Perhaps the most unexpected individual stat line from the NBA's busy weekend slate of 27 games was New Orleans Hornets point guard Brian Roberts' 16-point, eight-assist performance in a 107-99 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. In the Hornets' prior four regular season games, Roberts totaled 11 points and four assists, though his playing time was limited to an aggregate of 29 minutes. The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder logged 30 minutes against Charlotte on Friday, taking full advantage by going 7-for-8 from the field. Roberts sparked New Orleans' bench to a 56-point total output.
Roberts took an unusual path to officially debuting in the NBA for the Hornets on Oct. 31 vs. the Spurs, playing four seasons overseas, including three in Germany and one in Israel. Although Roberts is technically an NBA rookie, the 26-year-old University of Dayton product has considerably more professional experience than his fellow first-year teammates, including winning three consecutive championships in the German league.
"I just wanted to come out and be aggressive, that's the main thing," Roberts said. "The challenge is not to have just one good game, but be a little consistent. Coming off the bench, I've got to be able to run the show a little bit and come out and make plays for the team. That's what I wanted to do tonight. It was a big win for us to bounce back from a bad loss (Wednesday night against Philadelphia)."
At the end of the game, Hornets Coach Monty Williams had both his point guards on the floor simultaneously and it paid dividends. After committing 24 turnovers in the loss to the Sixers, the Hornets had just nine miscues Friday night. Roberts and Greivis Vasquez each had one and the pair combined for 16 assists. "I think it's good; I kind of like that set up," Roberts said of sharing the floor with Vasquez. "Coach obviously saw something out there he wanted to do. He felt I had it going pretty good tonight, so he wanted to keep me out there with Greivis and we were able to bring it home down the stretch." Williams applauded the effort. "We certainly didn't turn the ball over and that's something we talk about every day," Williams said, "taking care of the ball and making sure we get a shot up. It's good to see Brian come out there and play the way he can play. He just wasn't worried about making mistakes. He played hard."