Turns out there’s some fight in our Hornets after all. The day after being embarrassed on national television in what will henceforth be known as the Christmas Day Massacre, the guys pulled out a gritty, scrappy 88-79 win against division rival Houston. They played without Peja. They took the floor against Yao Ming with Tyson Chandler’s main backup on the bench in a suit. They battled foul trouble. They battled poor three point shooting. They battled a team they couldn’t put away until the end of the fourth quarter. They battled the ghosts of the past two dismal games.
It was one of those heart wins. And for a moment, I saw that–something– I used to see. I saw it on my laptop, through the Rockets TV feed. I saw it in Tyson Chandler’s twelve rebounds. I saw it in Rasual Butler’s hustle.
So Niall, over at Hornets 247, posed the question earlier today of how you adjust your expectations when you don’t feel like you have a chance to win it all anymore. You’re not as good as the team you need to get through to make it to the Finals. You’re not rebuilding. What do you hope for?
I can’t answer that question, partly because I don’t want to admit we’ve gone that far. And partly because it’s a hard question. What are you gonna do? Tell the team you’ll fix them? You can’t. Put your blinders on and ignorantly talk trash about how you’re gonna dominate? You won’t. Stop blogging? Not about to happen.
So the Hornets are not a team of destiny. What else am I gonna say? I’ll be there, come hell or high water?
Well, that already happened. And I don’t believe in destiny.
So I guess I’ll just be there.
Oh, and guys? …Thanks.
Proud in Teal
It was a great game. Im not going to be able to speak in the morning. Im hoarse now.
Glad New Orleans brought the sellout!
To add to my comments above about not giving up hope, I would like to say that I just watched Golden State’s scrubs hand the Celtics their second loss in a row. Anything’s possible. Stay tuned.
I knew it. First game I’ve missed in a very long time, but I was watching the score. A little nervous, but they pulled it out. I’m proud of our guys. Plus Dallas lost. Good division swing tonight.
Tyson was strong. I especially liked his reaction to the WEDICKYOULESS fouls called on him (#3 – hit Yao’s arm with his face & #4 – forced Yao to step on him after he was elbowed to the ground) where he went down to the offensive end and scored buckets and rebounds. Minimal response to the Donaghys. Mentally and physically strong. We need him strong.
Also, we may have to re-think our entire Blog. Straight from The Blog of New Orleans, comes word of the unconsidered consequences of our mission: ”[After the Orlando loss] the Hornets needed to remind themselves how much effort it takes to be counted among the league’s best. ‘I think one of the problems with our team this year is we started listening to the hype,’ coach Byron Scott said.”
Sorry guys.
Damn it, Hornets Hype, IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!
j/k
The thing about the Hornets making the leap from what they currently are to being an elite team, is that you probably have to take a couple of steps backwards first. And as long as there’s a small window of opportunity there — I agree that we can win it all if all the chips fall perfectly for us — and the fans are filling up the Arena and putting money in Shinn’s pocket, then there’s really not much incentive for him to go messing with what we’ve currently got.
@ Niall– Shinn has to keep CP happy though. Shinn has been the owner of a struggling franchise for long enough to know you can’t let gold fall in your lap and then let it walk off. Or at least I hope. We should expect Cleveland-like tweaking until we finally get him that right mix.
I guess what I realized tonight is I will be more OK with not contending this season if the team plays gutsy and we still lose. But that’s not how we’ve been losing.
well two division wins in the past week and a half not bad
Agreed. Like I told a friend up here in NY yesterday, losses to the Lakers and Magic sting, but beating the Rockets was by far the most important of those three. Sure, all the talk of “elite” status is nice, but at the end of the day, if we take care of our division, we’re not only guaranted a playoff spot, but a top 4 seed.
Plus, we’ll get another little banner thing to hang in the rafters.
big win. but we have a long way to see what kind of team we will be. the way we played was way overdue. the sample size is too small to say they are getting back to the old hornets.
1. we need to get healthy.
2. we need to play hard everygame. our d has been great, the offense has struggled.
3. after #1 gets solved, we need to relegate devin brown to slacks, dress shirt, and a tie.
4. hope juju emerge at the right time like last year, to be another weapon.
my thinking have been the same way in regards to from now and over the next couple of seasons, any moves or roster additions made need to be around utilizing cp3 to his fullest potential. which means how cleveland had to do with lebron. the cavs made it to the finals, but realized as the team was constructed, they were not built over the years to get that ultimate prize.
True that, Devin Brown should either be in his civies or not shoot the ball beyond the arc. The man misses laysups for christ sake. Peja’s back is F*&%ing up which is a bad sighn i rather it be anything but his back. I think JuJu, if where not utilizing him, should be in Europe playing or some d-leage much like the Spurs do with their players. I had a nightmare that we picked up Stephan Murbary the other night and it was bad. What happened to the Ally-oop that we used so much last year we havent been using that as much i dunno why.
That question TT6 mentioned bewilders me as well. I don’t know what to do. Are we supposed to start looking for a trade now? Maybe even a major one? Do we grind out the season without any moves and see where that leaves us? Do we develop a new system?
I hope the answer to all of those is no. I still believe we have the potential to become an elite team.
It will just take some time and more maturity.
I think Stefan C is right. And the items two_tone mentions will probably what get us there.
For me, it boils down to coach Scott. Like other jump shooting teams, when we’re on fire, it’s not too hard to win. And while we do rally against adversity, considering our losses, we’ve been inconsistent at best. Our team doesn’t have the pieces to build San Antonio versatility (again, my opinion), so we’re sitting ducks when the J’s don’t fall. It’s true that when your shot doesn’t fall it’s best to go down low, but other than DX isolation, I haven’t seen any plays done to facilitate a post game.
At this point, I don’t think trades are going to be that beneficial (despite holes in our 4-5 spot), but it’s going to take some Popovich-esque coaching to at least compete with the top teams in the league.
i guess we don’t need mopete anymore. it seems that way. great win from the hornets vs. the pacers. devin only played 8mins, but 8 more than mopete.