Featured Matchup: Hornets’ Kemba Walker vs. Elfrid Payton
Kemba Walker of the Charlotte Hornets has made an imprint on the Association over the last two seasons; can Orlando’s Elfrid Payton slow him?
Saturday, Jan. 3 vs. Charlotte Hornets
Vitals: Charlotte is 10-24 (.294), 3-13 on the road, 7-11 vs. East, negative-5.1 point differential; five-game losing streak.
The Charlotte Hornets have almost unequivocally been the biggest disappointment in the Eastern Conference. Lance Stephenson has been the best “mistake” the Indiana Pacers have made, despite reports of some kind of do-over involving a trade to bring him back to Indy.
It seemed to some of us that the Hornets would revamp its 90s glory simply by resurrecting the name, but the NBA is not run by a feel-good movie producer — nor are the Bobcats a franchise with a storied legacy of winning. Instead, Michael Jordan‘s toy has floundered and continues to do so in a city that was relatively excited to have its old team back, if only in name.
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Remember, Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues and Alonzo Mourning were this team’s glory days, and that basically involved one upset over the declining Celtics legendary team of the Larry Bird era. As impressive as it was, this team has hoped for a rise to at least relative contention. And it just has never even come close to happening.
Moving on: The Hornets are sorely regretting the free agent signing of Lance Stephenson (many said the writing was on the wall with this long before the Hornets had any idea), and the team is just 3-13 on the road.
That means even the Amway Center could present problems, notwithstanding the Magic’s pure mediocrity on its own home court.
Key Matchup: Point Guard: Kemba Walker vs. Elfrid Payton
Kemba Walker has been a mixed bag, and the excitement over his play has been tempered by the Hornets poor play.
Last season, the quip was that Walker did not pass enough and that was validated by his low assist totals. However, those who watched the then-Bobcats play knew his passes were often bungled by poor shooting and stone-handed teammates.
Even Steve Nash could not bail out a team whose only option was an Al Jefferson post up.
He could be the featured matchup, but the focus here has to be on Elfrid Payton and how he handles the shot chucking Walker. Why? Because he gets hot, like all shooters.
The Magic are capable of keeping pace with a team lacking scoring options, but no team can continually trade twos for threes when a player catches fire.
Should Payton put the clamps on Walker, this should be an open-and-shut case. Nikola Vucevic is capable of negating Jefferson to a close enough degree, and is better on the boards. Shutting down Walker essentially nearly secures a ‘W’ in this one.
There is really no need to get too heavy into advanced metrics because this really comes down to already knowing that Payton can defend. It is more a matter of how well he makes plays and seeing if he can cut down on miscues and turnovers.
That is really all Jacque Vaughn and the staff expects, because he already has the intangibles and skills. All rookies need honing, and most especially rookie point guards.
Stats via ESPN, accurate as of Jan. 2, 2015