Western Semis, Game 1: Peja Heads

New Orleans 101 | San Antonio 82
Western Conference Semifinals: Game 1 [box score]

On any other day of the week, I'd be terrified to face the reigning champs in a playoff series. Even with home court advantage, the looming Spurs are a seasoned crew who frequently show up for big games and squash the dreams of many a player and fan. But somehow, Saturday night in the hive did not feature any anxiety about the fact that the Hornets were playing host to a team who's won 4 of the last 9 NBA titles. Instead, there was excitement: a distinguishable "buzz" was running through the crowd.

But why, you might ask. Was it the fact that the Spurs looked a little older and moved a little slower this April, than in others past? Was it that the Hornets had split the season series with the Spurs, with both of their victories having a 20+ point margin? Was it that the Hornet's had just won their first seven-game playoff series? Or that the last time they even played in the Conference Semis was in the Least? Was it that CP3 seemed utterly unstoppable against Dallas in the previous series with no signs of slowing up? Or was it the sea of yellow that graced the arena provided by the "Mardis Gras Gold" t-shirts that each fan was given (at the behest of Chris Paul)? Maybe it was the Peja on-a-stick that each fan waved wildly in the air?

What's not to love?

Truth be told, the above may have had something to do with it, but in all actuality the crowd was so loose and carefree because the game didn't actually start until 9:00pm. As such, the league inadvertently gave the Hornets an additional advantage by allowing its fan base to have an additional two hours to get "loose" before the game. And in New Orleans, we're at our best when we're 11 or 12 sheets to the wind.

So that was it. No anxiety in the fan base. Just pure excitement and pure energy.

And the Hornets fed off of this energy, jumping out to a quick 8-0 start. They then promptly relinquished the lead after the Spurs had their own little run of 10-2. The advantage stayed in San Antonio's hands, bouncing between 11 and 4, for the first 24 minutes. But after half-time, the Hornets came out full throttle and outscored the Spurs 56-33 to end the game with a 19 point victory.

Even with home court advantage, you've got to hand it to this crew. Byron wore his huevos on the outside, double-teaming Tim Duncan all night which led big Timmy to go 1-9 from the field and finish with a measly 5 points and 3 rebounds. In case you want some kind of reference point, here are Duncan's per game averages for the regular season: 19.3 points on almost 50% shooting with 11 boards.

Doubling Duncan meant risking a deluge of treys from San Antonio's very capable - albeit aged - jump shooters. Remarkably, it was Bruce Bowen who made us pay the most by dropping a team-high 17 points with 5 bombs from beyond the arc. But the Hornets stood firm and forced plenty of bad shots that eventually led to 16 and 17 point quarters in the second half.

On the offensive end, D.West proved to be unstoppable when the likes of Kurt Thomas (whom I like) and Fabricio Oberto (whom I hate) attempted to guard him. He finished the night with 30. CP's 17 point, 13 dime performance actually fell below most people's expectations (especially after he exploded against Dallas in game 1 of the first series), but additional help arrived via Peja, who gave everyone a reason to wave Peja-on-a-sticks by contributing 22 points (remarkably, though, only two of his buckets were treys, leaving the rest to slashing and creating off the dribble... it was nice to see some versatility in his game). Best of all, when Popovich implemented the Hack-a-Tyson defensive method late in the second, Chandler responded by sinking both free-throws.

The remarkable part of this game was actually the lack of flopping on the part of the Spurs. Manu fell a few times away from the play (but failed to draw any fouls), and if Oberto or Duncan made such a move, I was totally unaware of it... or it just didn't work. I expected to see more of that strategy since it has proved to be successful for them in the past. It also seems like a good way to get a younger team frustrated. There were a few skirmishes involving Oberto and whoever happened to be posterizing him at that moment, but none of them resulted in anything other than a loss of Fabricio's pride.

