Chris Paul flashed his usual brilliance, finishing with a 27-7-6 line to upstage his counterpart, Jason Kidd. That makes back to back victories on this road trip, first at Wachovia and now at the IZOD center. Did the Hornets even deserve to win this one? Let’s see what the five factors have to say…
| Pace | Eff | eFG | FT/FG | OREB% | TOr |
| NOR | 89.0 |
|
49.3% | 11.8 | 12.2 | 18.0 |
| NJN |
|
43.4 | 21.1 | 20.9 | 15.7 |
1. Shooting (√) The Hornets defense continues its great tear, limiting New Joisey to a mere 43.4 eFG%. Granted Vince Carter didn’t play, but Jason Kidd still did. Meanwhile, the Hornets hovered around a respectable 50% eFG% themselves. The disparity in the two teams eFG% (about 6) was the only factor the Hornets “won” this game; in other words, they pretty much won a game they had no business winning last night.
2. Turnovers (X) The turnover plague continued tonight, and Chris Paul “led the way” with 5 on an otherwise stellar night. New Jersey had an average turnover ratio, but Paul and the Hornets need to make sure they curtail their giveaways as the competition gets more, er, competitive.
3. Offensive Rebounding (X) Awful. That’s the only way to put it. Give Tyson a day of practice off (4 OREB’s) and put the rest of the team through rebounding drills. Let’s just move on and pretend last night didn’t happen.
4. Free Throws (X) Another huge yikes. 11.8? Yup, the Hornets definitely just won a game they shouldn’t have been close in.
5. Pace (89) Well, at least the Hornets did put their mark on yet another road game (as far as tempo goes). The last three games’ pace factors: 86, 87, 89. We’re due for a high 90’s some time soon.
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