Hornets 109, Suns 97: Willie Green Is Insane

My goodness, what a day for Willie Green. The man they traded for from Philadelphia for chump change hit 12 consecutive field goals, a New Orleans Hornets franchise record. What was even more staggering was the manner in which he did it. Green hit 5 out of 6 three pointers and had his mid-range kicked into overdrive for 31 points of the bench.

Some nights are just terrible for the money-machine, but tonight he worked well with Chris Paul supplementing for a very average Marco Belinelli.

The story of the game was left in the backseat as Green took control. Every shot he hit, made you forget about the score completely. I had myself saying, “No way…OH NO HE DIDN”T!” way to many times. I was just left to laughter, it was that ridiculous.

The game itself had the Suns coming out in the first hitting a lot of their shots. New Orleans reeled it in (just like they have for the past 3 games) to actually lead 31-30 at the end of one. The start of the second quarter saw New Orleans push the tempo and put the lead out to double digits, the Suns then reduced that.

This was one of the most enjoyable Hornet games all season. You didn’t seem to worry about the score, every fan was caught up in what Green was doing. You had to think if you were a Suns fan that it was just a big nightmare. I mean who goes into a game thinking, “We better watch out for that Willie Green guy, he can catch fire from deep,” uhh, no.

Anyway let’s do the good thing and breakdown the game over the jump!

Good Stuff

• Willie Green, franchise record 12 consecutive field goals, 31 points on 17 shots, 5 of 6 from deep, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, never going to happen again in his life. Wow.
• The aforementioned night of one shooting guard overshadowed the work of Trevor Ariza. While his shot from three point range wasn’t working he made decisive, controlled drives to the basket. You know what? He reminds me EXACTLY of what Julian Wright could have been for the Hornets. Some nights Ariza will play awfully, but the past 3 games he’s really gained confidence. He finished with 21 points on 17 shots, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. This is what you want from him in the playoffs.
• Carl Landry bounced back from a mini-slump getting 17 points on 10 shots. At one point he too was perfect from the field, until he missed a wide open jump shot. He also had 5 rebounds and a blocked shot.
• Patrick Ewing Jr. got a rebound tonight! Yes!

Bad Stuff

• Marco Belinelli really lacked confidence tonight. He was hesitating on offense looking to also be a distributor of the ball. It wasn’t really a great night defensively either as he lost the Suns shooters leaving them wide open.

Everyone else seemed to have up and down games. Emeka Okafor was nice early on, but then couldn’t find any consistency rebounding the ball. Chris Paul fed his team-mates but had nothing going on in the scoring department. Not bad by any means, just not where you want to be.

Next up is the Memphis Grizzlies, they clinched the final playoff spot out West and no look to either stay in the 8th or catch the 6th. A win here (and a Portland loss tonight against the Lakers) and the Hornets might be looking golden for that 6th seed, but who knows, it’s a crazy ride!

Anyway, let’s hear your comments about just what you did when you saw Willie Green hit 12 consecutive shots?

Final Word: WillieGreen (Yes it’s now one word…)