The only real run-in of note was yet another entry in the Paul-Bowen saga. Bowen committed a relatively physical foul on Paul near the perimeter that the fans were chalking up to be technical (like we always do). I don't even remember what the call was because of what happened next. As Bowen followed the ref, doing a perfect Duncan impression, Paul followed behind to drop in his two cents. And then, Paul took an elbow in the head from Bowen as he flailed about making his case to the ref... or did he? Did Paul fake it? It looked fishy, no doubt, and, in a wise move, the arena saw fit not to replay it. It all hearkened back to the incident that ended Bowen's NBA-leading consecutive game streak. The replay of that play shows Paul as the victim... but also a little as the instigator. Looks like our boys will be fighting fire with fire. It's like many a reporter has stated... don't be fooled by Paul's charm. He's got a fire inside all the same.

In the end, the "technical" didn't really matter. In the second half, that particular matchup was reduced to Paul lighting up Bowen and then staring him down each time Paul thought Bowen got too physical. The look was ostensibly as follows: "Keep it up. No amount of hips or elbows can stop me from owning you. Oh, and you hear all of those people? They love me and hate you... just like every single fan in this league that doesn't root for Utah" I am, of course, paraphrasing.

Stay tuned for tomorrow night's matchup in Game 2. We'll see if the Spurs make adjustments and if Byron can live up to his COY honors and out-adjust Pop.

Peace.

Apache, Jump on It! Jump on It!

New Orleans 116 | Atlanta 101
[league standings]

One look at the score and you can tell this match-up wasn't much of a contest. The Hawks kept it reasonably close for about 15 minutes before slowly sliding into obscurity. A few points of interest for Atlanta; Mike Bibby dropped 21 points with only 4 assists (the added "ouch" in this scenario is that the Hornets out-dimed the Hawks 35 to 18). I think he's decided that he's tired of taking flack for not living up to everyone's expectations. He's not doing too terribly (with 11.4 points and 6.5 dimes in 10 games with Atlanta), but I think might be trying to save face, since they're still losing. Last night was somewhat of a statement game for him. A sort of "Screw you guys. I will not be taking the blame for you ineptness any longer". It would've probably of been more of "statement" had he played for a relevant team.

CP3 continues to cause a great gnashing of teeth in Atlanta. He went for 23 points, 18 assists, 2 steals and only 1 turnover against the team that passed on him in the draft... which puts him at 4-0 versus said team (3 teams actually passed on him and only the Jazz came out out even). Peja showed up and dropped 29 points (7 treys) and pulled down 8 boards. Chanlder and Pargo also had great nights, but the real story was rookie Julian Wright's performance. In 22 minutes he put up 13 points and 7 rebounds (4 offensive) and dominated the highlight reel (except for Tyson's massive block on Al Horford. I will now defer to Curry:

Julian Wright also got 22 minutes of playing time and put on quite a show. He had two incredible highlight dunks (the first was a behind-the-back alley-oop from Chris Paul, and the second was an offensive rebound putback that defied the laws of nature. Seriously, his arms must be made of rubber, because there's no way any mortal man could've jumped at this angle -- away from the basket -- and still slammed the ball)

The best part of the game? No, not the highlight reel. No, not the fact that we kicked ass and took names without David West (ankle injury). No, not the fact that we started (take a breath) Ryan Bowen in his stead. Nope. The best part was the 10 minute break between the third and fourth quarters. After a Super Hugo dunk went awry and tore the net (seriously, a Harlem Globetrotter was tossing him the ball... how could that go wrong), a crew of at least 8 people emerged to tie/tape the net back together. First off, why do we need 8 people for this? Secondly, why would it take more than 2 minutes? D, why don't we have any extra nets hanging around? I could go on for hours.

As per fourth quarter usual, "Apache" blared through the sound system, prompting endless dancing (especially after the song crossed the 50 second mark for the first time). Everyone was dancing. Even Curry danced (somewhat inadvertently) with a Honeybee. But nothing topped the moment when a camera found JuJu bobbing to the beat. An roar rose from the stadium as JuJu stood up and danced like it was 1999. Amazing.

