Late Turnover Dooms Hornets In Close Loss To Mavericks
After playing solid ball for the first 11 minutes of the 4th quarter, the New Orleans Hornets (19-37) held a 4 point lead with 55 seconds left. Poor defense and a late turnover allowed the Dallas Mavericks (25-29) to steal the game at the Hive, defeating the Hornets 104-100. It was disappointing to say the least.
While New Orleans only finished with 12 turnovers (as did the Mavs), it was the timing of the turnovers that exacerbated the situation. Down two with 5.8 seconds left, the Hornets were imbounding on their side of the floor when Ryan Anderson threw to a well-guarded Eric Gordon. The ball was knocked off of Gordon for a turnover, killing the Hornets chances.
After turning it over only twice in the first half, the Hornets gave the Mavericks 10 gifts in the second. Gordon led the team with 4 turnovers, and his 2.95 turnover average marks him as one of 11 players since 2000 with that high of an average playing less than 30 minutes a game.
"It’s always tough, but I thought we played a pretty good game overall," said Gordon. "They just hit two tough shots towards the end and (we) turned the ball over a little bit toward the end of the game.’’
Gordon finished with a team-high 23, Jason Smith (pictured guarding Dirk Nowitzki) scored 22, and Ryan Anderson chipped in a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Hornets rookie Anthony Davis finished with a double-double as well (10 points, 11 rebounds), but had to leave the game in the 3rd quarter after spraining his right knee. The severity of the injury us unknown, but Davis stated in postgame that he could've returned in the 4th quarter had coach Monty Williams called his number.
Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki (pictured) led all scorers with 25.
New Orleans will look to snap their three-game losing skid tomorrow when they battle the Sacramento Kings (19-37). Tip-off from the Hive is set for 5:00.