Bobcats at Hornets: Advanced Box Score

Nice bounce back win. The offense was outstanding, but the defense was not good at all outside of our starting frontcourt. Bobcats were way too efficient offensively. Can't believe the next game is Wednesday. What a joke. I can get by this weekend due to football, but what about Monday and Tuesday? Come on man!

Offensive Rating (Team - 124.5)

Roberts - 169
Anderson - 163
Miller - 158
Lopez - 157
Aminu - 125
Davis - 118
Mason - 104
Smith - 97
Rivers - 77
Vasquez - 75

1. I was surprised Davis was lower, but than I saw he went 5/9 from the FT line. He makes a couple of those and his rating goes up higher.

2. Roberts, Anderson, and Miller shot very well from the field. Anderson got off early by making a few easy shots in the paint. Roberts was very good offensively. Shot excellently, setup his teammates, and didn't turn the ball over. Miller made his open 3's.

3. Aminu was very good as well. Shot a high % and cut back his turnovers.

4. Rivers and Vasquez were not good offensively. I'll give Rivers the benefit of the doubt since he played with a swollen finger, but until he improves his perimeter shooting or like CP3forMVP said, develops a mid-range game, his offense will suffer. He has great quickness with the ball in his hand. Vasquez was poor again. Seems to be regressing rapidly.


Defensive Rating (Team - 115.2)

Davis - 103
Aminu - 107
Lopez - 110
Vasquez -114
Anderson - 120
Mason - 121
Miller - 121
Rivers - 122
Smith - 124
Roberts - 124

1. Davis was outstanding defensively. Blocks, rebounds, rotations. Played well. Aminu and Lopez were strong as well.

2. Unfortunately no one else played well defensively. The backcourt got torched and the rest of the frontcourt didn't rebound or defend.

Tiny sample size and all, but Anthony Davis is 3rd in the NBA in PER, behind Lebron and Duncan. Melo is 4th. I've always been a believer, but I didn't think he'd be this good this fast. Not that I think he's going to put up 20+ every night, but his ability to play from the elbow is a revelation.

I think what really excited me last night was seeing how aggressive he was. He got the ball, faced up BJ or Diop, and just immediately went to the dribble and layup. He was really looking to cause trouble down low, and it showed up on the stat sheet. For my first time seeing him in person, I walked away a worshiper in the House of the Brow.

One thing that really stuck out to me last night was that the Hornets are a much better passing team than they are a ballhandling team. The stats bear that out: they had 29 assists last night on 43 made field goals. For guys who should not under any circumstances pull the ball on the floor, Aminu and Lopez are actually surprisingly smart, capable passers. There was a play in the 1st quarter in transition where Vasquez whipped a bounce pass to Lopez, who instead of going up with an awkward contested layup made a perfect pass to a cutting Aminu for the uncontested dunk. Many NBA centers don't think to make that play and force that up or turn it over. When the Hornets have played well this season (e.g. not against Philly), they've made a number of plays like that. Another from last night was Anderson passing up an almost open look to get Miller the open corner three. Like Vasquez, these guys are not talentless offensive basketball players, they just look like it when they're isolated and forced to dribble. As a team without ball handlers, the Hornets will have to compensate with ball movement from everyone, and so far they have been. I'd like to see more of what we saw at the end of last night, AD facilitating from the high post. When he had an opportunity to do that in college, he really passed well.

We DID play the Bobcats...

Time to designate Rivers to the Energy.