After this, Pargo, Chandler, Peja, and some lucky ten year-old with courtside tickets started passing the ball around (and half dancing). Then, unsure of their next play, the av/sound guys opted for the inexplicably ever-popular "kiss-cam". Ordinarily I would hate this. But not tonight. Since the camera guys had an eternity on their hands, the camera ended up at the scorer's table. Then this happened:

Kiss Cam, baby! (courtesy of yahoo)

The NBA: where Josh Childress still loves you even if you didn't trade for him and then added insult to injury by taking names against his own crappy team happens.

See you Friday.

Showcase and showdown

New Orleans 110 | Utah 98
[league standings]

The battle has been won. But the war... it's only beginning.

A whole nation was able to watch the Hornets on Friday. It was only their second appearance on national television this entire season. The time slot was actually slated to be a Wizards/Bulls game, but somebody at ESPN had the good sense to realize that no one wanted to watch two partially anemic franchises with little or no sense of direction battle for the chance to get knocked out of the playoffs by Detroit or Boston. And so it was. The cameras made their way to the Crescent City for what ended up being an exciting game between the two most hyped-up young points in the league.

Truthfully, I was a little concerned for the game karmically (it's a word... don't look it up) since CP3 was showcasing his new Air Jordan brand shoe. In fact, everyone on the team was sporting a new pair. It just seemed like the ego gods might not be smiling on such an event. Funny story: Paul actually slipped several time during the game prompting Al, the guy who sits next to us, to shout out things like "Nice shoes!" and "115 dollars and you can't even stand up". Classic.

The Hornets led for the entire game. There were absolutely zero lead changes. However, that lead shifted from 27 to 4 and all the way back. As a fan, this is the kind of game that is at once exhilarating and nerve-racking. Part of that emotion is owed to the Jazz who frequently looked as though they were going to overtake us. Anytime the lead dipped below 10, I panicked internally.

The Hornets jumped out to an early lead and completely dominated the first quarter. Kirilenko and Boozer got into early foul trouble, and the Hornets took full advantage of their absence, outscoring Utah 38 to 15 in the first 12 minutes. Two trends started after the first quarter: 1) The Hornets decided to stop rebounding, eventually losing that battle at 34 to 45. 2) The refs began whistling the softest fouls I've ever seen. I don't know if they felt the need to balance out the first quarter fouls on the Jazz or if they just forgot they were officiating a game, but it was starting to look like someone was getting paid off to make sure the game stayed close (most of those calls favored Mehmet Okur, a softer version of Dirk Nowitzki). I nearly had a conniption and we were up by 15. Despite the Jazz outscoring the Hornets in the second and third quarter, they were never able to close the gap from the first, and ultimately the Hornets prevailed. Done and done.

So what about the match-up? What about the reason everyone tuned into ESPN in the first place? What about CP3 versus D.Will? Let's take a look:

Chris Paul: 24 points, 16 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, 1 turnover
Deron Williams: 22 points, 10 assists, 2 rebounds, 0 steals, 4 turnovers

Though Paul had the clear upper hand with his contributions, you'd be hard pressed to say that Deron played poorly. Both of those lines are quite impressive. Interestingly enough, CP3 put up most of his numbers in the first half (19 points, 9 assists), while Deron started slow (8 points, 4 assists) and heated up in the second half.

But let's get beyond the numbers... what did the match-up look like? I learned that Deron Williams is way faster than I thought he would be. And his height/size advantage on Paul allowed him to make strong moves into the paint; he frequently did this by sprinting from about half-court, using his momentum to blow right by Paul. Eventually, Byron rotated his defense so that Jannero would stay in Deron's face. He's no faster than Paul, but he has a slight height advantage and we care less if he fouls.

Here's the important thing: we match up extremely well with this team. Both teams spread the floor a lot for their shooters, they both have large jump-shooting guys from Eastern Europe (ok, Russia), they both have a big power forwards who make strong moves in the post (I drool a little every time I think of D.West matching up with Boozer in the playoffs), and they both feature young, talented, pass-first point guards. I'm so excited for the playoffs.

