the hornets did defend melo well but i also think a lot of that’s on melo. he’s was too single-minded with his attacks and, possibly, was putting too much pressure on himself given our recent playoff history. hopefully he’s calmer this game and can get himself going or open up some opportunities.

Thanks for the great video recaps, I watched both of them.

Carmelo “Switch Err’y Day” Anthony really needs to play better PNR defense as you highlighted with your videos. A lot of our perimeter woes in that game was ‘Melo refusing to switch to the appropriate player on the perimeter (e.g., Peja when he hit the corner three).

Stumbleweed, imagine if CP3 was on the Nuggets? I can only imagine how hard it would be for other teams to guard one of the best fast breaking teams in the league if he was with us – not that that Chauncey guy is any slouch or anything. It’s almost kind of ironic that Chauncey seems like he’d be much more suited to the Hornets’ system than Denver’s, and Chris Paul with ours.

Anyway, one thing that really bothered me on offense in the game was the paint penetration. JR, while not a PG, obviously has the ballhandling skills to get into the paint whenever he wants. Efficient offense starts with collapsing the defense in the paint then kicking out and creating movement. AC, JR, and Chauncey ALL need to do a better job of this to create looks for Melo, Kenyon and Nene.

For example: one of the first plays of the game, Chauncey ran a down-curl through the paint to the corner while Kenyon simultaneously cut towards the paint. Chauncey sucked his defender towards him on a down pick, drawing him away from the paint. On a nifty handoff, Kenyon then leapt towards the rim and threw down a thunderous dunk. Great play, and it was initiated by the guard creating havoc in the paint.

In order for this to happen, we need Chauncey, AC and JR to continue to throw themselves into the teeth of the (soft) Hornets defense in the paint. This will create the most opportunities for Melo to drive the lane, JR to get open looks on the perimeter, and to run the PNR to great effect with Nene and Kenyon and Birdman to a lesser extent.

As far as what they need to do on defense, well, you covered that pretty completely. Melo has got to do a better job of fighting through screens and sticking with his man – but we all know that already.

And yeah, I agree on the Hornets needing to run the break a bit. It boggles my mind that CP3 is on the 3rd-slowest team in the league and still puts up the numbers he does. They’re wasting so many easy opportunities by not running the break more — CP3 draws a ton of fouls, always seems to make the right pass, and finishes with the best of them… it’s a no-brainer, but I guess Byron would rather try to execute in the halfcourt. IMO, it’s wasting a great talent not using him on the break more — if they retain their halfcourt execution, that just makes them a much more deadly team, especially in the playoffs where you can change your approach from game to game to try and throw the opponent off.