Tidjane Salaün has had a lot of trouble since the start of the season, despite an obvious desire to do well. This night? The Hornets winger gave up his biggest game of the season, and he even almost scored the winning shot. Finally he put it on, but it wasn't enough. It’s good kid, it’s coming!
If you're watching the Hornets this season, you're probably doing so for one of two reasons: 1) watching the very individual LaMelo Ball take 35 shots per game but with quite a bit of class and/or 2) following the start of his career laborious but courageous from Tidjane Salaün in a team that blows hot and cold.
This night? We clearly did both.
LaMelo Ball was as unbearable as he was phenomenal (32 points at 11/35 shooting including 7/20 from the parking lot, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 7 lost balls)he clearly spent his match doing 1 vs 5 in disguise but released a last quarter of anthology, well that's what we would have said if it was Steph Curry. In the end the Hornets lost to Miami, because of a huge shot from Tyler Herro in particular, because Cody Martin missed two crucial shots, too, and because they are a worse team, mainly.
But the beautiful story of the night to tell, we tell you, is that of Tidjane Salaün.
Poor Tidjane Salaün, struggling since the start of the season, not even the best Frenchman in his team while the second doesn't take a shot. The head still well out of the shoulders, bust forward and body language from the Third World War even at -30 in the last quarter, we validate the desire to want to. But this night, TS – not great initials – joined the actions to the will, clearly being the X factor of his team.
Tidjane Salaün goes baseline to throw it DOWN ???? pic.twitter.com/25Xj7Ckm4z
— NBA TV (@NBATV) https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1861928787660697633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Once again a starter, Tidjane was present in defense and productive in attack, making good choices even if he – again – waited a lot for the ball without seeing it. Aggression, skill from afar, stolen balls, we absolutely validate the former Choletais' entire match and quite frankly it's a good sign for the future!
17 points at 7/12 shooting including 3/7 from the parking lot, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals in 38 minutes
Career record for points scored, number of shots made, number of 3-pointers made, number of steals and minutes played. The proof of a total slaughter and a real big match, quite simply, which could have climbed directly into the Top 3 of his memories if the Hornets had won since in addition to this greedy stats line, Tidjou almost scored the shot of the match, but that was before Tyler Herro lived up to his name…
DIABATE REBOUND, IMMENSE SHOOT BY TIDJANE SALAÜN!!! ???????????? pic.twitter.com/moov7aaaoE
— TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) https://twitter.com/TrashTalk_fr/status/1861958106248347812?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Well done Tidjane, we may not yet talk about a breakthrough, but we saw last night that the kid had (obviously) the skills to succeed at this level, despite some reluctance at the start of the season. Next game Friday night against the Knicks, we're already looking forward to it.
