Game 14: A 123–120 loss to the Bulls… featuring Birdsong’s Paradise City
Kemba goes for 47 points against a 2–10 Chicago team, and we STILL lose it in the fourth. I don’t want to panic, but…
I’m a Hornets optimist. This is true nearly every season (at least until February or March), but it’s especially true this year. I like the possibilities of Kemba, Nic, MKG, Marvin and Dwight playing together consistently… I like the potential of Malik, Dwayne, JLamb, Frank, and Cody playing together against other teams’ backups.
But man, Friday night’s 123–120 loss to the Bulls was soul-crushing.
Chicago entered the game 2–10 and on a five-game losing streak… and we still lost. Kemba set a record for away points with 47… and we still lost. We led by 11 early, we couldn’t put away a bad team, we collapsed in the fourth quarter (again), and. we. lost.
That tweet was posted before the start of the fourth quarter, and everyone in Buzz City felt the same thing… this loss to a bad team was coming, and we were going to hate it.
The Hornets were outscored in the 4th quarter 40–28 to lose by 3. They allowed FORTY POINTS IN THE FOURTH QUARTER to the star-less, floundering, craptastic Chicago Bulls… when 36 would’ve been awful enough but still would’ve provided a win.
I don’t know what else to say about Friday’s game. Dwight seemingly walked out of a timeout huddle… Nic was fouled late but Dwight got the free throws… Kemba was visibly pissed at Dwight not blocking a late Kris Dunn layup… there’s a common theme here, but I don’t want to admit Superman’s the problem yet. Passion in the fourth quarter is clearly a problem, but…
It’s November. It’s November. It’s November. There’s plenty of time to figure this thing out. But come on.
Anyway, there was less than 24 hours until the next game, a matchup with the Clippers who fell to Cleveland on Friday in overtime, 118–113. That short layoff both gives the boys in Teal a chance to respond and forget about the Bulls… or compound the problem by losing a seventh-straight. We’ll see tonight.
For the beer of the evening, I had my third-straight from Birdsong Brewing, their Paradise City Session IPA. Here’s how they describe it…
“Bright tropical notes and clean finish make Paradise City a perfect all year brew. A light ABV and balanced body help to create a flavorful, aromatic IPA that’s 100% drinkably dank. Grab a can and head on down to where the grass is green and the beers are chilly.”
The description fails to stress the fruitiness of this beer… I opened the can and immediately smelled tropical fruit, and that was a surprisingly good thing. The taste was pretty standard, smooth, session IPA, but that fruit smell made a difference. Strangely, I kept expecting a jalapeño kick when I drank the Paradise City, so the taste must’ve been similar enough to Birdsong’s JPA, but without that, the fruit carried the day.
I liked it. I definitely liked it better than the fourth quarter of the game, but I think I liked it better than NoDa’s Par 4 Session IPA too, and that was a solid 7 Muggsys. Let’s go with 8 out of 10… high praise for Paradise City.
As I said, tonight the Hornets get another chance to break their losing streak, this time in Charlotte against the Chris Paul-less Los Angeles Clippers. DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin have the Clips at 5–9, and they have lost seven in a row… so they’re not too different from us at this point.
Clifford has to rally the boys to a win tonight, or Hornets Twitter might implode. Here’s hoping. Buzzzzzzzz.
