Wash U is Division III Champ

You've got to love Division III basketball. A bunch of white guys who were no way near good enough to start at a state school, but still have skills and happen to have above average intelligence. It's remarkable how a group of guys who have no hope for a career in basketball and not much of a fan base can play with such drive and energy. The stage may be small, but as of March 22, 2008 the Wash U Bears are the kings of that stage. My Alma Mater has taken the crown.

After I don't even know how many drunken trips to the Athletic Complex, after god knows how many offensive and terrible things screamed at the opponents and the refs, after.... hell, who cares. We won the damn thing. And though I may be sad that I wasn't there to witness it, I'm glad Troy Ruths got a ring and some major props as D3 player of the year (which he can add to his First Team All American and NCAA Championship MVP).

Division III: where Troy Ruths happens.

I totally said hi to him once at a Thai restaurant on Delmar Street. Oh god. I sound like a 15 year-old girl. Let's move on.

The Wash U men's and women's teams have actually been very good in the past few years (last season we became only the second school to send both of its teams to the final four... but then both teams lost in the finals). So congrats to the crew: to Tyler Nading, to Aaron Thompson, to Danny O'Boyle, to Troy Ruths, and to Coach Edwards. Job well done, guys. I knew Mike, Sam, and I hadn't consumed all of that bourbon in vain.

(You probably don't care, but here's a recap and a box score.)

***

And now for something relevant to the title of this blog.

The Hornets just polished off the Cavaliers in a nail biter of a game Final score: 100 to 99. LeBron was able to keep it close (actually he had a little help from Big Z in the form of 29 points), but in the end, D.West would hit the winning jumper with 0.6 seconds left in the fourth. Tag it and bag it. Despite the Hornet's win completing the "sweep" of the Cavs in the regular season, LeBron ranks (to this committee of me) as the team I'd least like to to play if we make it to the finals. I saw him beat the Pistons last year. And he's better this year. And he probably hasn't reached his ceiling yet. Terrifying.

Oh yeah... we beat the Pacers last night as well. The spread wasn't as much as I thought it'd be, but a "W" is a "W". Plus David dropped 35 points and grabbed 16 boards. And after tonight's performance of 20 points, he's averaging 31 since returning from injury (over 3 games).

***

One final thought before I leave you. Since most of you probably frequent espn.com more than this blog, you've probably seen the David Thorpe article advising rookies on who they should study to reach their potential. I don't care if you've read it. I'm still going to link the entry for JuJu. You'll just have to follow the link if you want to know who his "mentor" should be.

See you this weekend for a recap of the second encounter with the Celtics.

***

Oh wait. This is the first entry where I didn't say Chris Paul. Or CP3. Oh wait. Damn.

The Statement Game

New Orleans 113 | Boston 106
[league standings]

Since March 12, the Hornets have wins against the Spurs, the Lakers, the Rockets, and the Celtics (ok, and the Bulls; but that doesn't really inform what I'm about to say). Within that stretch, they also lost a not-even-remotely-close game against the Pistons. My point? In the span of ten days the Hornets went 4-1 against the toughest and highest seeded teams from both conferences (with the exception of Utah... who will be a 4 seed almost by default due to the sluggishness of their division). That's an unbelievable statement to anyone who doubts the abilities of this team. I know the playoffs haven't happened yet, and I know this team still has a lot to prove, but let's face it, they're winning. And they're winning against good teams. In fact, it seems like every game I've been to in the past few weeks has been "the greatest game ever!". It's like Christmas every damn day. It's fantastic.

However, this win in particular is quite exciting. I was hoping we'd have a chance to play the Celtics earlier in the season; the thought being that wouldn't have gelled yet. That particular line of logic proved to be stupid, as it took the Boston didn't lose it's tenth game until February 19. So, knowing that "chemistry" and "gel-ingness" was not an issue (for them, at least), my worries to shifted to the probable player matchups. My main concern was that Peja was going to have to cover Paul Pierce. Normally we would slide Mo Pete over to cover small forwards that go to town on Peja, but that whole Ray Allen thing screwed up that approach. This fear was further compounded during the game by the fact that (A) Kevin Garnett boxed D.West out of every rebound ever and (B) Rajon Rondo ended up being much better at the point than I expected. Hell, I can't lie; I love his style of play. He's quick, he's aggressive, he drives, he drains threes, and he is pretty good at exploiting the ridiculous amount of double teams on the big three. As scary as all of this was, nothing could have prepared me for the first three quarters of this game.

