New Orleans Pelicans Blog – Page 47 – NBA Blog

Eric Gordon making progress in his rehabilitation work

New Orleans Hornets shooting guard Eric Gordon is making progress in his rehabilitation work in Los Angeles to recover from a sore right knee, according to the team. Gordon was sent to Los Angeles a month ago to get more personalized rehabilitation work to help in his knee recovery and to strengthen his quad muscles.

Hornets spokesman Harold Kaufman said Thursday that Gordon’s quad muscles have strengthened to 65 percent, but there remains no set timetable on his return.

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

Austin Rivers struggling to overcome shooting problems

In the past two games, New Orleans Hornets shooting guard Austin Rivers hasn’t made a shot from the field despite playing extended minutes off the bench. Rivers has combined to shoot 0-of-10 from the field after consecutive games against the Milwaukee Bucks and Lakers.

He missed all five shot attempts from the field and scored one point in Wednesday night’s 103-87 loss to the Lakers after going scoreless against the Bucks Monday night.

Though Rivers is shooting 28.3 percent from the field and averaging 6.1 points after 16 games, Hornets Coach Monty Williams said he has no plans of limiting his minutes.

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

Kobe Bryant reaches 30,000 career points in Lakers win over Hornets

Before Kobe Bryant had even turned in his latest dominant performance, NBA Commissioner David Stern sought him out to offer a congratulatory hand shake for the extraordinary scoring milestone the Lakers star was about to surpass.

Stern assumed Bryant would score the 13 points he needed to become only the fifth player in NBA history to reach 30,000, and who wouldn’t?

Bryant had 17 points by halftime, finished with 29, and Los Angeles snapped a two-game skid with a 103-87 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night.

”He just congratulated me and told me I was one of the best competitors that he’s seen in this game and I really appreciated that,” Bryant said of his pregame exchange with Stern.

Now Bryant in is elite company. The only other players to score more than 30,000 are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.

”It’s pretty awesome,” Bryant said. ”These are players I respect tremendously and obviously grew up idolizing and watching and learned a great deal from.”

— Reported by Brett Martel of the Associated Press

New Orleans Hornets may change name to Pelicans

The New Orleans Hornets are expected to change their nickname to the Pelicans as early as the 2013-14 season, numerous sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The Hornets planned to change their nickname since Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints, purchased the team on April 14. Benson also owns the rights to the nickname Pelicans.

The Hornets also considered the nicknames Krewe (groups of costumed paraders in the annual Mardi Gras carnival in New Orleans) and Brass.

— Reported by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports

Hornets break out of slump, rout Bucks 102-81

Ryan Anderson and Robin Lopez had spoken recently about the need to justify their new leadership roles with the young New Orleans Hornets by exerting the kind of feisty effort that would energize their slumping squad.

That talk became reality on Monday night.

Anderson scored 22 points, Lopez tied a season high with 21 and New Orleans won for only the second time in 11 games, 102-81 over the Milwaukee Bucks…

Lopez shot 8 of 10 from the field and made all five free throws he attempted. He also scored 11 straight points during a pivotal 13-0 run in the third quarter that gave New Orleans the lead for good…

Jason Smith added 12 points and Greivis Vasquez had 11 for the Hornets, who shot 52.4 percent (43 of 82) from the field.

Brandon Jennings hit five 3-pointers and finished with 25 points. Monta Ellis added 17 for Milwaukee, which shot 38.2 percent (29 of 76).

Milwaukee’s Larry Sanders blocked seven shots and the Bucks outrebounded the Hornets 40-37. But that was not nearly enough to keep pace with a New Orleans squad that broke loose for one of its best performances of the season, despite being without top overall draft pick Anthony Davis (left ankle), who missed his eighth straight game.

