passed back to Kemba, Kemba went down hill to the rim... one is passive, the other is aggressive, where the ball should go?

That is exactly what Lin does. Instead of starting a play, he just dribbles. And when he passed back to Kemba, Kemba was like 40 feet away from the basket. Lin needs to shoot it, or find someone for a good look. He's a facilitator that doesn't take charge of facilitating like Batum does. Lin is supposed to be driving the ball to the hoop more frequently than Kemba. That's what he's known for. Kemba penetrates but his bread and butter is the mid-range jumper. That was a great example of Lin not advancing the play, just wasting clock. And he does that way too often.

And Lin doesn't need the ball in his hands that much to make plays. Just enough. Kemba or someone else passes him the ball, he sometimes immediately just passes it back to someone who is covered. He needs to get back to the Lin that looks to make a play or shoot. He's on as facilitating SG next to Kemba, but I don't know what he's trying to do. I like that he sets picks, but he should be the one calling for them and working off of them more.

[Snidely FC]

I go to pick up carry out were down 6. 12 minutes later were up 18?

Ok

Watcha get?

Spoiler:

fish sticks?

3/4 pound cheeseburger. Trying to die young

I wanna know where you got the burger, cuz I'm gonna replace fish sticks with the 3/4 pounder for the playoffs

[bws94]

What happened to Payton? The guy with the hair that is worse than the Weeknd's?

[catch20two]

What happened to Payton? The guy with the hair that is worse than the Weeknd's?

He's nursing a sore elbow but he's also fell out of Skile's favor since he can't shoot worth a crap and hasn't exactly been running the offense well. Skiles had been closing out games with Elfrid on the bench.

[HornetJail]

What happened to Payton? The guy with the hair that is worse than the Weeknd's?

He's nursing a sore elbow but he's also fell out of Skile's favor since he can't shoot worth a crap and hasn't exactly been running the offense well. Skiles had been closing out games with Elfrid on the bench.

As would I. You can't really get by with a poor man's version of Rondo/Rubio- just doesn't fit their lineup or the NBA in general.

That said, closing out games with Jennings is probably worse since he can't shoot OR defend.

[fatlever]

What a frustrating way to win a game.

First, Batum and Marvin take a bow. Bravo, well done. Those two were fantastic. Marvin just keeps getting better and better. Batum showing why he is going to get the $$$ this summer. That lob Batum threw to Zeller was unbelievable. I had to stop the DVR and rewatch that play just to make sure I saw that I thought I saw.

Cody, solid bounce back game.

Bench, WTF??? If Al isn't on fire, he is an absolute disaster. He sucks the life out of the offense and does his usual on defense. I wonder if Cliff will have the stones to go away from Al in the playoffs when he has games like tonight. If Al isnt hitting, put in Hawes, spread that bench unit out and let the guards to to work.

Lin brought some energy in the early 2nd quarter, but thats about all I can say. Its clear that Lin and Al aren't working well together.

Daniels, yeah, that's not gonna keep getting you playing time.

And Frank, at least he had some rebounds I guess.

If you cant trust your bench to close out a game up 22 in the 4th, at home, that's not good.

As for Kemba, that was a typical Kemba game from the old Kemba. Is the hot streak over? He wasn't bad, just not near the level he has been at recently.

Gotta play 4 good quarters to win in Miami, not just 2 good quarters, like tonight.

[bws94]

fats, gotta get Al, Lin and Frank scoring again. Daniels had an atypical game. If Lamb is out of the picture, Daniels shots will fall the next game. But Al, Lin and Frank need to find their offensive games more. Lin having energy is all well and good, but we need his scoring against quality teams.

Kemba may be regressing to the mean. The 30 points and over games streak is over and he was bound to cool off. That's why others have to get going, can't always be Kemba bringing us home. I don't think Batum can be counted on to do the types of things he did tonight, but glad he stepped it up tonight. Marv's been fantastic too. But a lot of guys aren't producing to their capabilities, mostly the guys off of the bench.

[antique0o0]

There is zero chance that Clifford will put Al back into the starting lineup.
Hornets bench is Al's officially, I guess.
Lin is a pick & roll player. Playing with Al and frank, who don't know how to set good screens and roll to the rim, limited his strength.
But keeping Al on the bench is better for the team. That's it. Hope Hornets starters play better the rest of this season.

[Flip Murray]

Marvin is going nuts.

I just haven't been able to watch games over the last week. Hopefully i'll be back in the fold fully by Monday.