All season, I've been saying this: if any team wants to beat us, all they have to do is get in Chris Paul's head. Force him to make bad plays or force him into foul trouble. Because if you can't manage that, you'll just have to pray that one of our jump shooters is firing bricks. It's true. My brother points it out all the time: we run every play through CP3. Hell, he's probably calling plays from the bench. If you can't trip up his game, you've got no hope. The Celtics... they tripped up his game.

Paul was limited to 29 minutes of play due to foul trouble (compared to the 37.5 minutes he averages this season). It was completely frustrating. The combination of Rondo's aggressive play and the Celtic's stellar defense was forcing Paul to make bad plays. Additionally, Boston's just-as-stellar offense exacerbated the scenario, and it was visibly frustrating for Paul (and for all of us in the stands). For a moment in time, Doc Rivers looked like a genius... nah! Just kidding. Doc Rivers couldn't out-think a cocker spaniel, let alone have the foresight to write any play whatsoever. KG and Pierce run that team. It was probably their idea. Doesn't matter. It worked.

For a while at least. Then the Hornet's bench came alive, mainly in the form of Jannero Pargo (15 points, 6 assists) and Bonzi Wells (13 points and 8 steals). I'm actually convinced that Bonzi single handedly saved this game on account of his sticky fingers. Nevertheless, the bench was able to score fairly well and kept the gap at/around 10 points all the way through the third. When Paul returned in the third he only had 7 points and 2 assists, but he would would finish the game with 19 and 7. Add that to D.West's 37 points and... Boom! Tag it and bag it.

A friend of mine, Ron Hitley, who runs Hornets 24/7 has a nice entry that covers the steadily increasing attendance (scroll down for the graph) as well as a worthwhile youtube clip.

In case anyone out there is wondering how to beat the Celts without any of the Hornets on your roster, consider booing Boston for a whole quarter. That's right. Similar to our strategy against the Spurs, Hornets fans booed the Celtics for almost ten straight minutes of regulation play. The fans were already restless by the time the third ended, feeling as though the refs had unfairly targeted CP3 and managed to forget about KG, so the booing came naturally. However, the catalyst went a little something like this: Paul steals the ball, fastbreaks to the paint, and then kicks it out to Peja for an open trey. Peja drains it. Three points? Nope. Paul is called for an offensive foul, after passing the ball, for running into one Rajon Rondo (who was in motion). The refs called back the three, the fans (all 18,200 of them) went to work. And you know what? The Celtics couldn't focus (honestly, who could focus under such a barrage of negative energy). Done and done. It's an effective strategy considering it held the Spurs to 10 points and the Celtics to 17... just a thought.

The "W" puts the reinstates the Hornets as the 1 seed in the western conference and put us into the 2 slot in both Stein's and NBA.com's power rankings... second to the Celtics. We'll see what happen in the rematch on Friday.

***

The next home game isn't until April 4 (almost two weeks). Expect coverage of the away games over that stretch, but don't expect it to be sober since we have find bars for this wretched [read "expensive"] entity that is NBA League Pass. Cheers!

Directed by Steve Nash

There's a reason why that lucky number 13 jersey still hides in my closet instead of being thrown to the masses on ebay. There's a reason I followed man behind that number from Dallas to Phoenix. All along I assumed my fascination was with the brilliant court vision, sick no-look passing, run-and-gun style, pull up to drain a three kind of guy. But no. It isn't. At least not entirely.

Steve Nash is looking to filmmaking as a his next step after the nba. This Arizona Central article gives a behind the scenes look at his first piece--a nike commercial that he wrote, pitched, and produced. Check it out:



Yep, I think the two of us may be cosmic twins, separated at birth (even though we were born 13 years apart) to do wonderful things across this magnificent planet. It all makes sense now. I mean, how else could you explain the physical (and I mean, agonizing) pain I felt in games 1 and 4 against the Spurs last year.

