“We don’t give a d*mn about no d*mn Gucci Night!”
As the twin-engine aircrafts approach for landing, they catch Rich Cho’s knowing eye. Cho races to the bell tower, alerting his boss from the belfry that it is time. The guests are arriving!
“This gentleman seeks to reverse the downward story arc of his career.” Cho whispers to his manager the deepest-held desires of his visitors, as each subject disembarks. “This enterprising fellow wishes for his dyed hairstyle to become the viral rage of his foreign land.”
The manager who runs the whole place is attired in a dashing white suit and Hanes T-shirt, and equally white sneakers, a silhouette of his likeness from sprier times affixed to their tongues and heels. At the reception area, he greets his newest lei-adorned arrivals at once:
“My dear guests, I am Mr. Jordan, your host. Welcome… to Kemba Island!”
Teams like the visiting Atlanta Hawks are finding it harder to meet up with the host Charlotte Hornets (7:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast,92.9 FM in ATL) and come away with a W. To do so, at some point, you are compelled to deal with this isle’s namesake.
You could almost name a nice salad dressing after the number of islands sitting all alone in the NBA Sea. Cousins Island, Davis Island, Harden Island, Lopez Island. But Kemba Island is among the few isolated locales where its inhabitants have been legitimately prospering.
Entering the pros with a collegiate championship in hand and a winning All-American persona, in recent years, Kemba Walker was left to the Bermuda Triangle of basketball’s collective consciousness. A predictable ballhandler, limited mid-range shooter, a modest defender, situated in a small NBA market. “Dime-a-dozen,” became the read, especially in a star-guard-loaded league where one Charlotte-based NBA guard was emerging to take the world by storm.
In days long before the Dab arrived, the Kemba Walker Dance was the craze that kept Uptown heads bobbing. But by the time of Walker’s fourth season, the excitement had grown stale, and NBA eyes were shifting elsewhere. And that’s a shame because Walker, now in his sixth pro season, has only just begun ascending into the All-NBA atmosphere.
Walker joins Charlotte-raised Stephen Curry as the only NBA hoop stars averaging 25 points and 5 assists while exceeding shooting splits of 45/45/80, his career-best 25.8 scoring average buttressed by career-best shooting of 50.0 2FG% and 47.8 3FG%. Kemba’s assist-turnover ratio of 2.75 ranks 6th among point guard starters, assisting on 32.4% of his team field goals to rank 8th (just behind Dennis Schröder’s 32.5%).
Notably, unlike many of the Carolina Ranger’s do-it-all cohorts, his Hornets (7-3) are winning ballgames, victors in five of their last seven contests, with three losses to Toronto, Cleveland, and Boston by only single digits.
Despite their early success, the Hornets have just one victory in their cap against a team currently above-.500 (Utah, who has lost two straight). They’re looking for an impressive win at the rebranded Spectrum Center, and they hope Atlanta (9-2), one of the few Eastern Conference teams whose opponents have held a worse winning percentage (44%), will be just the quality opponent to come to the island bearing gifts.
Charlotte mimics latter-day Atlanta in forgoing offensive rebounds (27th in O-Reb%), in hopes they’ll get back in decent position to force tough shots and make defensive stops. So far, that’s working well. The Hornets rank 5th in the league with 79.3 D-Reb%, contributing to their 99.4 D-Rating ranking 4th in the NBA, two spots behind second-place Atlanta (95.1).
A healthy Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, plus Nic Batum, beloved ex-Hawk Marvin Williams, and Cody Zeller, are defensive-oriented role players on the top line, easing pressure off Walker (1.9 SPG, 10th in NBA) to adhere to his opposing guard assignment. The supporting cast of starters, and bench players, also know their roles when they get to the other end of the floor.
Specifically, keep moving while Walker (30 points, 5 steals @ MIN on Tuesday) is setting things up, and when a teammate gets the ball from Kemba, find your shot or make the assist, but don’t waste time hesitating and risk losing the ball. Charlotte’s 6.7 secondary assists per game ranks third behind Golden State (9.7) and Atlanta (7.1), and their total 24.2 team APG ranks 5th.
Offensive ball control is at the core of the Hornets’ gameplan (league-low 5.1 team SPG), which is bad news for a Hawks team that thrives off opponent goofs (10.0 SPG and 17.1 opponent TOs per 100 possessions, 2nd in NBA). Kemba has been credited with just 4 bad passes (via Basketball Reference) in his ten games so far, compared to over one per game last season, which wasn’t bad, either.
Backup players Ramon Sessions, Marco Belinelli, Frank Kaminsky (20 bench points, 5 assists @ MIN) and Spencer Hawes have little interest in passing the ball. It’s catch-and-shoot city for the Hornets (5th with 28.5 catch-and-shoot PPG, 0.1 PPG more than 6th-place Atlanta), at least until the fourth quarter, when it comes time for Kemba (7-for-7 2FGs in clutch situations, 86.7 fourth-quarter FT%) to don the cape.
In his pregame commentary, Hornets coach Steve Clifford cited “offensive energy, and we can’t turn the ball over,” as keys to victory tonight. As FanSided’s The Step Back noted yesterday about Charlotte: “They’ve built their identity on not making mistakes, which forces you to beat them straight up.” Atlanta will find takeaways even more scarce without Thabo Sefolosha (NBA-high 5.2 steals per 100 possessions) around to pester Hornets all across the floor.
But playing Charlotte “straight up” will be much simpler tonight with the return of Dwight Howard (early career-highs of 62.2 FG%, 1.8 SPG and 5.9 offensive RPG), who sat out Atlanta’s 107-100 win against Milwaukee after bruising his thigh one night before.
The Hornets don’t gamble for steals much, an indication that the passing lanes to Howard should be clearer for Schröder and the Hawks’ passing game. Similar to Walker, the lion’s share of Dennis’ turnovers (just 8 bad passes in 11 games, a departure from past seasons as a backup) derive from going full-bore on drives and losing the ball.
When the driving lanes are clogged, Schröder should be able to find Kyle Korver (1-for-1 3FGs shooting from Dahlonega, 5 assists vs. MIL) and Kent Bazemore (3-for-5 3FGs vs, MIL) at the wings to let it fly. He’s had ample time scouting Walker while watching from the sidelines as Jeff Teague’s second-in-command. There should therefore be little trouble for Dennis to run the offense on this particular island, as he continues his transformation from Gilligan to the Skipper.
But Schröder’s on-ball defense will also be needed to deny Walker his preferred spots (like the top of the key, and the left-corner 3-point zone) and keep him out of the lane, considering Clifford has expressed great interest in raising the Hornets’ paint points.
Atlanta has benefitted from a weak strength-of-schedule, but now the challenge steepens as they embark on a stretch of 7-of-8 games on the road to conclude the month. Including the Hawks (3-1) and the Hornets (4-1), the league’s top six teams presently in the standings have a stellar 26-4 collective record in away games. Sustaining their position atop the Eastern Conference standings will necessitate full court production that is as sound away from home (league-best 88.5 D-Rating in away games, but 23rd-ranked O-Rating) as it has been at the Highlight Factory.
While the Hornets don’t force many live-ball turnovers, they will press in transition to catch opponents off-guard and out of position (17.9 PPG off turnovers, 7th in NBA; Atlanta’s 20.5 PPG ranks 2nd). Bazemore and rookie Taurean Prince will have critical roles in slowing and thwarting the Hornets in transition. If Atlanta is successful with minimizing unforced errors, and stopping Charlotte from churning Hawk mistakes into points, their stay will feel a lot more like Fantasy Island, and a lot less like LOST.
Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
