Charlotte Hornets put the pedal to the Nets, 115-91

The Charlotte Hornets won an important game to the playoff chase last night, beating the Brooklyn Nets 115-91 to improve their position in the Eastern Conference. Charlotte moved from tenth place in the standings back to eighth as the dogfight continues for those bottom couple Eastern Conference slots. The Hornets now sit 26-33, but should not get comfortable there. The good news is that Kemba Walker is coming back soon.

Here some observations from the result:

1. Back-to-back, shmack-to-schmack

Concern should have developed after the draining game the Hornets played against the Lakers just Tuesday night. The team needed big minutes from its major contributors just to win that game by a single point. All I can figure is that it just got the team fired up for more.

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2. Mo Williams has been a godsend

Williams came to a team looking for veteran calm and a shooter’s touch and he has brought it over the last two games. In fact his efforts predate that, but he has handed out more than ten assists in two straight games. He had fourteen against the Nets.

If someone had asked me my biggest concern with Williams, it would have been that he was a shoot first guy. His spreading around the ball gives some idea how he and Walker might play together.

3. Six Men in Double Figures

In the NBA there are a lot of points to score, and you need more than one man doing it (unless his name was Chamberlain). This game saw Al Jefferson leading the way with nineteen, which is what you would expect from Al, but he had company. Gerald Henderson had nineteen also with Marvin Williams just behind at eighteen. Marvin did about half of that work from the three point line, which is what he was signed to do.

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Mo Williams chipped in fourteen points. Cody Zeller came off the bench for another thirteen. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist paired his ten points with thirteen rebounds.

I wonder if the Nets have been having defensive problems all season, because production came from everywhere for the Hornets.

4. IT’s not how you finish, it’s how you start

Heads up to Coach Steve Clifford to start Marvin Williams against a smaller Nets lineup. This enabled the Hornets to beat the usually fast starting Nets to the punch and keep them back the rest of the game. That was key in breaking a ten game home winning streak for the Nets.

Things don’t let up for the Hornets as they face the Toronto Raptors on Friday.