[Eoghan]

Can Charlotte win a playoff series with this bench? Outside of a match up with maybe Miami, I'd say Charlotte needs HCA to feel like a safe bet to advance to the 2nd round.

[euphorbus]

There is zero chance that Clifford will put Al back into the starting lineup. The Hornets bench is Al's officially, I guess.

Lin is a pick & roll player. Playing with Al and Frank, who don't know how to set good screens and roll to the rim, limited his strength. But keeping Al on the bench is better for the team. That's it. Hope Hornets starters play better the rest of this season.

My favorite player has not even been tried in these situations. Play Hansbrough at power forward and watch him set the guards free for good shots and drives. He has chemistry with Lin, knows how to roll, and plays better defense than Frank.

I imagine that Coach Clifford has not gone this route because he fears that Hanbrough + Jefferson would clog the lane. But from what I have seen of Jefferson, he always starts on the left side of the basket and works his way in. He does not actually play in the lane much at all. You would not have "four out," but the spacing would still be good.

One other thing. I watched Tyler warming up before a game last week. All his jump shots were going it, including the threes. He still has it. Can Coach Clifford exploit/encourage that offensive talent?

[bws94]

Can Charlotte win a playoff series with this bench? Outside of a match up with maybe Miami, I'd say Charlotte needs HCA to feel like a safe bet to advance to the 2nd round.

Didn't Charlotte have one of the best benches the first half of the season? It used to be the bench that got us back into games and the starters digging a hole. The bench routinely out-performed other benches and sometimes by a big margin. How does a bench go from being a strong point to a weak point?

[ChronoSage]

Can Charlotte win a playoff series with this bench? Outside of a match up with maybe Miami, I'd say Charlotte needs HCA to feel like a safe bet to advance to the 2nd round.

Didn't Charlotte have one of the best benches the first half of the season? It used to be the bench that got us back into games and the starters digging a hole. The bench routinely out-performed other benches and sometimes by a big margin. How does a bench go from being a strong point to a weak point?

Al is now coming off bench.... What a coincidence....

[ChokeFasncists]

There is zero chance that Clifford will put Al back into the starting lineup. The Hornets bench is Al's officially, I guess.

Lin is a pick & roll player. Playing with Al and Frank, who don't know how to set good screens and roll to the rim, limited his strength. But keeping Al on the bench is better for the team. That's it. Hope Hornets starters play better the rest of this season.

My favorite player has not even been tried in these situations. Play Hansbrough at power forward and watch him set the guards free for good shots and drives. He has chemistry with Lin, knows how to roll, and plays better defense than Frank.

I imagine that Coach Clifford has not gone this route because he fears that Hanbrough + Jefferson would clog the lane. But from what I have seen of Jefferson, he always starts on the left side of the basket and works his way in. He does not actually play in the lane much at all. You would not have "four out," but the spacing would still be good.

One other thing. I watched Tyler warming up before a game last week. All his jump shots were going it, including the threes. He still has it. Can Coach Clifford exploit/encourage that offensive talent?

I feel ya. It's even worse to be a PsychoFan than Lin fan. You watch him start and play 20+ mins on a playoffs team. Now that your team signs him and he plays 0.

[antique0o0]

There is zero chance that Clifford will put Al back into the starting lineup. The Hornets bench is Al's officially, I guess.

Lin is a pick & roll player. Playing with Al and Frank, who don't know how to set good screens and roll to the rim, limited his strength. But keeping Al on the bench is better for the team. That's it. Hope Hornets starters play better the rest of this season.

My favorite player has not even been tried in these situations. Play Hansbrough at power forward and watch him set the guards free for good shots and drives. He has chemistry with Lin, knows how to roll, and plays better defense than Frank.

I imagine that Coach Clifford has not gone this route because he fears that Hanbrough + Jefferson would clog the lane. But from what I have seen of Jefferson, he always starts on the left side of the basket and works his way in. He does not actually play in the lane much at all. You would not have "four out," but the spacing would still be good.

One other thing. I watched Tyler warming up before a game last week. All his jump shots were going it, including the threes. He still has it. Can Coach Clifford exploit/encourage that offensive talent?

Hansbrough, I like him too. He is tough. But Clifford may not like him committing too many fouls. And his free throws is a worry.

[ChokeFasncists]

^
My guess is that Cliff wants a shooter at the 4 and Psycho isn't a rim protector at the 5.

OTOH, it's probably more cuz he wants to give PT to guys ahead of him