Of course, if any of this had a shred of truth to it, it certainly would resemble the plot line of Twins, where Nash gets to be the governator and I get to be Danny DeVito. But that's not so bad, right? I mean sure, he got all the looks, talent, charisma, pure awesomeness... but at the end of the day, Steve Nash is still my twin. Everyone wins.

(I case you're confused about my fascination/love of Steve Nash, this entry should clear things up)

***

Few quick thoughts on the Hornets win over the Rockets Wednesday:

1. Despite his 25 points (20 in the fourth quarter alone), apparently Bonzi Wells does not attribute Wednesday's sudden spike in playing ability to the fact that the Hornet's were facing his ex-squad, although he did admit that knowing their style might have helped. Now, if only we can figure out what really sets him off like that...

2. David West made a beautiful return from an ankle injury with 23 points, 11 rebounds, a block, 2 steals, and Rafer Alston's pride.

3. If you didn't get that last reference in number 2, here were Alston's words (on TNT) before the game: We beat New Orleans and people say they were without David West... Well David West isn't a superstar. He may be a star to their team, but he's not a superstar like Yao Ming.

4. CP3's response: Tracy McGrady is a great player. If I was Rafer Alston, I'd probably ride his coattails too.

5. Julian Wright is a godsend. His defense on Tracy McGrady led to an anemic second half performance by the Rocket's leading scorer (1 for 7). Actually the whole team had trouble in the final two quarters, only scoring 25 points.

6. 69 is the lowest point total in a game for the Rockets all season

7. Chrisette Michele was everything her album promised and more. If you have the means, you should loot and plunder for a ticket to see her live. If this is impossible, you can settle for her debut album I Am and sit anxiously until her next release arrives.

Peace.

CP34MVP

For those of you who can't get enough of the Crescent City stroking Chris Paul, now's your chance to wear your pride. Thanks to the genius of CafePress (and a little design ingenuity on my part) you can now be a part of the greatest comeback in NBA history.

Purchase the CP34MVP shirt and wear it everywhere. Wear it to work, to school, to sleep, to bars, to weddings, to galas, to prom, and even to games! Seriously, how can you go wrong? Answer: you can't. There is no markup and no one is making a dime on this (except for the cafepress people who host it). So spread the word on CP34MVP nation-wide... oh, we are going global with this, baby.

16 dollars? That's a bigger steal than the 2.73 Chris gets every game!

The Hornets have also launched CP3MVP.com. Coincidence?... yeah, probably. But it is a cool site, plus they're offering an insane gift package for whoever makes the best short video about why CP3 deserves the award. All you have to do is upload your entries to their myspace page. Hmmmmm... I need to join myspace... and think of an idea...

***

In the totally unrelated world of links, check out John Hollinger's extremely flattering article about the Hornets quiet rise to the top of the Western Conference (as of posting we are the 1 seed since we own the tie-break with the Lakers).

And finally, there was a great article via Yahoo! that is setting the stage to make the late, great "Pistol" Pete Maravich the Chuck Norris of the NBA.

Pistol Pete's chest pass wound up being our best attack during the Vietnam War. It's too bad he never had to pass.

***

Coming your way: commentary/recap/poor attempt at humor for the Hornet's big W against the Rockets last night. Peace.

Big Win, No Bull[s]

New Orleans 108 | Chicago 97
[league standings]

Let the record be clear: the Bulls are much better than they appear in the standings. They have a lot of young talent, and if they can get someone in there who knows what they are doing, they might be able to mold that bunch (or at least the core) into a bona fide contender... in the East, at least. Hell, it almost happened last year.

