New Orleans Pelicans Blog – Page 43 – NBA Blog

Brook Lopez scores 26, Nets beat Hornets

Having Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche on the floor at the same time worked in a big way for the Nets.

Brooklyn’s big men combined for 44 points in a 108-98 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday night.

Lopez led all scorers with 26 points and enjoyed sharing the floor with Blatche, who scored 12 of his 18 points in the second quarter.

”He has such a high basketball IQ,” said Lopez, ”and he plays so well with everyone on the floor, which makes everyone’s job a lot easier.”

Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said the Lopez-Blatche tandem works well with specific match-ups, and considering Brooklyn needed an offensive jolt after Monday’s dismal loss to lowly Philadelphia, the plan worked.

”Andray makes the game easier for me,” said Lopez, who went on a 10-point scoring run himself in the third quarter to preserve a dwindling lead. ”You see Andray playing out there like that, I want him to play the entire game then. The great thing about our bigs, there are a lot of good players there who can do different things, so we can have a lot of combinations.”

Lopez had a monstrous dunk over his twin brother, Robin, with 3:49 left in the third quarter. It’s something the Lopez family will be talking about for years. Robin finished with 15 points and eight rebounds…

Deron Williams had 21 points and 13 assists, continuing his strong play since the All-Star break.

— Reported by Chris R. Vaccaro of the Associated Press

Austin Rivers out 4-6 weeks with broken hand

New Orleans Hornets rookie guard Austin Rivers will miss four to six weeks with a broken bone in his right hand, according to a USA Today report.

Rivers fractured fourth metacarpal bone during the first half of Wednesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. He smacked his hand on teammate Greivis Vasquez’s body after making a steal. He exited the game for good with 4:28 left in the second quarter.

— Reported by the Sports Xchange

Afflalo leads Magic past Hornets 105-102

Arron Afflalo bolted through a crowd of Hornets defenders as he angled toward the hoop, switching the ball from his left hand to his right to hit a layup Orlando needed to keep another game from slipping away.

Minutes later, he sank an 11-foot turnaround fade in the lane with Eric Gordon’s hand in his face – yet another clutch play that led the Magic to an unlikely comeback on the road.

Afflalo finished with a game-high 26 points, scoring five in the final 38 seconds, and Orlando snapped a three-game skid by erasing a 17-point, second-half deficit en route to a 105-102 victory over New Orleans on Monday night.

”It was great to see the guys feel it and get rewarded for their effort,” Magic coach Jacques Vaughn said. ”We get down 17 and still plug away and play each possession.”

Jameer Nelson, returning from a left knee injury that sidelined him six games, scored 15 points and Tobias Harris also scored 15 for Orlando, which erased a nine-point deficit during the final 3:15.

Afflalo scored 11 of his points in the fourth quarter. His late turnaround over Gordon gave Orlando the lead for good at 101-100 with 38 seconds left.

— Reported by Brett Martel of the Associated Press

Austin Rivers still developing his pro-level game

Although he was the 10th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft and projections were rampant about emerging quickly as a scorer, New Orleans Hornets rookie guard Austin Rivers has stopped trying to live up to lofty expectations.

Instead of forcing shots as he did during the first two months of the season, Rivers plays more under control, looking more to set up his teammates with passes or attack off the dribble when the lane is clear.

With 22 games left in the regular season, Rivers remains a work in progress. He hasn’t scored more than nine points in 30 of the past 31 games. He ranks 16th among rookies with a 6.1 scoring average. But gone are the dreadful four-of-14 shooting performances like he had against the Oklahoma City Thunder in December.

— Reported by John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune

Hornets sign center Henry Sims to 10-day contract

The New Orleans Hornets today signed center Henry Sims for the 19th Call-Up of the 2012-13 NBA Development League season. Sims joins more than 116 NBA players with NBA D-League experience currently on NBA rosters.

Sims (6-10, 245, Georgetown) has started all 36 games for the BayHawks this season, averaging 17.1 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. Sims was a 2013 NBA D-League All-Star and scored 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor for the Prospects team in a 139-125 win over the Futures squad. Sims recorded 12 double-doubles on the season, ranking him second among NBA D-League players. He scored in double-figures in 32-of-36 games for the BayHawks this season.

Sims signed with the New York Knicks during training camp, but was waived before the start of the regular season.

Sims is expected to join the Hornets today and be available when the team hosts the Orlando Magic on Monday, March 4.

According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “It’s a good opportunity for him to see how he plays in practices and workouts and maybe he’ll get a shot in the game,” Hornets Coach Monty Williams said. “We need a backup center at this point with Jason (Smith) out for the season. We’ll probably piecemeal it together from here on out, but I like him (Sims) and his big body. It’s unfortunate when a guy has a decent body of work in college and has yet to make it with an NBA team. “I watched him at Georgetown. I love watching JT3 guys (John Thompson III). You have to have a clue if you’re going to play in his system. Guys are typically pretty smart players that come from Georgetown. I actually saw him play in the Big East tournament and he played pretty well.”

Hornets forward Jason Smith will miss rest of season due to shoulder injury

New Orleans Hornets General Manager Dell Demps announced Friday that backup forward/center Jason Smith will miss the remainder of the season with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He will have surgery to repair the injury early next week and details regarding a rehab schedule will be released then.

