See the additional editorial notes at the end for more details about late postings and how they are not going to be a problem any longer.
FROM APRIL 20 2009 (The day after the Nuggets won game one 113-84)
One more thing that Byron Scott should say to Chandler and West:
"Stop wasting Chris Paul's time"
FROM APRIL 20 2009 (The day after the Nuggets won game one 113-84)
Game 2 is not quite must win but it is a must that if the Hornets lose, they lose by 6 points or fewer. If they lose by 7 or more, you have to say the Nuggets win game 3 or 4 in NO and take the series in 5 or 6 games.
Hornets: Do not waste Chris Paul's time!
FROM APRIL 20 2009 (The day after the Nuggets won game one 113-84)
Posted by Hornets85
All the doom and gloom of the Hornets' demise needs to stop!!! The way Billups was on fire tonight this was going to be their game. The 21-0 run sealed it but this game was going to be Denver's. The team and that crowd was not going to lose tonight. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Denver wasted all their hot shooting for the series after the game was pretty much decided. And I would like to remind the board that it is a 7 game series. And I remember a team in last year's playoffs that got trounced in games 1,2, and 5 of a Western Conference Semifinals but showed their true mettle winning a game 7 on the opposing team's home floor. That series should send a message to all of us that previous results don't carry over to the next game. Hornets down 0-1 and the score of Game 2 right now is 0-0.
I agree with you that the Hornets can still win if they adjust. We are talking about George Karl here, who has about the worst playoff record of any long-term head coach in the NBA.
But the thing that has me freaked is that you can't say whether Billups will not have any more games with half a dozen threes or not, it's a total unknown. And even if Billups goes back to his March-April slump and can't hardly hit threes anymore, the C Anthony/JR Smith combo has a good chance of kicking in to replace that. Meanwhile, Nene is stuffing it in for 10-20 points every game, with a FG% of about 60%. And then you have the Birdman adding insult to injury with all his put-backs.
Karl's roster has so much firepower that there are two relatively powerful offenses that can work instead of just one. This is like the ultimate nightmare for those who realize that beneath all the hype and posing, the reality is that Karl is a poor (at best) coach of offense at the NBA playoffs level. It looks like it won't matter that Karl is not good at it, because the Nuggets' have too much on the roster.
This series may to me be like a horror movie: instead of "Chucky's Revenge," it will be called "Karl's Revenge".
FROM APRIL 20 2009 (The day after the Nuggets won game one 113-84)
Posted by Saints Fan in A
It's hyperbole and denial as to what the real problem is...the fact that the Hornets aren't that good. Sure, they made the playoffs but more than half of the league makes the playoffs. They can't complete with the truly elite. Chris Paul is great. Top 5 player. The rest of the team is average. I can think of ten players at damn near every position outside of PG that I'd rather have than the current starter we have. Funny (or not so funny) thing is, the GM called at mid-season what yall are seeing now. Denial kept some from coming to grips with it though.
If this is true, how did the Hornets win 7 playoff games last year?
FROM APRIL 20 2009 (The day after the Nuggets won game one 113-84)
I'm getting the impression that Chandler is mailing it in because of his ankle, and that since the Hornets have little big man depth, they are afraid to sub for Chandler, and so New Orleans is basically hosed for this series, especially considering that the Nuggets are a very aggressive to the rack type of team.
Am I right about Chandler? Is there any hope here?
FROM APRIL 20 2009 (The day after the Nuggets won game one 113-84)
Posted by NYKF Hornet
I don't think he is mailing it in, I think what you are seeing is a guy working his *** of to play in spite of the fact that his injury is way worse than advertised.
This sounds better than my description. Do you think Chandler is hiding how bad the injury still is or do you think the Hornets' coaches and trainers know but they have no choice but to play Chandler?
To ask about this in a little different way, do any of these players deserve to be considered as subs for Chandler, or would putting any of these in in place of him be pointless?
--Marvin Ely
--Hilton Armstrong
--Julian Wright
The sad thing about this is that any team with a quality center would be able to deal with these Nuggets without that much trouble. They don't pass much, they don't have anyone who can hit mid-range jumpers unless Carmelo Anthony momentarily comes out of a season long slump. All they basically do almost all of the time is to drive for fouls and dish back out for threes jacked up by everyone and his uncle.
FROM APRIL 20 2009 (The day after the Nuggets won game one 113-84)
Posted by NYKF Hornet
There is no choice but to play Chandler.
Ely, Armstrong, and Marks are our only options at Center ... so Chandler has to go. His injury is not going ever fully heal and he will never fully recover. So we don't have a choice and if Chandler wants to play he doesn't have a choice either.
So there is no possible way that Ely, Hilton, or Marks could slow down Nene, Kenyon Martin, and Chris Andersen at the hoop, just by positioning and hanging tough and boxing out and so forth?
Because that's all you really need to slow these Nuggets down and maybe disrupt them badly. Apart from whatever Billups does, the Nuggets are feasting off the Nene and the Andersen throw downs. The better the center, the more you can slow them down. The Chandler situation is like the worst possible thing you could have going up against the Nuggets.
========== Editorial Notes ==========
--The above was written in late April, 2009.
--As promised, we are finally posting material written and posted on forums in the spring. Obviously, if you have your own site, you should be posting at least simultaneously on your own site when you for whatever reason post elsewhere. But there has been a bad habit of not doing so, a bad habit that is being beaten down due to new content sharing regulations that have teeth.
========== VIDEO PLAYERS ==========
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