Hornets Hype

The Hype is taking a much-needed vacation.

A little warm weather relaxation,  a little All Star watching, maybe a little site redesign, but mostly hitting the streets of Uptown with a dash of Bring Your Own Beverage for the first big parade weekend.

But before you head out there, you should totally check out At the Hive’s excellent post on the State of the New Orleans Hornets. I can say this stuff a hundred times, but at the end of the day it’s based on love, not stats, and no offense, love ain’t gonna get you many rebounds and second chance points. But numbers don’t lie, and the post has a numerical breakdown of what’s gone wrong for the Hornets this season so far, and what needs to happen for it to go right in the final 32 games.

So, go forth, friends, and remember to rep the Hornets in your teal & stripes at the parades this weekend! ‘Cause there’s a lot of basketball yet to be played. And no one gets drunk or laid at a pity party.

See you on the flipside of the season.

P.S. I would like to thank the Great NBA Love of My Life Paul Pierce, who singlehandedly dropped Dallas in the 4th quarter last night to put the Mavs below the Hornets in the standings heading into the All Star break. Forgiven!

Last night, before the game, Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler ran laps. Back and forth, seventeen times. If you watched the CST broadcast, you saw it. CP followed it up by nailing 5 out of 5 threes. A tantalizing glimpse at what hope looks like.

The world takes its time from Greenwich. The New Orleans Hornets take their time from Chris Paul. It’s no secret.

And CP would be ready to go, right now, if the Hornets staff said the word. That’s no secret either. Hell, he wanted to go two days after the injury. And if he doesn’t suit up against the Celtics tomorrow night, the game has the potential to go from a marquee matchup to really, really ugly. As in, you thought last night was ugly? Yeah.

Talk about your rough two weeks. I gotta admit, I was pretty down. And then I read this little story by Dan Steinberg, who covers the Washington Wizards:

Before tonight’s Wizards-Pacers game, I went up to Nate and Besse, two of my favorite Wiz fans, and asked why they were here, watching two bad NBA teams, on as beautiful a February evening as D.C. will ever see. They told me they hadn’t missed a game all season, and weren’t about to start now.

Well, after an ill Caron Butler went all MJ in the fourth quarter, scoring 15 straight points in less than four minutes without missing a shot, and after a sleepy and borderline comatose crowd suddenly turned into some whooping remnant of the glory days, and after Caron laid prone on the court with his head in the first row of seats after winning the game, and after his teammates sprinted out to mob him, Nate came running down to the media section.

“Steinberg!” he yelled at me. “That’s why we still come to games.”

Be ashamed, fickle Hornets fans, with your booing and your rustling restlessly and your inane “blow it up because the team is done” trade suggestions. I read that, and realized I was. And, you know, even if CP and Tyson come back tomorrow in time for the Celtics– which, is it really wise to even hope that they will, with the All Star Break coming up?– there’s a huge likelihood the Hornets will still lose. It’s not realistic to pretend otherwise.

But you know what? You should go to the game anyway. And you should have fun at it. If that involves a lot of beer, fine. If it’s a blowout, so be it. But… I’ve seen things happen.

Loyalty isn’t something outdated. It isn’t something that’s for other people. It’s an arena holding its breath. It’s waiting for a familiar face to come running out of the tunnel. It’s swearing you’re going to leave after halftime in a blowout, but then never quite managing to get up out of your seat or switch the channel because you know it’s a lie.

It’s two guys in warmups, running laps on an empty court.

You are right. I am wrong. The Hornets are the Dirtiest! Basketball! Team! Ever! Assembled! There has never in the history of basketball been such a conglomeration of cheap, dirty players on one team. You don’t even have to argue with me. I’m conceding! I even included video proof.

I really don’t even know how I can follow this team and still respect myself in the morning. A Flagrant 2 doesn’t even reflect how dirty the Hornets are, from that little punk Chris Paul to that big punk David West and right on down. They should invent the Flagrant 7 JUST FOR THIS TEAM. Yup. You all are totally right, O Anonymous Internet Commenters. You have converted me. You are wise.

