Fresh off a defeat at the hands of the league leading San Antonio Spurs, the Golden State Warriors (19-25) will host the New Orleans Hornets (30-16) tonight at Oracle Arena. Chris Paul’s squad will be seeking to avenge a January 5th home loss a the hands of the Dubs. This Nawlins team is currently the 3rd seed in the Western Conference and is hoping to make it back to the postseason.
On offense, the Hornets average 94.3 points per game (26th the NBA) on 45.5% field goal shooting (20th in the league). This New Orleans team struggles to put points on the board for the most part because they are a jump shooting. Chris Paul runs an offense predicated on getting the ball to his perimeter players out at the wings in order for them to shoot midrange shots.
Given the team’s personnel, it’s a sound strategy. According to Hoopdata, the Hornets convert 40.6% of their shot attempts from 16 to 23 feet (fifth best in the association). The shooting percentages tend to level off however when these very same players fail to get open and try to create their own shots. Indeed, outside of Chris Paul, the Hornets do not have anyone on the roster that can consistently create an easy shot for themselves or their teammates. They average 20.7 assists per game (20th in the NBA) but nearly half of those are generated by Paul himself.
One would think that David West would be a great option as far as generating offense, but actually he is decent more so than anything. Indeed, West needs to be set up either in pick and rolls or quick post ups for him to have a good opportunity to put points on the board. West becomes indecisive when faced with help defense.
Also, as previously mentioned, the Hornets do a good job of making perimeter shots, but scoring on the interior is quite problematic for them. They only generate 19.6 shots right at the rim (26th in the NBA) but still manage to convert 64.5% of those shots (11th in the league). The end result is a team that only scores 37.4 points in the paint (24th in the association) and attempts 24.0 free throws per game (20th in the NBA).
On defense, New Orleans surrenders a league best 90.9 points per game on an ice cold 43.8% field goal shooting (third best in the NBA). The biggest reason for the Hornets’ success on defense is their ability to defend the paint. One would think this comes entirely from Emeka Okafor’s individual brilliance as a defender but he is not alone in this. This might sound awfully trivial and perhaps even remind you of the teachings of your high school head coach, but the Hornets are great defensively because they always see the ball and their man.
Regardless of the spot on the floor where the ball is situated, the players on this New Orleans team manage to almost always see the ball and be within a bout a foot from the paint. The end result is that every drive attempt is met with a sea of arms that clog the paint and complicate passing angles. This explains why their opponents only manage to put up 20.6 shots attempts at the basket (fifth best mark in the NBA). However, because the Hornets are somewhat of an undersized team, once teams manage to get to the basket, they are able to convert at fairly decent rate as evidenced by the Hornets’ 63.5% allowed field goal shooting on attempts at the rim.
Nonetheless, New Orleans ability to keep teams out of the lane means they only allow 38.3 points in the paint per game (eighth in association) and 21.5 free throw attempts per game (fifth in the NBA). What puts this team over the top however as a defensive unit, is the fact that they are able to defend outside shots just as well as they defend the interior. The Hornets defense often looks like a match up zone because of the proximity of the players to one another; but on top of the help they provide inside the paint, they are quick to rotate out to shooters. New Orleans allows opponents to shoot 33.2% from three point range (third best mark in the NBA).
With that said, the Hornets are not the biggest team in the league (Trevor Ariza gets called upon every now and then to play power forward), hence a team with quality big men can take advantage of them on the interior, especially against the second unit. In their match up on January 5th, the Warriors guards were relentless in attacking the basket and generating fouls, and their big men followed suit as the team manufactured 32 free throw attempts.
New Orleans game notes: Monty Williams’ team only forced eight turnovers on January 5th against Golden State as opposed to the 14.2 turnovers they usually generate.
Golden State game notes: The Dubs starting backcourt combined for 50 points, nine assists and six steals on 47.5% field goal shooting in their last game against the Hornets.