Actually, I've decided that if (by some insane act of Allah) we win the title, I won't feel that we've earned it unless we beat the Jazz in a series. Ok, so that isn't entirely true. Winning a title this year would require us to beat out the Grand-Theft-Spaniards, the Defending Champs, and whoever reigns supreme in the Detroit/Boston/Cleveland match-up. Did I mention I was excited for the playoffs? Because I'm terrified, too.

***

Great article about CP3 ran in ESPN the magazine. Curry and I are trying to get on his guest list, but C.J. won't take our calls. Rude.

Philadelphia 2 and Out

New Orleans 95 | Philadelphia 76

Before we begin recounting last night's glorious victory, I want to give the team props for hanging in there against New Jersey on Monday (Nov. 12) and pulling out the big win. CP3 got a lot of the credit (27 points, 6, assists, 3 steals), especially since he sunk the game winning bucket driving into the lane against the whole Net's defense with something like 2 seconds to go. Pretty spectacular. But really, the whole team deserves credit for fighting it out: all of the starters were in double figures in scoring with Peja dropping 4 threes. Of course, let's not overlook the Chef's accomplishments (my friend, Curry, insists that we give CP3 another nickname. Why? Because he serves up the best dishes in town. I can hear the moans now). CP3 leads the league in assists while averages 3 steals and just under 19 points a game. He's even ranked first in the Yahoo! fantasy leagues right now. What's more is he is becoming a premier point guard. He's beginning to pull up and take shots when he doesn't like the game's tempo (like Nash), he barks at his players when he has to shoot (despite making 51% of his shots) because they weren't open for passes, and his clutch factor is off the charts (if you saw the end of the Net's game, you know what I mean). If Agent Zero is curious why everyone is hounding him for not being a good teammate, he need only look to the Crescent City. This is how you make players around you better at the point: you shoot only when you can't dish (or if your fellow players are shooting low percentages), you hold your teammates to high standards, and you never mail in a single game. Period.

That having been said, the Hornets did a number on the 76ers for the second time this season. Our preacher at the start of the game asked the men on the court remember that the sport being played was basketball--not wrestling, boxing, debate, or Jai Alai. Ok, I threw that last one in for kicks, but he did say the first three. Regardless, it seems as though Philadelphia did not get the memo. Although, despite the win, our boys played pretty unevenly; leading by as much as 24 and then losing the lead in the third quarter. Byron felt the need to give almost all of Melvin Ely's time off the bench to Uncle Bowen. That didn't help (although he did make a miraculous steal at one point only then to launch it thirty feet in the air towards the scorers table... or the second row in the crowd... whoever was more open, I suppose). At any rate, strong defense held Andre Iguodala to 5 points on 2-15 shooting, and Mo Pete stepped up for the first time, dropping 27 points, including 6 threes. Actually, just before the end of the first quarter, he and Philadelphia were tied with 18 points apiece. With that win, we are now 7-2 and heading to Memphis. Fantastic.

Close, but no cigar (no love, either)

San Antonio 97 | New Orleans 85

One thing I vowed to never do when I started this blog was to blame a loss on poor officiating, and I can tell you that the Hornets home loss to the Spurs last night really had me rethinking such a seemingly short-sighted notion. Truthfully, I can't blame the loss on the officials. We shot anemic percentages from behind the arc and from the line (27% and 64% respectively), Peja had better odds of hitting the fans than the rim, and Tony Parker/Tim Duncan duo shot 65% from the field and finished with a combined 51 points. Despite those numbers the game was back and forth for most of the first half, with the Hornets trailing between 5 and 25 points in the second half (at any given point). My biggest problem wasn't so much the way the Hornets played (although "off" would be a decent descriptor), but rather that Byron Scott benched our starters for most of the fourth quarter. It made zero sense. Granted, we had an awful third quarter, but when we brought the score to within 10, all of our star power went missing. And for what reason? My buddy, Curry, and I knew the game was over when the score gap starting getting wider in the final two or three minutes and Byron Scott saw fit to put in Uncle Bowen. Victory seemed so close yet so far away.

