New Orleans Hornets rout Memphis Grizzlies 95 – 80: NBA preseason recap
New Orleans Hornets traded their star Chris Paul to Los Angeles Clippers in the exchange of Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu and future first round pick. The trade completely gave the Hornets a new look and there were
fears that the new star might take some time to settle.
However, the newly acquired trio is on a roll and led the Hornets to their second consecutive preseason win against the Memphis Grizzlies (95-80).
Kaman pounded 18 points on 8 for 13 from the charity stripe while Gordon drained 17 on 3 for 5 from the three point range. Aminu (6) failed to produce a decent tally but pulled down 4 rebounds and dished out 2 assists.
Kaman was satisfied with his performance in his debut for the Hornets. Praising the rest of the team and the coach, he added
"All in all I thought we played well as a team and our defense was solid. I felt a little uncomfortable early on, a little stiff. I'm an older guy, you know. When I had offensive opportunities, I took advantage of those. These
coaches are very meticulous about where guys are and where they are supposed to be.''
Gordon too was delighted with his performance but added that the new modified Hornets would need to be error free in the upcoming season in order to advance further in the tournament. He exclaimed
“We're going to be a team this year that can't make too many mistakes, limited turnovers, we're going to have to play really good defense. We've definitely got to be one of the top defensive teams to be a winning team or playoff
team."
Rudy g*y marshalled Grizzlies with 20 points on an accurate 4 for 4 from the charity stripe while Zach Randolph had 15 points and 8 rebounds.
Tony Allen and Rudy both struck in the first minute to get Grizzlies ahead at 4-0.
Both dominated the offense in next few minutes and kept the team in the driving seat for most of the quarter. Scores were 28-17 with 4 minutes remaining, however after that, Hornets strengthened their defence and reeled a 9-0 run
to finish the first frame just behind 2 point 26-28.
Hornets defence turned even better in the next frame and at the same time, Kaman and Gordon got more offensive, helping the team to acquire a healthy lead. By the end, Hornets were ahead by 10 points 55-45.
That was it.
Grizzlies until the end tried hard but failed to bring down the lead to single digits and lost the game by 15 points in the end.
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