NBA
PLAYOFFS
May 1, 2001
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Swarm
of Killer Hornets Wipe Out Miami By
ADRIAN VICENTE
The
Hornets are for real.
Many
have forgotten that Charlotte was a consensus preseason favorite to win
their division. Some analysts, including ESPN’s David Aldridge, even
picked Charlotte to take home the Eastern Conference crown.
Not
a bad prediction.
The
Hornets massacre of the Miami Heat should come as no surprise. The
Hornets possess an underrated array of big and talented forwards in Jamal
Mashburn, PJ Brown, Elden Campbell, Derrick Coleman and Eddie Robinson.
This group allows Coach Paul Silas to mix it up both offensively and defensively.
Mashburn, at 6-8, has the ability to run the point and the 6-10 bench duo
of DC and Robinson can play on the perimeter. More importantly, on
defense this big lineup creates fits for opponents - having five guys with
albatross-like wingspans patrolling outside of the key. These long
arms constrict passing lanes and force ball-handlers to either shoot from
the outside, with a hand in their face, or drive into traps. Thus
was the case in the Miami series with the Hornets forcing the Heat to cough
up the ball 55 times. The Heat also shot a poor 16-for-50 on threes.
Offensively,
Mashburn, the best of the bunch, almost single-handedly matched the total
combined output of the Heat’s front court trio of Anthony Mason, Brian
Grant and Alonzo Mourning. Check it out.
The
inability of the Heat’s frontline to produce is the major reason behind
Charlotte’s +23 rebounding advantage in the series. Further, Miami’s
best post players only attempted 62 shots, or 29% of the team’s 217 attempts.
That means that over 70% of Miami's shots came from outside of the key.
Credit Charlotte’s long armed tactics with keeping the ball mainly in the
hands of a wounded Tim Hardaway, rookie Eddie House and a double-teamed
Eddie Jones.
Charlotte’s
defensive strategy of limiting touches in the paint will give Milwaukee
fits in the next round. While the Bucks’ Ray Allen, Sam Cassell,
Glenn Robinson, Tim Thomas and Lindsey Hunter pose what is arguably the
NBA's most potent guard tandem, they also form one of the league’s most
inconsistent and trigger-happy long distance gunning crew. In their
first three games against Orlando, the above let fly 73% of the Bucks’
shots for a combined 202 attempts. To their detriment, they
only managed to sink 71 baskets, a 35% clip. Meanwhile, the rest
of team shot 41-for-71, 58%.
If
the Hornets stick to their defensive game plan and Ray Allen & Co.
continue to misfire, the Bucks will get stung and done in four games.
