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E-mailIn a season wherein their best player and premier playmaker has spent more time in the sidelines than on the playing court, nobody from the Hornets’ coaching staff would have guessed that his primary sub would be able to step up to the challenge.
Rookie point guard Darren Collison scored 16 points while delivering a career-high 20 assists as the Hornets bounced back to beat the Golden State Warriors, 135-131, in New Orleans. His 20 assists tied the Suns’ Steve Nash for the most assists this season.
Meanwhile, Collison also got a lot of help from Marcus Thornton and All-Star forward David West, who both scored 28 points each. Other Hornets players who had stellar performances were Peja Stojakovic, who scored 16, Emeka Okafor, 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Morris Peterson with 12.
The Hornets were simply superb on the floor as they shot at an astounding 59 percent clip. They also had six players who scored in double figures in this win.
For the Warriors, sophomore guard Anthony Morrow made six three-pointers en route to a 28-point outing. Rookie Reggie Evans, who was called up from the NBDL also contributed a career-high 28 points. Corey Maggette and Devean George both tallied 18 points, while Stephen Curry and CJ Watson had 12 apiece.
As expected, both teams played an exciting and high-scoring game that featured almost zero defense. All throughout the game, the Hornets and the Warriors traded baskets until the very end.
Though the Warriors had the chance to tie the game with a few ticks left, Watson’s three-point attempt hit the top of the backboard. James Posey then corralled the rebound, making a free throw to finally seal the deal for the Hornets.
The Hornets’ deficit went as high as 12 points when Okafor flushed an alley-oop slam courtesy of a Collison assist. The Warriors simply didn’t want to give up as they fired six straight points from Williams’ jumper, Maggette’s layup, and Hunter’s turnaround bank shot. From that point, neither team possessed a double-digit lead ever again.
The Warriors came close to sealing the victory as Morrow hit a tough floater. West immediately responded via a layup while being fouled hard by George. After converting the three-point play, the Hornets started a 9-0 run.
The Warriors went to a final push as Curry made back-to-back three pointers that trimmed the lead down to one with half a minute left. Collison responded on the other end by making a difficult floater to make it 133-129 with 9.7 seconds remaining.
On a different note, West grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds as the Hornets stopped a four-game losing streak. The Warriors continued their struggles as they have dropped their fifth straight loss in this game against the Hornets.
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