Golden State Warriors Fall To The New Orleans Hornets

Evan against the lowly Hornets, the talent from the Warriors were not enough to get a “W”. This does keep the pick alive for the Warriors, which at this point, means more a lot more than a win.

The Warriors actually looked like they were going to get a win. They scored the first eight points of the game before the Hornets were able to get on board. In a good sense, the score was tied after one half, 43-43, so it was like a clean slate starting the second. But while the players may have wanted to win, the fans sure did not want the Warriors to even come close to winning.

Many fans were cheering when the Hornets were scoring and were more quiet when the Warriors did. The Warriors were even up by seven late in the game before a flurry of scoring from the Hornets gave them the opportunity to come back and win. Again, the story is that former Warriors have come back and haunted the them. This time, under achieving Marco Belinelli, scored 14 in the first half and scored a critical three to start the comeback. Then Greivis Vazquez scored an easy lay-up for the tie. Fast forward a couple of seconds and Vazquez blocked Charles Jenkins on a potential two possession game before the ball found Belinelli. With Chris Wright chasing him down like a mad man, Belinelli got the ball up just a tad bit quicker before Wright could block it. Wright did get a hand on it, but was too late and a goaltending was called.

Down by two, the Warriors called a time out. The Warriors were unable to get off a shot in time and it was game, set, match.

A key stat is that the Warriors only shot 70% from the stripe, but only got there 13 times. Meanwhile, the Hornets got there 31 times. If they had shot better than 61%, they would have blown this game open and the Warriors wouldn’t even have had a chance to go for the win. They also got outscored in the paint 42-30.

There are two bright spots for this game was Klay Thompson and Brandon Rush. Thompson finished with a team high 16 points and three boards while Rush, who has continuously impressed me, had 15 points and four boards.

This win by the Hornets help them boost their morale while the loss helps the Warriors secure their high lottery first round pick. For the past two months, the conversation burner has been, “Have the Warriors been tanking on purpose?” Coach Mark Jackson has viciously refuted this idea. And while his team has not shown the support to the denial,  he does not have any help. For the past two weeks, he has had only nine players dressed and had to start three rookies, a 10-day contract man, and one veteran against other teams who have ultimately better players.

They are no match for other bench players as many of them have bounced around as well as being rookies.

“I thought it was a great opportunity to see what these other guys have,” Jackson said. “It’s easy to do it when the season is over with and it’s easy to do it during summer league, but I really wanted to see what they could do against NBA players.”

And while the last game is against the Spurs and most likely against the bench, the only thing the Warriors have to look forward to is having the bench players gaining more experience against other NBA players.

Tip off time for the last game is @ 7:30pm PST.