One dud on the Charlotte Hornets: Mason Plumlee
It was not a pleasant debut in the Queen City for Mason Plumlee. His game started very badly by getting handled by Sabonis. The Pacers big man finished the first half with 22 points, shooting 9 for 11 from the field.
Interior defense was a major issue for Charlotte last season and to be fair to Plumlee, no one should have expected him to solve those problems. However, even though expectations for his defensive abilities were low, wow, was it sad to watch.
To be a little bit fair to Plumlee, Indiana was dominating both inside and outside of the perimeter. Everything they shot was falling and every single player on the Hornets looked outmatched on this end of the court.
Plumlee did have a nice little offensive game, finishing with 8 points and 5 assists. The big man is much more explosive than one would think and can open up the half-court offense with his lob threat ability. Myles Turner got the best of him most of the time but you can see how he can be a small asset on the offensive end.
Plumlee will be glad the Hornets pulled this win out, but he’ll surely need to remember some lessons from this game.