PHILADELPHIA 76ERS (9-8) VS CHARLOTTE HORNETS (4-13)
Will the Hornets lose their 4th straight game? Or will the hornets get their 2nd win at home of the season? Find out in the next edition of Everything Buzz City.
Coming into tonight’s game the Hornets have lost two Straight close games to the Cavaliers, and the Wizards. In a heavily back and forth game where the momentum of the game was switching to either side, the Hornets after multiple poor rebounding performances showed up and the offensive and defensive glass. In the end after clutch shots late in the 4th quarter were made in particularly by none other than.. Terry Rozier. The Hornets narrowly defeated the banged up 76ers 101-107. There are many questions for the Hornets coming into and after the game that include: Can Dennis Smith Jr. stay healthy? Can Rozier start to be more consistent offensively? Is Richards a starting caliber Center? Is it time for Richards to start over Plumlee? Can the young players start to develop more? and most importantly can the players stop spraining their ankles every game?? All questions that will be answered right here, and right now!
Dennis Smith Jr.: This comes as no Surprise when you look at the history of DSJ throughout his career once again, Smith sprained the same left ankle he sprained a couple weeks ago, Smith when on the court is a very valuable player for this team, but the issue is he can’t stay healthy, Smith had great vision finding his teammates early in the game, great unselfishness to give Plumlee the ball on a transition dunk, also amazing transition and rotational defense. The Sixers had a fast break and it looked like a sure fire 2 points but Smith made it difficult for Melton to make his layup and caused him to miss. but about a minute later Smith was down after driving to the left and his ankle buckled. I want to make this completely clear Smith deserves at least an one-year deal, he is the type of tenacious, hard nose 100% effort player that the Hornets want on their team, the Hornets over the last few seasons have not had that identity, Clifford needs to have players that fit into his system and play the way he wants to win in the league and Smith is a valuable piece and does exactly that. Also do not forget he is 25 years old, Rozier is not young at the moment. I’m looking for a player who can lead our second unit, and I believe Smith fell right into the Hornets lap to fill that role.
Mason Plumlee VS. Nick Richards: I know as a fan base we might not show a ton of love to Plumlee but he is playing so far, much better than he did last season almost averaging a double double with 9.3 PPG, and 8.7 rebounds and 60% FT% better than his 39% FT% the year before. The thing that bugs me is although he is playing well at times he is inconsistent and looks lost on the court, or just gets bullied inside. One thing I hear a lot when it comes to Nick Richards and Mason Plumlee is that Richards struggles with defensive rebounding and is not a great playmaker, Richards is very aggressive in the paint, he never gives up on a rebound especially on the offensive end that is were most of his points come from, and sometimes he just flat out does not boxout but I can also say the same for Plumlee both players tonight had 13 rebounds and double-digit points the difference is Plumlee had 12 defensive and only 1 offensive rebound, while Richards had 5 offensive and 8 defensive. Richards gives more offensive scoring opportunities and it is vital because of how bad the Hornets team field goal percentage is ranked 28th in the league. Probably the biggest part of the whole equation is Plumlee’s playmaking ability Plum had 6 assists, Clifford likes to use Plum a lot in the high post setting up P&R opportunities and sometimes giving him the ball in the high post to hopefully make a play, and he sure did that tonight. But Nick should get a start soon just to see what happens, it seems like when Richards is on the floor with the starting unit, the starters play better and that has been a weak spot all year for this team, maybe experimenting with different lineups will allow the starters to start games better.
Theo Maledon: Theo has struggled the last few games when he has been on the court, taking bad shots, bad defensive rotations at times, and turning the ball over. BUT tonight he was ELECTRIC on defense racking up 4 pts, 3 asts, and the most important clutch 2 steals in 16 minutes. Theo is in his 3rd year and is only 21 but does seem to need more development to be a real impactful player in the league but maybe he can show that he can be a great defensive guard at least for the next couple games after this performance.
Terry Rozier: Terry has struggled offensively but in this performance he took over the 4th quarter, scoring 9 points half way through the quarter to seal the victory, in total Rozier had 22 points in this one Rozier shot 9-18 from the field, I need to see better offensive consistency from him moving forward, but all in all Terry did Terry things tonight. I believe Rozier is a consistent 20 points per game scorer, and has shown he can be that guy the last two seasons. Rozier just needs to find his groove at the moment, and that will come in time I believe.
Kai Jones: Kai Jones has officially entered the 10 man rotation!! Bouknight has played himself out of the rotation alongside J.T. Thor, He brings a energy onto the court that is just impressive, but his minutes are capped to 8. I would like to see it increase to 10-12 a game after scoring 4 pts including a offensive putback dunk witch was his only rebound the entire game, and a beautiful MJ etch shot near the free throw line. Jones is finding a place in this rotation that is beautiful to see.
Injury Woes: DSJ’s left ankle sprain, Martin’s Knee injury, Hayward’s shoulder, Ball’s left ankle sprain What is wrong with the Hornets and their injuries??? Basketball is a sport were ankle injuries are common in the league just an awful turn of events that have plagued the Hornets the last 2 seasons but the main issue is the Hornets just have injury prone players as much as I love DSJ he has a significant history of missing more than half of a season regularly so does Hayward with his many shoulder and leg injuries in particularly suffered with the Celtics. Maybe one day the Hornets can figure it out and keep this roster healthy.