Hornets lose big to Miami at home
By By Richard Dark / EMG staff writer
Feb. 1, 2004
NEW ORLEANS It looked like the old timers versus rookies showcase Saturday night in the New Orleans Arena.
Despite a plodding tempo contest all night long the younger legs of the Miami Heat manufactured a 94-70 victory over the New Orleans Hornets in front of a late-arriving crowd of 15,976.
"We missed 19 shots in the paint through the first three quarter and that's always going to make you look stagnant," said Hornets coach Tim Floyd. "Maybe it was the amount of minutes we've been playing, or the back-to-back, but we didn't have the energy we had the night before."
The youthful Heat, winners of five of their last six. Since their dismal 0-7 start Miami (21-27) is two games over .500. With both teams coming off a back-to-back situation, fatigue figured to be a factor. The Hornets fell in Philadelphia in a last second 85-82 heartbreaker in Philadelphia the night before, while the Heat beat the Clippers.
To make matters worse, the hosts were playing without All-Star guard Baron Davis, who tweaked an earlier ankle injury late against the Sixers.
Former Hornet Eddie Jones pumped in 24 and eight assists to lead five double-figure scorers for Miami. Udonis Haslem added 20 and nine rebounds.
New Orleans (26-21) dropped their second in as many nights after having won three straight. The big culprit was a horrid 32 percent shooting percentage, compared to the Heat's 47.
"They just wore us out from the 3-point line late in the game," Floyd said.
Each time the Hornets sawed deep into the deficit, Lamar Odom (12 pts.) was there to hit a big shot to keep them at arm's length.
The Hornets made a typical fourth quarter surge to slice a 15-point margin to 72-67. Robert Traylor missed the back end of two free throws that would have cut it to four, but the Hornets grabbed the rebound and George Lynch missed a 3-point try at the 6:30 mark. Odom then hushed the deafening crowd with a lights-out trey at the 6:17 mark.
"Lamar made a big shot there for us," Haslem said. "We knew they were a deep team and once we got up they were going to make a run at us. It was a question of how we were going to react to it."
The Heat proceeded to bury New Orleans with a 22-3 run to end the contest, which was marked by sluggish legs from the Hornets' older players.
After a dagger three-ball by Jones put Miami up by 11 with 5:35 left, Odom and Robert "Tractor" Traylor nearly came to blows and had to be separated after a tussle for an offensive rebound underneath.
Jamal Mashburn led New Orleans with 18, while rookie David West, coming off an injured right knee, saw his first home action in eight games, to score nine during the 15-2 spurt that got his team back into it briefly.
Darrell Armstrong, Steve Smith and Traylor also had nine.
The upcoming schedule doesn't get any easier for the Hornets, as they host three games this week, including New Jersey, Dallas and Detroit on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
