Hornets.com postgame: Hornets 105, Bobcats 89
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
By: Jim Eichenhofer, Hornets.com
The Hornets were sporting uniforms that were first seen in the city of New Orleans during the 1967-68 ABA season. For the first three quarters Wednesday, their performance against the Bobcats was vintage 2007-08.
New Orleans (12-6) ran roughshod over Charlotte (7-15) in the initial 36 minutes of action Wednesday, building a 31-point advantage. The Hornets regularly blew out opponents in the Hive last season en route to a franchise-record 56 victories, but havent had many comfortable wins yet this season. Thats changed over the past two games, runaway triumphs over the Grizzlies and Bobcats.
After the decisive win, much of the talk in the locker room centered on Fridays visit to Boston. After winning seven of the last eight games, New Orleans will face the 20-2 Celtics in Boston, on national TV.
Its going to be a great challenge for us, Byron Scott said. Im more anxious to see how we do than anything. I think every (Hornets player) understands that were playing the best team in the league. Theyre playing at a very high level.
I think its a big game for us, Tyson Chandler said. Its a game we have to show up for mentally to play. Im not going to say its a statement game, but (its important) for ourselves.
Hornets.coms Courtside Live Chat made its regular season debut Wednesday during the Bobcats game. I covered an array of topics and fielded questions from visitors on several subjects, most prominently the Antonio Daniels trade and his potential impact. If you'd like to discuss the Hornets during New Orleans home games this season on our site, here is the link. The next chat is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 17 vs. San Antonio. Thats an ESPN game, which moved back the tip-off time to 8:30 p.m. locally.
You can also chat about the Hornets 24 hours a day on our sites new social network, which you can find at www.hornets.net.HORNETS POSTGAME QUOTESByron ScottOn the 4th quarter: I wasnt very happy, their job is to basically come out there and compete and do what the first team did and compete every single night. I think they understand where I was coming from after the game. I wasnt very happy with it and that is a shame because I thought we played great for three quarters and then we played the fourth quarter like it didnt matter. In my eyes it does matter it matters for playing time and rotation purposes. I tell them to win the quarter. In our plus and minus system we gauge everybody
we were minus 15 as a group their job is to go in and win the fourth quarter."Tyson ChandlerOn the game: Weve been doing a lot better job defensively the last couple of games. Its been starting fast breaks and getting us better shots. It was fun out there. It was a good night. David WestOn the game: Were not really worried about rest, we just want to continue to take care of ourselves and come out aggressive. We want to go out on the road with a good feeling about ourselves and be ready to go out and compete. I thought we responded better. Were playing at a different level of basketball right now. We just want to keep that up.
Hornets acquire Daniels from Washington
If the early reviews on the Antonio Daniels acquisition are any indication, New Orleans made an outstanding move today by dealing for the 11-year NBA veteran. Check our audio section for Jeff Bower's press conference and Hornets radio commentator Gerry Vaillancourt's analysis of the trade. As always, you can leave your comments on the trade here in the blog.Daniels is expected to arrive in New Orleans on Thursday to take his physical. His availability for Friday's game in Boston is uncertain. If he does not play Friday, the Hornets' next scheduled game is Sunday in Toronto.Also note that we'll be chatting live on Hornets.com from inside the New Orleans Arena tonight, when the Hornets (11-6) host the Bobcats at 7 p.m. Central time.