04/28/2008 - 10:57
Doing It With D
by Andrew Mees
Sometimes the box score doesn't tell the whole story.
Ty didn't light up the scoreboard Sunday night, going for two points and five rebounds (two offensive), but his great interior defense and outstanding hustle helped the Hornets crush the Dallas Mavericks, 97-84, to take a 3-1 series lead in the playoffs' opening round.
No. 6 helped the Hornets tame the house of horrors that has been the American Airlines Center, a place where they hadn't been victorious since 1998.
Ty was asked about his performance in Game 4, and the the different role he felt he had to play in order for his teammates to be successful.
"Some nights like this you're glad it's a team game and not an individual game. I stayed in the game and took a look at what was going on in the first half. And I knew tonight I had to get those guys out. I had to get Bass out, I had to get Dampier out. I was going to sacrifice myself. I knew I wasn't going to get rebounds. I was going to have to get them out so other guys could come in and get the boards."
Thanks to Ty's great defense in the paint and his ability to stay out of foul trouble, the Hornets were able to keep the Mavericks from going to the free throw line as much as they did in Game 3, a major reason for the Mavs' victory.
"I feel like we should have won the last game. I feel like we gave them way too many points on the fast break and free throws. And if you give a team that many points, you don't stand a chance to win. And the fact that they beat us by 10 points and we were in the game the whole game shows that if we take those keys away, we should handle them."
CATCH-22
Ty had the highest plus/minus ratio of any Hornets player on Sunday night registering a +22, meaning the Hornets scored 22 more points than they gave up when TC was on the floor.
NEXT UP
Ty and the Hornets head home looking to close out their series against the Mavs in Game 5, scheduled for Tuesday night. Tip-off is at 6:00 PM Central Standard Time. Tune into TNT to catch all the action.
RELATED STORIES
Tyson Chandler, Peja Stojakovic Game 4 Quotes (Hornets Courtside Live, April 27, 2008)
http://hornetscourtsidelive.blogspot.com/
Hornets Grab First Win In Dallas Since '98, Send Mavs to 3-1 Deficit (Associated Press, April 27, 2008)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=280427006/
Rejection Notice (The Times-Picayune, April 28, 2008)
http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-3/120936181859820...
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