I would like to at least offer a brief description of the terrible officiating that I do believe contributed to the Hornet's loss. Interestingly enough, the Spurs had 2 more personal fouls as a team than the Hornets; however, theirs went mostly to marginal players and poor shooters. Who cares if Fabricio Oberto has 4 fouls and has to be benched? What killed me was that Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were invincible with the ball in hand. Seriously. I mean, I almost advocated punching Manu on fastbreaks because he was going to get the call anyway, so why not at least give him a real reason to flop. He had zero (0) personal fouls. 0. It was disgusting. And Duncan? He's even worse. Despite having 3 fouls, he managed to be the cause of so many Hornets fouls by throwing that ol' hip of his around. Never seems to fail. Especially when he's being guarded by a hotheaded Tyson Chandler who's trying to keep his cool.

I still can't get on the Duncan bandwagon. Everyone says he's the nicest guy, but I don't buy it. It could be my general disdain for all things Spurs, it could be that I am a converted Suns fan, it could be that I just can't stand to watch them get every call in their favor. My friend Sam has claimed for years that Duncan is the best player in the league, and you'd be hard pressed to argue against it. But I still can't stand him. You know what, it's probably because even though he makes all of his shots, his turnaround-kiss-off-the-glass-that-looks-remarkably-like-Shaq's-freethrow is annoying. I always see that shot and think, there's no way that's going in. Always wrong.

Anyway, before I depart, it is worth noting that the Hornets did start 4-0 with a big win over Denver and an unbelievable record-setting night against the Lakers. A hard fought game in Portland (without technical fouling Tyson for the second half) ended with the Hornets only three points behind. All in all, we're playing solid. Peja seems a bit streaky, and Byron is making odd coaching decisions, but we're still 4-2. After all, it could be worse. Ask Ken Mauer tomorrow how much worse it could be when I send someone to find him in a dark alley. See you next week.

Portland: a good way to get warm

New Orleans 119 | Portland 93

Two games, two wins. Honestly, for a team returning home with quite a few new faces, I'm glad we got to start off against two mediocre (at best) teams. In fact, the 20 point winning margin was even larger before Byron Scott took out most of the starters and gave some time to JuJu . Unfortunately that means that good old Ryan Bowen got a handful minutes as well. We will now refer to Mr. Bowen as the Uncle. That's what he looks like. That's what he plays like. That's who he'll be: Uncle Bowen.

The team looked sharp. Peja and CP3 almost dropped 20 a piece, Tyson threw down a double-double, and three players off the bench were in double figures. It was good team basketball overall. No one player took over the game per se, but it was nice all the same to see them play well together. After all, Global Icon did teach us that it takes more than one to win a championship.

Despite a strong showing, I was surprised-- perhaps even disappointed-- at the sparse turnout from the New Orleans fan base. We almost lost this team to another city, and even though OKC may be getting the Sonics (I sure hope not), that still wouldn't be enough to prevent the Hornets from ever leaving. If anyone's listening out there, now would be a good time to show some support for your team. They're great, they win; come to a game,see for yourself... well, maybe skip the next one against San Antonio, but then again, who knows? We'll see how the road games go. See you next week.

Opening Night at the Hive

New Orleans 104 | Sacramento 90

CP3 stepped out to center court under a lonely spotlight. The teams had been introduced, and the energy in the arena was building, but all eyes and ears stayed focused in anticipation. "Thank you for showing up to support us. You've done your part New Orleans, now it's time for us to do ours."

And they did. Ok, so it wasn't quite a rout, but who cares. Of course, there's good news and bad news. The Hornets won by a comfortable margin that would have been much larger had they needed their starters for more than 10% of the fourth quarter. The bad news: they beat a Bibby-less, Artest-less Kings who only stayed within reach because Kevin Martin had a great (expected) showing and John Salmons had a 22 point game (I blame the insane beard he was sporting... speaking of which, has anyone seen Brian Skinner lately?).

