1st Half Vs 2nd Half in Games

On average we are trailing 56-47 at half time in the first 4 games of the season but the second half is much closer where we are trailing 54-53. Apart from the Dallas game the other 3 games have been very similar in the way we have been trailing by 8/13 points at half time but then we fight back and threaten to win the game !!.

The first quarter has been a struggle for us so far this season where were only averaging 19 points, we need to start faster and we will be rewarded in the 4th quarter.

anyone else seeing the same sort of theme ?

I've been frustratingly noticing it. The slow starts are due to offensively challenged starting lineups that Dunlap like to trot out so he can keep a "scoring punch" off the bench. The early deficits before the 2nd half comeback is usually due to the experimental rotations that Dunlap like to try in the middle of the 2nd quarter that include Reggie Williams stealing minutes from one of MKG, BG, or JT.

It might be my imagination but I don't think we come out of the gate with a sense of urgency on offense. The guys that seem to have that (offensive) sense of urgency are Sessions and Gordon. I don't know that I'd say MKG, Haywood or Biz show this but they aren't first or second offensive options early on.

Maybe that ties into your observation that we come out flat and then play our way back into it. It's odd that our starters seem to play better coming out of the half than they do from the opening tip.

I justified it to myself that Dunlap is such a defense-first coach that they come out with D solely on their agenda and the only scoring "urgency" seems to come early on when they make a D -> O conversion. Then coming out of the half, since behind, there's an ingrained offensive "urgency" in their play. Maybe it's just a combo of coincidence and bad perception on my part but that's sort of how I see it.

It's not a lack of offensive sense of urgency out the gate. It's a lack of offensive options out of the gate. The only capable scorers in the current starting lineup is Kemba & Mullens. Nowadays Kemba tend to try to get his teammates involved early instead of forcing the issue to fuel his critics about him not being a true PG, but it becomes difficult for him when nobody else on the court can put the ball on the floor to create offense. Sure, there's MKG, but he's a 19 year old rookie that can't shoot, so teams tend to sag off him, therefore there's no penetration for him. That leaves Mullens as the go-to guy for the first 5-7 minutes, resulting in long contested shots by our PF until we're in a 10-point hole. That pretty much sums it up. The frustration sets in.

Why on Earth would a defensive minded coach ever have Sessions, Gordon, Williams, and Mullens on the floor at the same time is a question that has a answer beyond any kind of conventional wisdom. That's how we opened up the 2nd quarter and it was a uphill battle ever since, other then when The Unibrow went apeshit on Mullens in the 3rd quarter.

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Originally Posted by Catch 22

Why on Earth would a defensive minded coach ever have Sessions, Gordon, Williams, and Mullens on the floor at the same time is a question that has a answer beyond any kind of conventional wisdom. That's how we opened up the 2nd quarter and it was a uphill battle ever since, other then when The Unibrow went apeshit on Mullens in the 3rd quarter.

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Yeah last night a slow start wasn't the issue even with Mully missing everything he tossed up. Things went to hell every time Dunlap threw in his "blue" unit because none of the guards could stay in front of their guy. What would be (almost) stellar D from the starters went to total crap mindless chasing of guys around the floor. They couldn't board and they would leave NOLA's shooters totally alone.

The game last night was one of my most frustrating so far. Stop the mass subs and do selective swaps of the players.

We need to start scoring off second chance points aswell, i noticed it alot yesterday when we got an offensive board or a steal/block we couldn't score on offense. MKG has shown what a great talent he his so far this season and hope he gets 30 minutes + every game !

I'll never understand why Taylor is starting. Sessions or Gordon should be starting the game to at least have a chance to score to ball.

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Originally Posted by spectre

Yeah last night a slow start wasn't the issue even with Mully missing everything he tossed up. Things went to hell every time Dunlap threw in his "blue" unit because none of the guards could stay in front of their guy.

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They couldn't stay in front of their guy because of the horrible pick and roll coverage. The Hornets don't have great shooting guards but the Bobcats insisted in having their big man on the pick roll come out hard on the pick and roll making it easy for NO to penetrate and force the Bobcats to rotate (which the Bobcats C and PF can't do at all, btw).

The times I was talking about in regards to Gordon he was just flat getting beat off the dribble. His guy would catch the ball and take off; Gordon would start about a half second too late and end up trailing him by a foot or two.

Multiple times.