Now will you shut up?

Haters.

“We have enough in this locker room to get the job done; we just have to find a way to get it done. A lot of us in this locker room, from myself, to Rasual, to Mo Pete, to Ryan Bowen, to Devin Brown, we’ve always heard, ‘You can’t.’ We’re hearing the same thing now, that we can’t get the job done and we don’t have enough. I know for myself and other guys, that just serves as motivation for all of us.”

- Antonio Daniels

The Hornets didn’t have Chris Paul. They didn’t have Tyson Chandler, their starting center and only seven footer, or Morris Peterson, a solid backup who was a starter last season. And, because he was ejected in the 2nd quarter with a Flagrant 2, they didn’t have David West.

Peja didn’t shoot particularly well. Neither did Posey.

So they lost tonight, right?

Nope, and this win was 100% due to a guy who was a constant DNP-CD at the end of last season, and two other guys I have been mercilessly ragging on all year.

You say, “Oh, it was just the T Wolves.” Bullshit. The Wolves should have killed us on size alone with the lineup we rolled out tonight. “Haha, what Hornets bench? It’s an insult to call those guys a bench.” You’re goddamn straight it is. ‘Cause they’re a bunch of warriors. It’s like, don’t even demean them by calling them a bench.

But don’t listen to me. Ask Sean Marks (18-5), Devin Brown (14 pts), and ‘Sual Butler (23-8).

There are wins that have an emotional resonance, like when the Hornets came back to beat the Spurs on the home floor, like they failed to do in Game 7 last May. There are wins that put you on top of the world and make you jump around your living room, like in LA last month. There are wins that stave off the doubts, like the one Friday against the Raptors, and the ones the week both West and Chandler were out. And then there is the rare win that makes you realize it doesn’t matter if your team is built to win a championship or not… the only thing that matters at the end of the night is that you’re thankful these guys are the ones who wear your address on the front of their shirts.

That was this win.

David M.F. West on Jim Rome last week. He talks about being selected to the All Star game, and his general low-key-ness.

Whose face is on the ticket.

Those of you who visited our site last year may remember that we inexplicably decided to keep track of which person’s head was on the season ticket to evaluate how the cosmic strings came together and caused a win or loss.  Well, ladies and gentlemen, get excited.  HornetsHype, via this half-statistical analysis half-divination, has determined that the Hornets will win tonight!  Not only was David West’s head 5-0 in the regular season last year, and 2-0 in the playoffs, but it is 4-0 this year.  It’s like money in the bank.  What about our injuries you say?  Pshaw.

Haven’t you heard, Calderon’s having trouble with his hamstring and Bosh with his knee?  It’s destiny.  Somewhere, somehow, the cosmic scales had to be balanced.   Some players heads on a ticket might not mean much, but David’s?  It’s like having Kobe, Wade, and Howard traded to your team for a day.  Karmically, that is.

So, while the Raptors are TT6’s and I’s adopted Eastern Conference team, and we feel for our Northern compatriots (were they invited to the ledge?), we gotta root against them.  Only we don’t really have to.

The outcome is already written.

Last night James Posey was the guest on Hornets Sportsline.  Frequent commenter Matt and I were on hand to check it out, he with a very large camera, I with nothing but my unquenchable love for Mr. Posey. Pose himself came rocking Xavier gear (and snuck glances at the game over everyone’s head).

Amazingly, I managed to refrain from telling him about our occasional blog features in which… well, you know the ones. See, I have some self-restraint.

All photos courtesy of the awesome Storm Surge Photography.

P.S. mW said I had to include the second to last one for all the dudes out there. But the bottom one is clearly the coup de grace. CLEARLY.

By Dariusz.

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Come back, CP. Come back!

In these dark times, what’s better than the Hornets singing Good Times?