In fact, it was the Bull's talent that nearly cleaned the Hornets out on Monday night. D. West missed yet another game (let's pray he's healthy for Wednesday against the Rockets... why does it fee like we play them every other game?) and Byron saw fit to start... wait for it... here it comes... no, not Julian Wright, even though that would have made a world of sense (he finished with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, going .750 from the field)... no not Melvin Ely or Hilton Armstrong, who have both been added to the endangered species list... brace yourself... we started Uncle Bowen. Again! Why? Well because he matches up so well against Drew Gooden, of course. Wait. FALSE! I feel like Bob Uecker in Major League II when he's trying to rationalize Taylor's [Tom Beringer] decision to let Rick [Charlie Sheen] walk Beck so he can face the ever dangerous Parkman: "Obviously, Taylor's thinking... I don't know what the hell he's thinking". Seriously, we almost lost because of a mismatch that Mr. Gooden rightly took advantage of to the tune of 23 points and 12 rebounds. Drew Gooden. The Duck Foot guy. Really? Actually, Tyson was also having a little trouble locking down Gooden. Probably had to do with the fact that, soaking wet, Tyson weighs half of what Gooden weighs. But seriously Byron, we're in the most heated playoff push of the millennium. Now is no time to start Ryan Bowen. I actually can't think of any appropriate scenario to start him without using the word "Knicks". And even then it's a close call.

The main reason we won is CP3 played out of his mind (which was partly due to the sudden appearance of bricks in the third quarter). Seriously, Byron actually called him a "Hall of Famer in the making" after the game. Even Tyson chimed in with some praise. Check out this quote that appeared in the Daily Dime:

It was all Chris Paul. The little man was all over the floor. It was incredible. It's one of the best performances I've seen from him yet. He, at least to me, made his bid [Monday night] to consider him the MVP.

I guess 37 points, 13 assists, and 3 steals will get you that kind of attention. Peja also showed up for 21 points; however, most of those came off the dribble as he only landed 3 of 11 from beyond the arc. We desperately needed both of these performances as Ben Gordon appeared to be on a mission from god. He single handedly (along with Duck Foot) kept this game close until the fourth by dropping 31 points (at 59% from the field). Oh, and for those of you who are wondering why the Gooden thing didn't put the Bulls over the top? I've got two words for you: Bonzi Wells. This guy is insane. He can cover any position (maybe not center... but definitely the 4) and he's extremely physical. He's aggressive in the paint and his seeming recklessness puts him at the line quite frequently. at 7 points, 4 rebounds and an 80% stroke from the stripe, he's exactly what we need (never mind his filthy dunking skills). It turns out Jeff Bower knows what he's doing... well, sort of. Ask me about that Mike James contract in two years. All the same, I never imagined the day when I would be rooting for Bonzi Wells. But that day has come. That day has come.

***

Unfortunately, I'll be missing Wednesday's match-up against a 23-0 or 22-1 Rockets. This may turn out to be good thing, though, as the Hornets have won all but 1 (November 21 against the Pacers) of the games I've missed at the Hive. Either way, it'll be the 1 and 2 seed in the Western Conference going head-to-head. This Chrisette Michele better be everything she's cracked up to be.

See you Wednesday. Peace.

KB24 vs. CP3

New Orleans 108 | Los Angeles Lakers 98
[league standings]

Tag it and bag it.

The Hornet's downed the Lakers last night in what would have been the most exciting game of the year had we not had the San Antonio shootout two days earlier. We actually had a slow start as Los Angeles went up quick. Our answer to this was turnovers and poor shot selection. Remarkably, things started to turn around when Mo Pete drained a few threes. After that, we played the lead change game for the remainder of the half. After the third quarter... it was the Hornet's game.

Unfortunately, Pau Gasol went down early on in the game after rolling an ankle (he landed on Radmanovic's foot). Ordinarily, I'd be glad for our opponents having one more weakness to exploit, but I think it would have been more beneficial to us to have played their team at full strength. Usually at this point in the season, the playoff seeds start getting gobbled up and you can usually predict the first round matchups. But in today's version of the NBA, this is not possible. The seeding changes almost daily (we jumped from a 5 to a 3 seed with last night's win) and there's no real certainty about anything. Given that we could play anybody in the top nine (assuming we make the playoffs), I'd rather play healthy opponents now so at least we can learn more about the way we match-up. We were able to exploit the Lakers in Gasol's absence, but we may not have that luxury in the playoffs.

By the way, the Mavericks are currently the 7 seed in the West, and they are only 2.5 games out of the 1 seed. Let that sink in for a minute... good. Let's move on.

