Final Standings: the chart

New Orleans 56-26
[final league standings]

Yeah, Yeah, I know. We dropped our last game of the season to none other than the team that we will be hosting for the first round of the playoffs. I was too busy basking in our Southwest Division title to notice, but if I had, here are the points I might have made:

1. Our starters played roughly 30 minutes, which is nowhere near their normal totals.

2. We owned Dirk. He put up one of his worst performances of the season with 12 points, 5 boards, and 25% shooting.

3. In the process of shutting down the big German, we left Jason Kidd wide open. Ordinarily, this would not even remotely be an issue. Why? He's averaging 11 points on 39% shooting for the year (never mind him going for 1.5 for 4 behind the arc every night). That game (27 points, 5 treys, 10 dimes, 10 rebounds on 64% shooting) was a fluke for him. He still has some gas in the tank, but those numbers are not indicative of his nightly performances.

4. We had nothing to lose int hat game. They had everything. Had they lost, they'd risk playing the Lakers in round 1. Had we won, we might have played Denver in the first round. Denver... Dallas... Denver... Dallas... yeah, that's what I thought.

5. For those who watched the game, that dumb stat they showed concerning the Hornet's 0-11 record in the Dallas arena is misleading. First, that stat only extends to 2000, and for 4 of those seasons we were in the Eastern Conference. This means that, despite making the playoffs in those 4 years, we only played 1 game a season in Dallas. Second, the current team is only 0-2 in that arena... and that's what matters. Not how Baron and company fared.

***

Anywho. While I continue to attend Hornets' pre-playoff celebrations all over the city, I will leave you with a pretty cool encapsulation of the season that the crew down at ESPN the mag posted on their blog (if you click on it, it will enlarge to a legible level). They also put up a post that explores an alternative way for the media to cover the playoffs. Enjoy.

Hooray design geeks!