Game 20: A 126–113 loss to the Raptors… featuring NoDa’s Hop Experiment
The Hornets never lead, never challenge Toronto, and they fall to the Raptors with Kemba watching on. Bleh.
The Hornets went to Toronto on Wednesday night… and failed to get hyped.
Outside of Dwight Howard, Charlotte simply didn’t show up for this game, never leading (not by a single point) and never really threatening the Lowry-led Raptors with Drake courtside. Part of that obviously had to do with having Kemba Walker injured on the bench, but it wasn’t an effort worth watching, and about halfway through the third quarter, I gave up on it.
Coach Clifford agreed in the postgame interview, saying…
“I’m shocked at the level of intensity and attention to detail we played with. That first half, there was no fight. DeRozan got whatever he wanted, Lowry got whatever he wanted. They took us apart.”
Yep. Kyle Lowry scored 36, Demar DeRozan had 30, and the Hornets’ road woes continued as they fell by 13, 126–113.
There was one highlight from the game worth watching, a Dwight crossover dunk that somewhat redeemed the night. Twitter exploded afterwards… but in yet another loss, it felt like an all-too-familiar piece of candy hidden inside a crap sandwich. Metaphor that.
Winless on the road in November… over a stretch of seven games. Great. Buzz City leaves the loss at 8–12, and after that three game winning streak in the middle of the month, they’ve now lost four in a row, though all to good teams: Cleveland, San Antonio, and Toronto. It was the effort last night that sucked… that first half was unwatchable.
Dwight-centric highlights (he did have another double-double) are here, if you need them…
At least the beer was good? (Also a familiar phrase here at BCB these days.) For Wednesday night’s November finale, I finished off the NoDa Brewing Company selections in my fridge by drinking the strangely named Woody & Wilcox Hop Experiment. I didn’t know (until just now) who Woody & Wilcox were… as it turns out they’re local radio hosts on 106.5 The End. Good way to engage the community I guess, just surprised at the celebrity choice I guess.
Here’s how NoDa describes their experiment: “We love hops. Woody and Wilcox love hops. Why not blend our two loves into one amazing beer experiment? Each month we’ll release a new ale with the same base beer but brewed with a different hop. Showcasing the variety of hops that brewers now have at their finger tips. Named after our friends Woody & Wilcox, the morning duo on Charlotte’s 106.5 The End. Their show’s a great way to get your morning started! Call in and tell them we said hello.”
My first impression of the W&WHE was surprise at how pale it really is. If you look at the homepage here at BCB, you can see the strong contrast with all the other beers thus far. With that color, I expected a watery Bud Light lack of flavor, but nope. The smell is strong on the hops, citrusy and piney, and the taste is similar, with the citrus standing out to me more.
It has a hoppy bite but without the strong bitterness of some of the other IPAs, so that was pleasantly surprising too. Crisp, smooth, as I think about it, I’m finding little negative here. That’s a good sign right?
My first thought was 7 Muggsys as I was drinking it, and I could go as big as 8, but I think I’ll stay with the 7 and put it at the top of that range: above the Par 4 (which I also really liked), but not quite at the level of the Cavu Blonde for me. Could easily be a low 8.
Up next for the Hornets is a trip to Miami, and after seven straight losses on the road and with Kemba likely still out, I’m not optimistic there either. Yippee.
I won’t be able to watch that one live because of Charlotte Game Night, but I’ll catch a replay of it later on. There will probably be a few games missed in December, apparently the holidays are kind of a big deal away from my TV… we’ll see what we do there.
On to the weekend. Buzzzzzzz.
