Hornets Falter In Fourth
The Hornets were going for their fourth straight win Wednesday night. The fourth quarter performance by New Orleans kept that from happening, and the Golden State Warriors won at the Hive, beating the Hornets 110-103. Trevor Ariza and Marco Belinelli each had solid games, as did Chris Paul. When Paul spent a few minutes on the bench for a breather, a Warrior run started. Before the Hornets could stop the bleeding, it was too late.
Monta Ellis scored 29 points and Golden State beat the New Orleans Hornets 110-103 on Wednesday night.
"We just pulled together as a team and made plays for each other," Ellis said. "We needed this win."
Trailing 82-72 after three quarters, they went on a 27-7 run in the first 7 minutes of the fourth to go ahead 99-89, then hit their free throws down the stretch to seal the victory after the Hornets got within two.
Stephen Curry had 21 points for Golden State, and Dorell Wright and David Lee each added 13.
Chris Paul led New Orleans with 24 points, one off his season high, but was scoreless for the first 11 minutes of the fourth quarter. He also had 13 assists, but was on the bench at the start of the fourth when Golden State got back in the game.
The Warriors outscored the Hornets 12-3 while he sat.
"We have to get consistent production out of our bench," New Orleans coach Monty Williams said. "Too many times our starters are giving us leads and we're not sustaining."
David West and Marco Belinelli added 16 points apiece for the Hornets. Trevor Ariza scored 15.
The Warriors have a way of making a team feel comfortable with a marginal lead. I've always found this perplexing, considering how quickly they can score with players like Ellis, Curry, and Lee. Teams tend to build a double digit lead over the Warriors, and then start taking bad shots, playing down to the level of the Warriors. Let me explain my last statement. While Golden State is notorious for bad shots, they make more "bad shots" than anyone in the NBA. If a team sticks to a solid, half court defense, and keep the pace slow, they will beat the Warriors the majority of the time. That's why Golden State has won only one playoff series win in the last 13 years, and have no all-stars since 1997 (Latrell Sprewell, pre chocking incident). With a 13 point lead late in the third, and a double digit lead going into the fourth, the Hornets got away from their game, and began to play Warrior basketball. As a result, they missed a great chance to win their fourth straigth before heading to L.A. to battle the Lakers Friday night.
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