Hornets Hype

It’s almost refreshingly simple. Almost. Two roads diverged in a wood.

Tonight there are only two outcomes, two paths: Win, and go to the Conference Finals. Or lose, and the season ends.

Tonight the New Orleans Hornets have the opportunity to take the next step, a step that wasn’t supposed to come until next year, or the year after. A step that was supposed to come after a gradual building process. Lots of young teams come out of nowhere to have playoff success, but they’re 6 or 8 seeds. Few go from missing the playoffs entirely to finishing the season as the #2 seed in the toughest Western Conference race in years. The Hornets skipped a step in the 3 year plan, as it were.

And tonight? It’s just one more step.

But how ironic that it’s fallen out in this particular fashion. Game 7 against the one team that could possibly deserve the title of “dynasty” over the past decade. Game 7 in a once-empty arena, an arena these Hornets filled. Game 7 to determine, decisively, if you’re really ready.

Because you already know the truth. If the Hornets are ready, there is no way they lose this game at home. They flat-out do not allow that to happen, because champions (or future champions) don’t. If they’re not ready, no one’s going to hold it against them– they’re simply not ready. But if this team is ready, then they know what has to happen here.

I’m jittery, man. I can’t really focus on anything. This week has been an emotional rollercoaster. You’re up, you’re down. You lose, you win. The season is over, it’s just beginning. What do you think about? What do you write about, on this day that might be the end of a season or the beginning of an era?

I find myself thinking about this season, about the moments that shone. Peja from the corner, forcing overtime against Dallas. And– it seems funny now to think of, doesn’t it?– possibly the defining moment of the season against the Spurs, the 102-78 road spanking that made people sit up a little and take notice, that drew 15,600 to the arena on the following Monday in what I consider to be the game that signaled the turning of the tide attendance-wise. The night that made people in New Orleans think, “Maybe I don’t want to be missing this.” Peja again in double OT at Phoenix. The night we booed the Boston Celtics off the court. Chris Paul vs. the Chicago Bulls. Chris Paul vs. the Dallas Mavericks. Chris Paul vs. the World.

The Suns are done, man. The Mavs? Done. The Spurs… they might have a couple more years left in them. But they’ve got to know they’ll fade, and the Hornets have got to know they’ll be clinging hard tonight.

But Chris Paul just turned 23. Tyson Chandler is 25, and David West 27. You better believe the Hornets have been building for this. As Chris Paul said the other night, “This is what we play for.”

Game 7, and here’s what it comes down to: You go down– and there’s no shame in that– to the defending champs.

Or you step into your future.