I think you’ll all agree, with the exception of if Chris Paul was playing tonight, nothing.

Oh, and in other pregame linkage, Ticktock6 does some Hornets Q&A on Talk Hoops.

Good luck tonight AD! … We out.

Just hype it.  To hype with all the negativity.  People are hypin’ pissing me off.  What the hype is wrong with us?  I thought we were basketball fans.  Nope.  It’s the end of the world.  End days are here.

Trade David West.  Our bench sucks.  Tyson can’t play any more.  Hilton and Julian are busts.  Stop shooting, Devin!  A Kiwi?  Posey is overrated.  Peja costs too much.  CP made a mistake once!  Who’s Ryan Bowen?  Mo and Rasual aren’t starter material.  Yeah, Ely got a ring by wearing a suit to the Finals.  Antonio Daniels, right.  Does this team have a player under 30 other than Paul?  They just can’t draft.  This team has no heart, no hustle, and no offensive flow.  Oh, yeah, and Byron Scott is a horrible coach.  That about cover it?

Okay.  Now take a deep breath.  And calm the hype down.  Historically, New Orleans is a football town, I get it.  In the NFL, every single game matters. The NBA is not the same.  Yes, yes, every year some team makes or misses the April-May dance by a game, or loses a coveted seed by a game.  Whatever.  The best NBA teams, from the GMs, to the coaches, to the players, know it is not a sprint, but a marathon.  The key is putting your team in the right position to be in the right place come the end of the year.  Position.  Not game.  It’s about many games, not any one.  Certainly, guys can’t take games off, and no one wants to lose a game, but it happens.  Shooters go cold, fouls don’t get called (or do the other way), and there’s nothing you can do about it.  It’s chaos.  It’s a microcosm.  Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that professional athletes are somehow active agents of change who have complete control over their destinies.

As many have pointed out, no one has control over their destiny.  That’s why it’s destiny.  You know they feel just as helpless at times, just as unable to change what is happening around them.  They’re just normal folks.  Besides, who’s reading this blog at home, or better yet, work, and can honestly say they’ve never milled through the day or half-assed their way from nine to five?  Go ahead, cast the first stone.  Yes, yes, these guys get paid millions.  Yeah, well, they won the genetic lottery, sour grapes, much?  Here’s my point, they are people.  Imperfect people.  Real people.  So maybe their kid is sick, maybe they’re having relationship troubles, maybe it’s just the flu.  Sometimes it’s just not your day. It’s sure as hype not the end of the world.

But what about the fans?  The majestic blogosphere.  What’s our excuse?  Isn’t this supposed to be fun?  Didn’t we love this game once?  (It’s faaAAAAaannntastic!)  Yet, all I read all over Hornets blogs (I gave up on the boards a long time ago) is the same anti-hype I spouted above.  Listen.  I’m telling you.  It’ll be better tomorrow.  Just wait.  It’s stupid to overreact to any one game, good or bad.  If there is something we can definitely learn from Spurs and Lakers fans–who incidentally, we have seen cumulatively go to the Finals 8 of the last 9 years (and won 7 of those 8)–it is to wait for the real season to begin.  The Playoffs.  Because once you’re there, anything can happen.

Yes, positioning and all that is important.  But the Knicks made the Finals as an 8 seed once, and they’re certainly not the only non-1-through-4 seed to make it.  So let’s be patient.  Let’s allow this team to gel from its multiple injuries and absences and jostling rotations and see what happens.  I, for one, am pretty hyping sure we’ll be pleased with the result.

So from the sounds behind this composition, I leave you with the words, by Chris Cornell, from Soundgarden’s “Blow Up The Outside World”:

Nothing seems to kill me no matter how hard I try
Nothing is closing my eyes
Nothing can beat me down for your pain or delight
And nothing seems to break me
No matter how hard I fall nothing can break me at all
Not one for giving up though not invincible I know

Believe.