<div align="center"> vs. New Orleans Hornets (1-0) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (0-0) Date: Wednesday, November 2, 2005 Time: 7:30 PM, Eastern Time TV: CST, NBA League Pass <font color="deepskyblue">Hornets Starting Lineup</font> PG: Chris Paul SG: J.R. Smith SF: Bostjan Nachbar PF: David West C: P.J. Brown <font color="darkred">Cavaliers Starting Lineup</font> PG: Eric Snow SG: Larry Hughes SF: LeBron James PF: Drew Gooden C: Zydrunas Ilgauskas</div> <font color="darkgreen"><div align="center">Match-ups</div></font> <div align="center">Point Guard vs. Chris Paul vs. Eric Snow</div> This should be a great match-up and another test for Chris Paul. Eric Snow is a very good defender and for a young player such as Chris Paul to get valuable experience against Snow, the player Kobe dubbed as the toughest player he has to play against, he should only make him better. Paul has the speed, but Snow has the size, strength, and experience to win. <div align="center"> vs. J.R. Smith vs. Larry Hughes</div> Yet another good defender is in the backcourt. As a member of the All Defensive First Team, Hughes has the smarts to give J.R. Smith a frustrating time on the offensive end. As a young sophomore, this could lead to ill-advised decisions on the offensive end. J.R. needs to stay focused and try to help in other ways when his shot isn?t falling. <div align="center"> vs. Bostjan Nachbar vs. LeBron James</div> Wow, what a match-up. I don?t know if Mason will be inserted into the starting lineup so early, but he?ll be better suited for this match-up against LeBron ?King? James. Nachbar from what I?ve seen isn?t the greatest the defender in the world and will be that much worse against an early favorite to win the league?s MVP award. <div align="center"> vs. David West vs. Drew Gooden</div> It should be a battle on the boards with these two. West and Gooden are very aggressive rebounding the ball and should fight for anything that goes up in the air. The only thing that hurts West a bit is his size and his lack of athleticism. This is why Gooden will most likely get the nod in this match-up. <div align="center"> vs. P.J. Brown vs. Zydrunas Ilgauskas</div> The match-up at center features Big Z and P.J. Big Z has the height advantage, but Brown has the heart and will to match it. After a 20/10 games yesterday, Brown looks to follow it up with a similar effort to show the rest of the world his Hornets are for real! Big Z wants to kick off the season strong and with a win, so both team captains have something to fight for. Who will win? Prediction: The Hornets were very impressive last night and spanked the Kings 93-67. Now, all eyes are on them. Was this a fluke, or are the Hornets the 05-06 version of the Chi-town Bulls? It should be interesting watching them, but I think the Cavs, being excited about kicking off the season at home, will win this game by 11.
ok i am freaking out here....desmond mason not starting for 2nd game in a row....nearly end of first quarter, and as far as i saw on yahoo boxscore he hasn't played it can't believe byron scott is dumb enough to let nachbar/david west play ahead of mason what's he thinking?
Well right now the Hornets are getting the asses kicked, but I think that Dez should be starting right now also. I know he is new to the system and he has to get used to it, but this is the lowly hornets, they can afford to put him in.
yeah..what can i say....byron scott is a messed coach...i was so close to fly to his home and send out some virus on him
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">[IMGL]http://www.nba.com/media/hornets/smith_374_051102.jpg[/IMGL]Whatever positive feelings the New Orleans Hornets were experiencing following their season opener promptly were erased by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. James nailed five of his six 3-pointers and scored 24 of his 31 points in the first half as the Cavaliers opened their campaign with a 109-87 rout of the Hornets. On Tuesday, the Hornets stunned Sacramento in their temporary home of Oklahoma City, 93-67. But they fell behind, 35-19, after one quarter Wednesday and never caught up. James scored 12 points in the opening period and added another 12 in the second quarter, all on 3-pointers. He did not miss from the arc in the half, which ended with his team holding a comfortable 66-47 margin. The third-year superstar swingman finished 6-of-7 from the arc for the Cavaliers, who connected on 13-of-21 3-pointers. Cleveland shot 54 percent (37-of-69) overall.</div> <div align="center">Recap l Box Score </div> My boy Chris Paul had another thirteen point game, but it just was not enough tonight. It did not help that Lebron hit his first six three point shots. J.R Smith continued to lead the Hornets to the best of his abilities, this team is still in rebuilding mode, but they are no where near the push over they where last year. The future for this team is looking bright I don't care what the final score says. Speedy Claxton has been a pleasent surprise thus far this season he has been playing great basketball these first two games.
As I said before, there's no reason to get down on Desmond Mason already. The Hornets just want him to get fully comfortable with their system which is very different from the Bucks' system. Once Mason gets a feel, and impresses in practice, he will definitely get the role starting. I don't think the Hornets are paying 8 million a season for him to be their sixth man. As for the game, the Hornets got smacked by the Cavaliers. I thought they would lose, but not this badly. I was expecting bigger things from them after they crushed the Kings by 26 yesterday. This could be due to playing their first road game, LeBron and the Cavaliers simply being on fire, the Hornets being a young, inconsistent team, or yesterday was simply a fluke. I liked the production from J.R. Smith and Speedy Claxton. Paul was alright, I wish he would get more than 3 assists in 30 minutes, but I won't blame him too much considering the Hornets as a whole shot only 41%. His shot was also falling so he was on more of a scoring role. Those 4 turnovers, however, are unacceptable. Best Kept Secret, I wasn't at all surprised with Speedy Claxton. Remember before he got traded? During 44 games with the Warriors, he averaged 32.6 minutes and put up 13.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists (with only two turnovers), and 1.9 steals per game. I knew he was capable of becoming a valuable player to any team, and with him on the team, your boy Chris Paul will only become better.
