"Before making his debut in Saturday night's preseason opener against the Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets Coach Monty Williams reminded his players to carryover what they perfected during training camp. It proved not to be an obstacle for the starters, who stayed active as defenders and executed Williams' play sets with only a few minor glitches. But the Hornets' backups struggled on both ends of the floor and it led to a 97-90 loss before a crowd of 11,461 at the New Orleans Arena. "Our bench let us down not so much in intensity but in execution,'' Williams said. Despite the starters helping the Hornets' take a 31-13 lead in the first quarter, ineffective execution from the backups throughout the second quarter allowed the Grizzlies to come back. Williams emphasized team defense in camp and starting forward David West and center Emeka Okafor moved back and forth from the low post to the perimeter to help limit penetrations to the basket. With that kind of help, they rarely got beat in transition and they forced the Grizzlies to miss a high percentage of shots. Starting point guard Chris Paul had two steals and scored 12 points, and starting forward Trevor Ariza was active as a defender on the wing and attacked on the offensive end by making all three 3-pointers before finishing with 17 points." http://www.nola.com/hornets/index.ssf/2010/10/new_orleans_hornets_backups_st.html
