Hornets Hype

This was originally a comment I was making down below, but I realized it was getting so long I might as well post it. The perks to owning the blog. People keep mentioning how this could be the Hornets next year, playing in June. It’s true, the more LA collapses the more I wish the Hornets had just brought it a little harder in Game 7.

But honestly? Damn, I hate honesty when it has to do with my team, but… We would have been in the same situation the Lakers are in. The Celtics just plug away with this ruthless look in their eyes. No, ruthless isn’t quite the right word… well, except if you’re Kevin Garnett. Cold, efficient, then? Maybe if you’re Ray Allen, but that doesn’t fit for Paul Pierce, who plays the opposite of cold. They know, man. 10-12 years in the league and you know. I’m talking, I guess, about the “Big Three,” though it applies to certain members of the bench as well. They’re not letting this one go.

I thought the Hornets wouldn’t let Game 7 go. But “I thought” is not “I know.” And I pretty much know that the Celtics won’t lose this series.

I think Byron Scott was wise when he recognized that– you have to experience what it feels like to lose so you know in the future. The Hornets’ fire– and yes, even the competitiveness of Chris Paul– wouldn’t have gotten it done. Man, it sucks to admit that all those “experience blah blah” people were right. But it seems kind of obvious now. I love the Hornets, and I find them more exciting to watch than either the Celtics or the Lakers (even I have to admit that Kobe does impossible things, but his teammates aren’t inspiring “wow” moments in me the way CP3′s lovable supporting cast does).

But they don’t have… that. Not yet. What is “that”? I don’t know exactly. But you watch Allen and Pierce and you know what I’m talking about.

The Hornets may have showed us they have Passion, Purpose, and Pride, but they don’t have that. (Side note: Am I the only one who sits around trying to figure out which Hornet corresponds to which part of that slogan? I think I have finally settled on Tyson Chandler being the Passion part, Chris Paul being the Purpose, and David West being the Pride. I realize I’ve left Peja out, but Peja’s none of those things– he’s the artillery.) They are all full of the energy and the fire and the wackiness and the pure talent that makes watching sports great. But they’re not quite the masters of the killer instinct yet. And that’s OK.

In contrast, by all accounts, this Celtics team was fully cognizant of the fact that, with the personnel it had, this year was the time. Their stated goal from the preseason was to win a championship. While you can make the argument that that’s every team’s goal, it’s not… not really. The Hornets were aiming at making the playoffs and maybe putting together a little bit of a run. It was a realistic goal, considering the past few seasons. And they accomplished it. And, to a large extent, this year’s version of the Lakers is in a similar situation right now.

You have to think teams like the Hornets and the Lakers will come more focused next season, right from the beginning. I just think back to the games the Hornets dropped against crappy teams early in the year. I think back to the games where the home advantage wasn’t there for them. I think back, amusingly, to when mW was explaining to me that in a tough division like the Southwest, the Hornets should be looking to lock up no less than third in order to get a good playoff seeding (who knew then that they would spend much of the spring looking down at the rest of the Western Conference?). And I think next year they win those games. Why? Because they know who they want to be.

“You don’t go from not making the playoffs to winning a championship,” Byron Scott told the Hornets after Game 7. “It just doesn’t work that way.” Hello, irony. The Hornets aren’t the Celtics, though. (“What up, nice to meet you, we were brought here to win a championship? We all on the same page? Good. Let’s go.”) They’re a lot younger. And they don’t have “that,” because if they did, they wouldn’t have lost Game 7. Shit, I thought the Celtics were going to be the victims of an upset a billion times this spring… but they weren’t. They somehow woke up at the exact moment they had to; they smelled blood and went for it with an uncanny instinct.

And, here’s the funny and slightly ironic thing, when — I suppose “if” is the better word, but it’ll probably be “when”– the Hornets come back more focused and mature, more businesslike, more stone cold killer-esque, I’m not sure there isn’t a part of me who’ll miss the “Whatever! We love each other! Us against the world! Let’s plaaaaay!” feel of this year’s Hornets.

I don’t know what that means.

(Oh, see? Complete with a pic of David West and everything.)