Hornets romp to impressive 100-59 win over the short-handed Hawks
The New Orleans Hornets handed out a historic thrashing to the short-handed Atlanta Hawks 100-59 on Friday at the Philips Arena. The result marked their seventh consecutive win of the 2010-11 season.
With starters Al Horford (sprained right ankle) and small forward Marvin Williams (back contusion) missing, the Hawks have now become the fifth team to score fewer than 60 points this season. In addition, they have shot under 30 percent from the field at
home for the first time in the last 25 seasons, and the first since the Miami Heat in 2001.
The Hawks coach Larry Drew said, "That was about as bad as we have played this year, from start to finish. Nobody wants to lose - especially that way, especially at home. It is very embarrassing."
Chris Paul played well as he scored a game-high 16 points for the Hornets. David West and Marco Belinelli scored 15 points apiece for New Orleans, who took control of the game late in the first half and romped to a sizzling victory. Emeka Okafor pulled down
a game-high 12 rebounds for the Nets, who won their 28th game of the 2010-11 season.
Jamal Crawford once again did all he could, as he scored 14 off the bench for the Hawks, who lost their 16th game of the season. Josh Smith contributed 13 points and eight rebounds for Atlanta, whose starters combined for just 29 points.
Match Analysis
The Hornets went out onto the opponent’s home court, shared the basketball, and ran all over the Atlanta Hawks with one of their most impressive victories in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Both teams started ice cold, but the Hornets managed to make it to the free throw line early, taking a 19-17 lead into the second. The Hornets iced the game over the first seven minutes of the third. However, Atlanta went to the locker room down 49-34 and
never recovered.
Atlanta Forward Josh Smith slumped in front of his locker at the break, trying to figure out how a team that played so hard in an overtime win at Miami, could return home and get blown out by 41 points. Smith said, "You can't explain it.
You have games like this sometimes."
Trailing 29-28, New Orleans took the lead for good on a lay-up by West. That started a 40-9 run up to the five minute mark of the third quarter, when Emeka Okafor's alley-oop from Paul gave New Orleans a 70-38 lead after the third quarter. The Hawks shot
a season-low 29.1 percent, including 9-of-38 (23.7 percent) in the second half. They missed 26 of their first 30 shots after half time.
No one made any shots or put much pressure on the New Orleans defence. Atlanta was 23 of 79 from the field, 4 of 20 on three-pointers and got to the foul line a mere 11 times. In the fourth quarter, the Hawks did not cross the 50-point threshold until the
last three minutes of the game.
Hawks guard Jamal Crawford expressed his disappointment after the game. He said, "We came out and just laid an egg. I would be lying if I said games like this are easy to forget. However, if you lose by 40, it is still a loss. You just have to move on. It
is not like football where we have to wait a week. We have an opportunity [Saturday, at Charlotte]."
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