Hornets Hype

The most common reason the gods destroyed or cursed mortals was for arrogance.  So I can only presume it a god thing that we finally lost.  The Hornets as of last night are still the best team in the Western Conference, and that is something to be proud of.  But I think Byron is a good enough coach and our players are cool enough to recognize that there is a long way left in the season.

There is a difference between the swagger of a Champion and the aura of cockiness that leads to getting careless.  Despite their gods-cursed head-to-head match-up, I’d reference the Lakers and Pistons of recent years.  The Lakers won three titles in a row.  They had the swagger of a Champion.  I watched them come back from 27 down in the fourth quarter against the Mavericks!  Then there are the Pistons.  They get one freak championship because the Lakers’ Karl Marlone was injured and Kobe and Shaq inexplicably couldn’t work together with a mediocre bench and then you have cockiness on the Pistons since, believing they’re the best, when they at best were the best in the East, which is like sixth best in the West.  So they got sloppy.  They continually are highly ranked but can’t make it back to the big game.

I’m happy to say that I believe that the Hornets are taking their success with humility.  As such, I expect the basketball gods not to destroy the Hornets.  Rather the opposite.  This season is looking like the magical run for the Hornets that it was for the Saints two years ago (their first year back in Nola).  So all of us here are looking forward to a long and deep post-season run!

Everyone knew Chris Paul was going to be named to the All Star reserves. But Tyson Chandler and David West were sort of on the bubble in the very talented Western Conference. And Byron Scott was one win away (or one Dallas loss) from coaching the game.

Yesterday this all played out nicely, as CP3 and D-West were named to the All Star team. Congratulations to both of them, especially West, who very quietly outplays other teams on a nightly basis and just does what has to be done. It’s like, “How many ‘Most Underrated Player’ lists can the man make before he ceases to be underrated and gets rated already?”

Before the end of the night, Coach Scott’s All Star appearance was also clinched, thanks to a little help from our friends… er… rivals. Dallas’ loss to Boston in the final seconds ensured that, with us holding the tiebreaker, they couldn’t catch us for the best or second-best record in the West. (Second best because Phoenix doesn’t count– their coach was in the All Star game last year so he can’t do it again.) Speaking of which, three hours later we got a little more help from the Spurs coming back to beat Phoenix, which once again flip flops us back on top of Phoenix percentage-wise.