New Hornets head coach Jeff Bower has already made his imprint on the Hornets.
Friday night against Portland, Bower didn't change his starting lineup, but made several significant changes.
Rookie guards Darren Collison (18 points) and Marcus Thornton (20 points) got over 50 minutes of game time. Granted, some of that time was because of the injury to Chris Paul. But, increased roles for the talented rookies will likely continue under Bower.
Bower also resurrected Sean Marks off the inactive list. Marks scored only 1 point, but grabbed 7 rebounds in 15:26 of action. Hilton Armstrong and Julian Wright, both played at the end of the game in garbage time.
The Hornets also played solid defense. Holding Portland to 86 points was a fast improvement over the total lack of effort Wednesday night against Phoenix.
In one night, Jeff Bower made big changes. And, they paid off with big nights from a pair of Hornets rookies.