CP3 put up another stellar performance with 27 points, 17 assists, 4 steals, and 2 turnovers. According to the non-official source that is Curry Smith, Chris Paul has more 25, 15 performances this season (with 9) then everyone else in the league combined. Regardless, it was enough to carry the Hornets over Kobe's performance of 36 points, 3 assists, 9 rebounds. MVP performances on both counts. Beyond Paul, scoring was spread pretty even over the rest of the starters. Peja dropped 5 treys, D. West and Tyson combined for 34 rebounds, and Bonzi, Jannero, and JuJu all gave strong performances off the bench. It was a good display of team work--albeit team work that only runs through Chris Paul. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I mean, CP3 has been delivering, but (as my brother pointed out) after every rebound, whoever has the ball does this frantic look around, saying "Where's Chris Paul. Must pass to Chris Paul. Must pass to Chris Paul." Is this a reason for concern? Probably not. As I said, Paul has been phenomenal. But if he has an off night... or if he gets shaky early on... what's the backup? Do we even have one?

***

Bruce Bowen ended his NBA leading 500 consecutive game streak when the Spurs took the floor against the Pistons Friday night. Bowen was serving a one game suspension after the league reviewed the Paul/Bowen scuffle from Wednesday night. The suspension has been a pretty hot topic as a lot of fans around the NBA would endorse a Bowen suspension for no reason at all, let alone for the antics he pulled against the Hornets. The replay from the Hornet's feed (CST) isn't too friendly to the San Antonio side of the argument, but Spurs fans found a super slow-mo video that they feel exonerates Bowen. Take a look.



The mere fact that this video is titled "Chris Paul punches Bruce Bowen" is indicative of the split opinions in this debate. The footage from this angle shows that Bowen may not have actually kicked Chris a second time and that Paul is just as capable as flopping as any other guy in this league. Let's face it. Most [good] players can sell a foul. Actually, in this scenario Chris didn't, but you get the point. I certainly didn't see Paul "punch" Bowen... in fact, I'm not really sure where that accusation even came from. But let's step back: even if Bowen didn't kick him at all (and the video suggests that may be possible), how is this a foul on Paul? No clue.

Amidst all of this "discussion", one name that keeps surfacing is Julius Hodge. Can we just put this to bed? Watch this clip. Now that you have, can you honestly say that Chris Paul intentionally hit Julius Hodge in the groin? While the contact was certainly intentional, it certainly did not look like the kind of contact that was intended to harm. My assessment: Chris Paul gets physical with Hodge and inadvertently makes contact with a sensitive area. What's more is the contact looked soft (with my apologies to Hodge). For me to buy Julius' reaction from the hit I could see, I'd have to assume that Paul can flick no other... which is certainly possible. Don't get me wrong (I've got a pair myself), but there's a huge difference between doubling over in pain and rolling around on the floor for five minutes. Just like we said about Paul earlier, everyone's out to sell the refs. You be the judge.

***

Before I go, I wanted to share this fun link from Google Trends. It sweeps the web and quantifies the mention of players with MVP talks. Pretty cool. CP3 is ranked at a solid 3 (though I'd put him at 2, behind LeBron).

Thanks for sticking with the long post. Post some comments. Show some love. Power to the people. Check ABC tomorrow at noon. Hornets and Pistons. Bring it. Peace.

Hornets Fever

Chris Rose wrote a great article in the Times Pic about Hornets fever in the Crescent City. For those of you who need more cowbell, you should give it a read.

***

Also, somehow I missed this stat yesterday: the Hornets held the Spurs to 8 points in the fourth quarter. Yes, Popovich put in his scrubs for some of that time, but the starters were in for at least seven and a half of those minutes. It's not quite as cool as the Hawks holding Tim Duncan and company to 5 points in the first quarter earlier this season... wait, actually it is. Atlanta ended up losing. While we're covering things I missed, check out the Southwest Division Standings [as of 03.13.08]

HOU 44-20
SA 44-20
NO 43-20
DAL 42-23
MEM 5-872

Holy crap! I'm terrified/excited/antsy/ecstatic/hungry... what a feeling.