plumnovel Chapter 122 122. Battle of the Hornets
Chapter 122 122. Battle of the Hornets
Chapter 122 122. Battle of the Hornets
February 11.
After a day of rest, the Magic will also challenge the Hornets at the New Orleans Arena today.
In the past two years, under the cooperation of Chris Paul and David West, the Hornets have also successfully helped the team squeeze into the Western Conference.
In the last season, the Hornets even surrendered a record of 56 wins and 26 losses, ranking second in the Western Conference.
In the first round of the playoffs, under the leadership of Chris Paul, the young Hornets also eliminated the Mavericks led by Nuo Tianwang with a total score of 4:1.
But in the Western Conference semifinals, the young Hornets eventually lost to the veteran Spurs 3:4 in the tie-break.
This one game away also kept Chris Paul from the Western Conference Finals.
If the Hornets were able to advance to the Western Conference Finals last season, then the classic drama of Kobe VS Paul will be staged in the Western Conference Finals.
And no one thought that, just when everyone thought that Paul's career peak had just begun, this time it would become the season closest to the Western Conference Finals in the rest of Chris Paul's career...
Although the loss in the playoffs last season made the young Hornets a bit pity, it also made the players look forward to the future of the team.
Therefore, while retaining the original lineup, the Hornets this season also introduced James Posey to add another touch to the team's offensive firepower.
Just when the young Hornets planned to roll up their sleeves early in the season, they largely ignored the ups and downs of the players' own state.
With the beginning of the new season, the personal status of the former All-Star player Peja Stojakovic, who was very fierce in offensive firepower last season, has indeed declined greatly.
Peja, who is already in his 30s, has already experienced some regression in physical condition, and the Hornets' performance is very good, which also caused Peja to focus on eating, drinking and having fun during the offseason, so he did not carry out systematic training.
So at the beginning of the season, Peja's shooting percentage can be said to have directly broken his career low.
The absence of Peja also directly affected the offensive efficiency of the entire Hornets team. The pick-and-roll originally performed by Chris Paul and David West in the high position last season was very threatening.
Because David West can not only go down after the pick-and-roll, but also raise the high position to shoot, which also leads to the fact that this combination can use a pick-and-roll to produce multiple offensive changes on the offensive end.
The excellent and efficient performance of Chris Paul and David West also forced other teams to focus their defense on them as much as possible.
In this case, Peja Stojakovic can get a good chance to catch the ball standing outside the three-point line. After all, Chris Paul's passing vision is currently among the best in the entire league.
But this season, Peja faced these vacant opportunities and instead frequently struck iron, instantly turning into a blacksmith on the field, presenting music one after another for the home audience.
This also caused the entire Hornets offense to become somewhat chaotic.
In addition, boxing champion Chandler also suffered from a waist injury this season, and his attendance has been difficult to guarantee.
Therefore, the Hornets, who were bound to hit the championship this season, have only ranked sixth in the West so far.
But so far, although Peja's scoring average has dropped to 13 points per game, it is not without good news for the Hornets.
That is, Rathall Butler, who could only play as a substitute last season, ushered in an explosion in his career this season.
This season, Rathall Butler has raised his personal scoring average to 11.3 points per game, and also has 3.4 rebounds.
If you take away his 0.7 assists per game, he will be a very good role player.
The assist ratio is so low, not all because the Hornets have most of the ball in the hands of Chris Paul, but also because Rathol Butler happened to have Kobe's disease although he didn't have Kobe's life...
But fortunately, his hard-working defensive attitude on the court, coupled with Peja Stojakovic's perfect hip-pull, also made Rathall Butler directly mentioned by the head coach to the starting lineup, becoming an indispensable part of the team for the time being.
However, this season the Hornets are still able to successfully gain a foothold in the strong teams such as forests in the West, and it is entirely due to the outstanding performance of Chris Paul and David West.
After a rest in the offseason, the personal performance of the two not only did not decline, but also slightly improved.
So far, Chris Paul has averaged 23 points, 5 rebounds and 10 assists per game.
As Chris Paul's old partner, David West was able to contribute 21 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.
It can be said that the proportion of scoring and assists of the two on the offensive end is basically equivalent to half of the team's scoring.
In addition, the team's third gun, Pejas Yakovic, is not very powerful, and it also allows other teams this season to always defend this combination more closely when facing the Hornets.
This is also the main reason why the performance of the Hornets has not increased since the start of the season, but has declined.
You know, in the league of the NBA, if a team does not improve in the new season, then this is equivalent to a regression.
Because the lineups of other teams will change a lot every year, not to mention that the offensive level of this Hornets team has dropped a lot compared to last season.
If it weren't for Rathall Butler's personal outbreak, I am afraid that the Hornets this season will basically bid farewell to the playoffs.
Before the start of the game, the players on both sides also warmed up for shooting in the half court.
Compared with the Magic, which has played consecutive away games, the Hornets in this game are actually not feeling well.
Although the Hornets did not fight back-to-back in this game, the day before, the Hornets fought three overtimes with the Lakers, who are currently ranked No. [-] in the Western Conference, and finally lost to the Lakers with a slight disadvantage of two points.
In this case, the physical strength of the Hornets will not be much better than that of the Magic. The only advantage may be that they are very familiar with the basket of this arena.
"Hey Chris, I love watching you play, and I was always your idol before I entered the league."
"Bah!! No..., I mean you have always been my fan!!"
"Uh, it's not..., um..., I mean, you like watching me play..."
Paul: "???"
Thank you brother h for your support! !Thanks brother, thanks! !
(End of this chapter)