Smith has played through the injury since December after he blocked an attempted slam dunk by Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant. He was expected to undergo surgery after this season but re-injured his shoulder during Tuesday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets. He did not play in Wednesday night’s 45-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

— Reported by John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune

Durant gets triple-double, Thunder beat banged-up Hornets by 45

Russell Westbrook warned Kevin Durant that he was going to come off a pick-and-roll and then make a backdoor cut to the basket.

Thabo Sefolosha dived on the floor to save a possession for the Oklahoma City Thunder and get Durant in position to make another play. In a matter of minutes, Durant went from being in the neighborhood of a triple-double to being right on the doorstep. He made sure to finish it off before another early exit in the Thunder’s latest blowout.

Durant had 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists – the last five coming in a 4-minute flurry in the third quarter – and the Thunder finished a perfect three-game homestand by routing the short-handed New Orleans Hornets 119-74 on Wednesday night.

”When you get a triple-double, people think it’s just about the guy that gets it,” Durant said. ”Your teammates make so many great plays to put you in position to do that. So, it’s not just me. My teammates made me look good tonight.”

With Oklahoma City already up by 23, Durant went into assist mode to get his second triple-double since the All-Star break…

Ryan Anderson started in place of injured No. 1 overall draft pick Anthony Davis (shoulder) and led New Orleans with 14 points. The Hornets trailed by at least 29 in three of the four meetings with Oklahoma City this season, getting swept in the season series…

New Orleans was also without second-leading scorer Eric Gordon, who has been sitting out the second game of back-to-back sets this season while working his way back from a knee injury…

Westbrook scored 29 points, making all 12 of his free throws, and Ibaka finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press

D-Will, Lopez lead Nets past Hornets, 101-97

Deron Williams snapped out of a lackluster second half in time to save the Brooklyn Nets from a painful collapse.

One game after coming up empty in the final minutes of a close loss to Memphis, Williams scored for 11 of his 31 points in the final 1:24 in New Orleans, and the Nets snapped a two-game skid by holding off the Hornets, 101-97 on Tuesday night…

Williams was coming off a game against the Grizzlies in which he went scoreless during the last six minutes, with one shot blocked and a turnover with 10.9 seconds left with his team trailing 74-72.

After scoring 20 points in the first half in New Orleans, Williams had only one basket during the next 22:36 as the Hornets nearly erased a deficit that had been as large as 22. Then Williams drained a timely 3, added a fadeaway jumper, and followed that with six free throws in the final 18.7 seconds to seal it…

Brook Lopez added 20 points and four blocks while playing against his twin brother, Robin, and Keith Bogans added 12 points for Brooklyn, hitting all four of his shots, including three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Williams made four of his eight 3-point attempts, and the Nets shot 60 percent (12 of 20) from long range as a team.

Greivis Vasquez scored 20 and Robin Lopez 14 for New Orleans, which has lost four of five.

— Reported by Brett Martel of the Associated Press

Davis, Gordon lead Hornets past Kings 110-95

Anthony Davis had 20 points and eight rebounds, and Eric Gordon added 17 points and eight assists to lead the New Orleans Hornets to a 110-95 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.

Ryan Anderson scored 17 points, Roger Mason had 13, and Robin Lopez and Greivis Vasquez 12 apiece for New Orleans, which won its first game since an 0-3 start following the All-Star break.

The Hornets also improved to 18-12 when holding opponents below 100 points.

John Salmons scored all 18 of his points in the second half for the Kings. Jason Thompson, DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas each added 16 as Sacramento lost its fifth consecutive overall and eight straight on the road.

Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton had 12 points each for Sacramento…

Newly acquired C Cole Aldrich was not with the Kings on Sunday, Sacramento coach Keith Smart said before the game. Smart said Aldrich was in Sacramento for additional medical tests. Aldrich, along with Toney Douglas and Patrick Patterson were acquired in a trade with the Houston Rockets this past week in exchange for Thomas Robinson. Douglas and Patterson were with the team and Patterson scored 2 points. Douglas did not play.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Vince Carter 3 lifts Mavs over Hornets, 104-100

Dirk Nowitzki knows a vintage Vince Carter performance when he sees it.

So with a subtle nod, Nowitzki gave Carter the green light to take a crucial shot in the final seconds, and could not have been more pleased with the result.

Carter capped a 22-point performance with a 3-pointer that gave Dallas the lead with 6.5 seconds left, and the Mavericks held on for their third straight victory, 104-100 over the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.

”I looked at him to see what he wanted,” Carter said of Nowitzki, who was supposed to get the shot with the Mavericks trailing 100-99. ”He gave me the nod to go ahead. Yes sir.” …

Nowitzki, who scored 25 points, said he and Carter noticed New Orleans making a defensive switch in the final few possessions, resulting in 7-foot forward Jason Smith covering Carter. When it happened just inside the final minute, Carter tried to drive on Smith, and found Mike James open in the left corner for a clutch 3 that made it a one-point game…

Elton Brand added 13 points for Dallas (25-29), which is 4 1/2 games out of the last Western Conference playoff spot with 28 games left. Darren Collison scored 11, hitting a pair of free throws with 3 seconds left for the final margin.

Eric Gordon scored 23 for the Hornets, who have lost three straight, but had only three points in the second half and lost the ball out of bounds while being closely guarded by O.J. Mayo with 5.8 seconds left, costing New Orleans a chance to set up a shot to tie or lead.

— Reported by Brett Martel of the Associated Press