Of course, splitting the evening into such binary oppositions takes away from the fact that this game represented more than just a season-opening win. Halloween at the hive was the Hornet's formal (and hopefully permanent) return to the Crescent City. They played excellent all night with every starter putting up excellent numbers in front of a nearly sell-out crowd (I should qualify that Halloween is an enormous drinking holiday in this town, so that fact that they drew anyone is impressive). CP3 and Tyson put up double-doubles with West just barely missing. Peja threw up 19 points including 4 three-pointers. Even Melvin Ely was contributing. And honestly, the Kings never really showed up. Despite being the first to score, they trailed for most of the first by only possession, but then totally fell off the map. I should note that Kevin Martin was truly a pleasure to watch. He's so smooth and has a beautiful shot. I think the Kings have laid a fairly huge contract in front of him, but I think he'd do well to leave Sacramento as soon as possible. Just wait until he plays for a team that matters: he's going to run the board, guaranteed. But as of now, he plays for Sacramento.

Good game? Absolutely. Cap off the team's excellent performance with appearances by Kermit Ruffins and Irma Thomas, how can you lose? You can't. There are moments when a basketball team clicks: when the point guard anticipates every move of his teammates, when the big men are relentless rebounders until the ball goes in, when sharpshooters can't miss. When those moments all coalesce at the same moment, it's a beautiful sight. It's even more beautiful to realize that they'll be clicking all season back home where they belong.

The Comeback

Wait, this is a fan experiential summary of every home game he attends from crappy (albeit cheap) viewpoint of section 325 in the New Orleans Arena? That's right. And why do you care? I'm not sure. What I do know is that the Hornets are going to be great this coming season, and remarkably no one seems to be taking notice. Is it because they play in a stacked division that is definitely the hardest in the league and may be getting harder if Memphis decides to contend? Are they being pushed from the spotlight? Who knows... and frankly, who cares? It doesn't matter because this lineup is killer and it's only going to get better.

I had the good fortune of meeting the two rookies from the 2007 draft. Adam Haluska of Iowa and Julian "JuJu" Wright of Kansas-- how amazing is it that New Orleans next star's nickname is "JuJu"? I mean, what were the odds?. Thanks to my being a "rookie" as well, I got to meet both players as part of some function the organization throws to try and hide the fact that they're a small market team floundering in a city that isn't paying too much attention. So financially, it looks bad, but talent-wise, things are looking up. A preseason game followed this mildly entertaining event, and Haluska dropped over 20 points in an otherwise anemic lose to the Pacers. I would care more that we lost this bout (and the other preseason home game against Atlanta), but it's the preseason. As a fan, I'm doing what the coach is doing. Observing each player in his potential position on the court and how well he moves and communicates with the other members of the team. That sentence was a whole lot of bull essentially adding up to "in the preseason, we see who's good enough to play backup." Regardless, Haluska did excellent, JuJu dropped two nasty dunks (one on each team... he's like J.R. Smith with feelings), Hilton Armstrong put up huge numbers against Atlanta (20+,10+), and CP3 looked more capable than ever at the helm of this young squad. Things are looking up, but as we know, in the Big Easy happiness is always fleeting. Ask Sean Payton and company if you don't believe me.

As such, I must also be a realist. There are plenty of deficiencies on this team as well. Byron Scott felt the inexplicable urge to continue giving minutes to this Ryan Bowen guy, who: a. looks like my father, b. has the apt number of 40 adorning his jersey, and c. made next to nothing happen when he touched the ball. It's crazy. How this guy is even on the team is totally beyond my grasp. Supposedly Scott loves this guy cause he hustles. Guess what... I hustle, too. It takes a little more than gumption to be in the NBA. It's not like we're developing this guy; I mean, he's been in the pros for 7 years. Someone shoot me.

Other problems include the lingering health issues with Peja , and Mo Pete 's inability to score consistently from beyond the arc or... from within it, for that matter.

Other than that, I'm predicting this team will finish a solid third in the Southwest earning themselves at least a seven (7) seed in the playoffs. Now, for my wish to come true, I need Byron to stop "believing" in the David Eckstein of the NBA and quit using Melvin Ely as the go-to man as the shot clock winds down (I could think of ten other guys on the roster that would be a more appropriate choice). If you think I'm crazy, go ahead and review the stats for the last professional sports team that returned to the Crescent City. See you on Halloween after opening night against the Kings.