Game 46 Recap: Hornets 102, Nets 94

Yeah, I'm not really that confident about that whole "Deron Williams wanting to stay on the Nets in free agency this year because he thinks they can be a playoff contender" thing anymore. I say that because of the gut-wrenching and simply devastating loss D-Will's (current) team had against the lowly Hornets at the Prudential Center last night. Gerald Wallace's Nets debut was ruined by the brutal effort which was soured in the 4th quarter after the Nets held a 12-point lead after the first 36 minutes of the game.

Through the first three quarters of this game, the Nets looked like the superior team that was healthy and had solid team chemistry. The ball was moving around the court great; emphasized by an awesome layup alley-oop from D-Will to Gerald Wallace, who had a solid debut, sprinkled in with a few open Anthony Morrow and Gerald Green 3-pointers. D-Will took on more of a distributor role as his shot just wasn't falling (9-24 shooting) but the Nets could have used more scoring from him to put away the pesky Hornets who hung around in the game riding on the trio of Chris Kaman, Marco Belinelli, and Jarrett Jack.

The Nets headed into the 4th-quarter with a 82-70 lead on the power of a late 3rd-quarter 7-0 run capped off by a Wallace buzzer-beating corner 3-pointer with no time left in the period. Then, disaster and catastrophe ensued. The Hornets outscored the Nets 32-12 in the period and won the game powered by eight points from D-League call-up Lance Thomas, the longest jump-shot of Kaman's career, a 3-point bomb from Jack, and the dagger 3 from Belinelli. Utterly horrifying, the end of this game was so bad that I couldn't look away. (Cue the whole "like a car accident, too terrible you can't walk away" thing).

Game 46 Preview: New Orleans Hornets (10-34) at Nets (15-30)

I'm excited for Gerald Wallace's Nets debut; I've always admired his tenacious play from afar  

The new-look Nets will nearly be whole tonight for the first time as recent trade acquisition Gerald Wallace will make his debut with the team at the Prudential Center against the hapless New Orleans Hornets. Deron Williams (calf) and Jordan Farmar (groin) are expected to return from injuries as well but center Brook Lopez is still out. I'm excited to see what Wallace can do with an elite point guard giving him the ball and hopefully the two can mesh together fast and well. 

Background on New Orleans

Like the Nets have for most of this season, the Hornets are being bitten by the injur bug as many of their best players won't play tonight and haven't played for awhile; guys like Eric Gordon, Emeka Okafor, Carl Landry among others. Just because New Orleans is extremely short-handed and only has 10 wins on this season doesn't mean that this is a cakewalk win for the Nets, rather its the opposite. The Hornets have proven that they can beat good teams (Dallas, Minnesota, Utah, Orlando, Denver just to name a few) so the Nets better not let their guard down, cause doing so would lead to a loss.

Previous Game

The Hornets had no answer for the Wizards' John Wall on Thursday night as they lost to Washington by the score of 99-89, extending the Hornets' losing streak to three games. Chris Kaman, acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers in the preseason trade sending Chris Paul from New Orleans to LA, showed flashes of his former self with 20 points and seven rebounds on 9-15 shooting. Kaman was the subject of multiple trade rumors but obviously didn't let those affect him in the game. Gustavo Ayon, a rookie from Mexico. added 16 points and nine boards for New Orleans in the losing effort.