— Reported by Brett Martel of the Associated Press

Jason Smith says Hornets go 1-on-1 too often

When New Orleans Hornets veteran forward Jason Smith was asked after Sunday’s practice to assess his team’s problems, he had plenty to say. He said they are not moving the ball enough offensively and too many players are putting themselves in one-on-one isolation plays instead of involving their teammates.

Although the Hornets are still without their two best players, Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon, because of injuries, they have not been able avoid low-scoring quarters or get enough significant contributions from key players.

“You can say it’s not a big problem and some people shrug it off, but it’s a problem,’’ Smith said. “We’re going a little bit one-one-one too much, not moving the ball. We get a stop or a rebound and we don’t pass the ball and we get up a shot. I think we’re letting defenses off the hook when we just go down make one pass and shoot.’’

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

Anthony Davis might miss two more weeks with ankle injury

It could be another two weeks before New Orleans Hornets rookie forward Anthony Davis recovers sufficiently from a stress reaction in his left ankle to resume playing.

Davis said Sunday after the team’s shootaround at a downtown hotel that a precautionary MRI following three ankle sprains in as many days revealed the problem, which is a precursor to a more serious stress fracture that would likely manifest itself without rest and rehabilitation.

Davis first injured his ankle June 30 in New Orleans, his first workout following the NBA draft. That slowed him in the early portion of the U.S. Olympic Team’s training camp in Las Vegas.

This latest issue, he said, is unrelated.

— Reported by Jimmy Smith of the New Orleans Times-Picayune

George, Hibbert lead Pacers over Hornets in OT

Paul George scored 33 of his career-high 37 points after halftime and Roy Hibbert had a triple-double to help the Indiana Pacers beat the New Orleans Hornets 115-107 in overtime on Wednesday night.

George made a team record nine 3-pointers, all after halftime. Hibbert had 10 points, 11 rebounds and a career-best 11 blocks, and David West and George Hill each scored 16 points for the Pacers (6-7), who have won three of four.

Robin Lopez had 21 points and 13 rebounds for New Orleans, but he made just 3 of 17 field goals. Jason Smith added 18 points for the Hornets (3-7), who lost their fifth straight.

Number one overall pick Anthony Davis missed his second consecutive game for New Orleans with a stress reaction in his left ankle.

— Reported by Cliff Brunt of the Associated Press

Melo scores 29, Knicks wreck Hornets 102-80

Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points and the New York Knicks extended the undermanned New Orleans Hornets’ losing streak to four games with a 102-80 victory Tuesday night.

Raymond Felton and J.R. Smith each added 15 points. Felton scored all of his points on five 3-pointers as New York hit 14 3s as a team.

Tyson Chandler grabbed 12 rebounds for the Knicks, who’ve won two straight since their first loss of the season and are 8-1 for only the third time in franchise history. The other two times, the 1969-70 and 1972-73 seasons, they won championships.

Ryan Anderson, starting in place of Anthony Davis, led the Hornets with 15 points. Davis was ruled out shortly before tip-off because tenderness in his left ankle.

Rookie Austin Rivers added a career-high 14 points and Brian Roberts 13 for New Orleans.

— Reported by Brett Martel of the Associated Press

Hornets GM Dell Demps agrees to extension

New Orleans Hornets general manager Dell Demps has agreed to a new multiyear contract extension to remain with the club and see through the roster overhaul that he and coach Monty Williams have conducted in tandem during the past two seasons.

”We have a plan, working with coach Williams,” Demps said before Friday night’s tip-off against Oklahoma City. ”We want to achieve sustained success. We’ve got a young core right now. We want to see those guys grow and play together and we want to compete at the highest level.”

The Hornets announced the deal Friday but did not release terms of the contract. Hornets executive vice president Mickey Loomis says Demps ”has a bright future,” and that he and first-year owner Tom Benson ”couldn’t be more impressed” with the direction of the team.

Williams, who received a four-year extension running through 2015-16 last August, said it was important to him to have a GM in place with whom he felt he could work closely.

— Reported by Brett Martel of the Associated Press