Hornets.com postgame: Wizards 96, Hornets 87
By: Jim Eichenhofer, Hornets.com, @Jim_Eichenhofer
Wizards (22-42), Hornets (22-44)
It was over when… Washington guard John Wall made a spinning half hook in the middle of the lane, giving the Wizards a 91-77 lead with 4:09 remaining and causing a Hornets timeout. Wall, not known as an accurate perimeter shooter whatsoever, enjoyed one of the best nights of his three-year career, finishing 12-for-15 from the field for 29 points. He was 3-for-42 on three-pointers last season and 3-for-20 this season entering Friday, but went 3-for-3 there against the Hornets. New Orleans dropped to 0-2 on its three-game road trip, which wraps up Sunday night in Minnesota.
Hornets MVP: Greivis Vasquez took team MVP honors largely because he was one of the only New Orleans players to put together two solid halves. Vasquez scored eight and 10 points in the first and second half, respectively. The 6-foot-6 point guard totaled 18 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, coming up just shy of a triple-double in the closest NBA city to where he played high school and college basketball (Maryland). Eric Gordon and Anthony Davis both had promising starts but were quiet in the second half, Davis as a result of persistent foul trouble. Davis scored 12 of his 16 points in the opening half, while Gordon had 17 of his 20.
Hornets Sixth Man of the Game: Ryan Anderson was the only reserve to score in the second half, making this a no-brainer selection. Anderson joined Vasquez in doing his best to try to keep New Orleans close in the latter portion of the game, scoring 10 of his 13 after intermission. His slow start, however, led to final shooting numbers of 6-for-18 from the field and 1-for-10 from three-point range. He’d never use it as an excuse, but he missed Tuesday’s game due to a viral infection and may have not have been at 100 percent.
The buzz on… the value of Davis. By far the most disappointing aspect of watching Friday’s game was the fact that the No. 1 overall draft pick ended up only playing 16:24, due to his inability to avoid fouls to stay on the floor. Davis’ first quarter was one of his best of 2012-13. The Kentucky product rang up a quick 12 points by repeatedly attacking the basket for a dunk, two layups, a putback score and the drawing of two Washington fouls (he went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line). In one telling statistic from Friday’s game, Davis was the only Hornets player who was in the positive side of plus-minus, at +5. In the fourth quarter, Monty Williams chose to go with Anderson at power forward and Lou Amundson at center. Amundson quietly did some nice work with four rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes.