Hornets Hype

The Hornets took a 3-2 series lead last night in resounding fashion, putting the patented Third Quarter Smackdown on the Spurs. Guess they haven’t figured out all our secrets yet, huh?

When you talk about breakout performances, and you’re going to talk about them considering this is the Hornets’ first playoff run together and also the first time much of the nation has been able to see Hornets games nationally televised, we’ve all heard about Chris Paul. Who was again routinely excellent (for him anyway… I feel as if I’ve typed this sentence 20 times before… why is that? am I having deja vu? where am I? I need a 4th cup of coffee).

But it wasn’t Chris Paul who was the hero of the day.

David West. Dude played like a man on the verge of something great. I really don’t know how to even talk about David West last night. Should we just have a moment of silence? I’m sitting in the arena with two Spurs fans in front of me and an elderly lady to my left, and I knew it probably wasn’t the best place in which to be yelling, “D WEST MOTHAF*@KAS!!!” at the top of my voice. But it just slipped out… like 6 or 8 times. And then to find out he was injured half the game.

Byron Scott said after the game he’s thinking West and Chandler will be OK for Thursday, so we’ll have to keep watching that situation for updates. Or, you know, you could listen to Dr. Chris Paul, who, when one of the news writers at the postgame press conference asked David West about his back pain, piped up from off camera, “He’ll be fine. Ain’t nothing wrong with him,” to everyone’s laughter. Haha. Tyson, in his own postgame interview, said he wanted to go back into the game but the trainer nixed that idea.

And now, I’m gonna leave you with some other people’s words on our very own DX. Because last night was his night. All eyes were on him, maybe as they never have been before, and it feels right that this post should be about him as well:

“David West scoring 38 points in an 83-possession game is a remarkable and impressive accomplishment. He may have had the best game of the postseason thus far, and it’s worth a re-telling. 38 points, 14 rebounds (four offensive), five assists, two steals, five blocks, just two turnovers. In a low, low possession game. Tell your friends.

I’m pretty confident when I call this the best performance of the 2008 Playoffs.” – Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo

“Despite a bad back, David West was destroying everyone Gregg Popovich put in front of him, finishing with 38 points, 14 boards, 5 assists and 5 blocks. In between possessions West was hobbling up and down the court — he basically had the game Kobe was going for when he kept launching shots in L.A.’s most recent loss.” – Dime

“…West barely spoke a word the past two days. He had been dreadful in Game 4, and the less that Scott heard out of him, the more certain he became that this pressure game would bring out the best of him. They’ve been together four years now, and it took Scott until this season to truly understand the gravity, the harshness, that his perfectionist power forward has for himself.

‘When he plays bad, he takes it real personal,’ Scott said. ‘He goes within himself and really starts to think about what he has to do for the next game. I love that about him. It took me a year or so to kind of realize that from a personality standpoint, thinking about what he didn’t do, and what he has to do next. There were times, though, where I wondered to myself: What is he pissed off at now?’” – Adrian Wojnarowski

Uh-oh. Spurs shoulda asked Dallas what happens when David West goes silent for two days straight. And so here we are. With two shining golden chances.

Two chances to close it out.

Two chances to say, “You thought you knew everything about us. But we’re not who you thought we were.”

And, see, if you live in New Orleans, that’s something you understand. And it’s a reason for loving this team even more. You understand being counted out and downplayed, swept out of sight. And you know, somehow you just know, that every step the Hornets take toward the future, every time they claw themselves out of a halftime hole, every time they get up in someone’s face with attitude, every game they win, every time someone sees Chris Paul play for the first time and writes an article saying, “Wow. How did I miss this? This is great“… it means a little more than a number in a win-loss column.

Anyway, win or lose, we’ll get to see the Hornets again. Thanks, guys, for that.