原文出自nola.com http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/109955340757240.xml N.O. breaks down in its opener Thursday, November 04, 2004 John DeShazier The staple broke. Or bent. Or got jammed in the gun. Call it what you will, but it all adds up to this: If the Hornets intend to make defense their calling card this season, the brand they'll need to play was in short supply Wednesday night in their season opener. The Mavericks shot holes in New Orleans' debut in the West. And the failure to present a decent barrier was made exponentially more notable when paired with the fact that offensively, the Hornets couldn't have tossed the basketball into the Mississippi River if they'd been standing within spitting distance on the Riverwalk. "If you want to be a championship team, you've got to defend every single night," Coach Byron Scott said after watching the shredding. "All the things that we talked about on tape and worked on, it just seemed that a bunch of our guys had never seen it before, and that was disappointing." So the next time the Hornets defend a team will be their first time this season. Otherwise, the best that can be said is that the first game is over, it only counts as one loss and the chance for the Hornets to earn their first victory under Scott will reappear Friday, when they entertain Orlando at New Orleans Arena. The 106-91 beating looked a lot like last season in terms of frustration and shot selection (2-for-10 on 3-point attempts at halftime, 4-for-21 for the game). It was a game that basically got away early from the Hornets, who trailed 27-19 after the first quarter. New Orleans didn't win a single quarter against the Mavs, who present enough matchup problems to give a team an ulcer. Dallas has such a balance of penetrate-and-kick players and spot-up shooters that a defense -- any defense -- can be stressed beyond repair if the Mavericks are on. But, that said, the Hornets gave an accounting that was inexplicable if not inexcusable. Season opener, under a new coach, in front of the home crowd, against a playoff-caliber division rival, with enough hype and Western theme to make you gag, and . . . nothing. "In my years of coaching, I've never seen my team come into another place on a home opener and win this easy," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "Our guys' lack of concentration was very evident," Scott said. "I was very disappointed in the way we came out and didn't defend them." The Hornets at times appeared as if they'd lost their scouting report. True, the Mavs can make an opponent look silly. They aren't the kind of team to crawl into a hole against. -- not when they shoot lights-out (53.8 percent), play about even on the glass (a 42-36 Hornets advantage), have a plus-14 assist-to-turnover margin (25-11) and have six scorers in double figures, as they did against New Orleans. That's too much of a hill to climb. But the Hornets didn't exactly make it taxing on Dallas, either. The Mavs made their share of difficult, contested shots but also cashed in on a slew of gimmes -- wide-open layups and dunks and putbacks that, even in the first game under new leadership, should be a no-no. "Our biggest thing is communication," Scott said. "We have a team that just doesn't like to talk, for some reason." Well, there wasn't much to say afterward. The guess here is that there'll be something to say along the way. The Hornets are going to push tempo and on the nights when they make shots -- or, at least, take better ones -- figure that they can and will give someone fits. The unveiling wasn't what anyone hoped or expected it would be, ending the Hornets' streak of season-opening wins in New Orleans at two. But if these Hornets don't fizzle down the stretch as did those editions, a fast finish will make more tolerable a slow start. "They got what they wanted to get in a lot of situations," guard David Wesley said. "It was not a good technical game for us. We did not do the little things. It's Game 1; let's move on." Let's, because that one is best forgotten. . . . . . . . John DeShazier can be reached at [email protected] or (504) 826-3410. --

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