This is my post for Chris Paul Blog Day (just in case my co-blogger mW decides to put up his own later). To read the roundup of the rest, roll on over to At the Hive.

First off, I’d like to send out a big “Happy Birthday!” to Chris Paul, who turns 23 today. When I turned 23, I was spending the summer sailing, getting a tan, and being generally useless, having just quit law school. Chris Paul? Is spending his 23^rd birthday in a second round series against the defending NBA champions.

In fact, the Hornets’ second consecutive 18+ point victory over the Spurs wrapped up about half an hour before the clock struck midnight, ringing in said birthday. Chris Paul racked up 30 points and 12 assists. The Hornets went up 2-0 in the series. The Spurs will be hearing “Woooo!” in their sleep tonight and, possibly, all the long, humid months of the Texas summer.

Some people thought this column yesterday was premature. I wonder what they think today.

Maybe the Spurs will be energized at home. Maybe they’ll figure out the Hornets’ defense. Maybe they’ll find solutions for CP3′s freewheeling, D West’s consistent excellence from anywhere on the floor, Peja’s threes, and Tyson’s domination of the boards. Maybe.

I don’t know.

But it’s looking more and more like, Where “This Is Our Time” Happens.

There was a point during this season, I don’t remember when. We were watching the Hornets on CST, and we’d gone into the kitchen to get a few Abitas. I can’t recall which routine display of Chris Paul amazingness it was. But I remember that I turned to mW and asked, “So I haven’t been watching basketball very long, but… 10 years from now, when they’re talking about this season, are we going to be saying, ‘We saw that. We were there’? We are, aren’t we?”

“Short answer: yes,” he said.

It’s the funny thing about these superlative New Orleans nights. You know we’re so spoiled by Chris Paul that we’ll say, “Oh, CP had a crap night– 16 points and 11 assists.” And the irony is usually lost on us that most teams’ point guards would kill for Chris Paul’s crappy night. And it’s hard to realize, on a game by game basis, when you’re used to seeing it, that what you’re watching is the future unfolding. Sometimes you’ll get a glimpse, you’ll get those shivers. But it’s easy to forget that, this year at least, the revolution was not televised. It’s easy to forget that what we’ve felt in flashes, in glimpses? Most of America is just getting it for the first time.

But I’m going to tell you something else about CP3 that Hornets fans know.

Last spring Chris Paul, who is friends with LeBron James, sat courtside during the Cavs’ playoff run. And as he watched, he realized that anything less than this was not going to be good enough for him. And he’s brought that, from Day 1 of this season.

Have you watched Chris Paul? Have you watched his face?

You should. Because those are not the eyes of someone who’s content with taking things as a learning experience. Those are not the eyes of someone who’s thinking, “As long as we get into the playoffs and make a good showing in the first round, it’s a huge step of progress over last season.”

They’re the eyes of someone who’s been waiting for this his whole life.

If you believe one thing about Chris Paul, believe that.

Because someone mentioned it last week… the New Orleans Globetrotters! I was at this game. There was a long timeout due to the net being ripped during a stunt, but instead of everyone having a fit over it a la The Ring of Fire, the players started clowning around. I wish they’d gotten JuJu going crazy to “Jump On It” and Josh Childress trying to lick Tyson Chandler, but alas, those gems seem to have gone untelevised.

……… WOOO!

If you were at the game Saturday night and missed the TNT broadcast, here are the WIRED segments for that night’s games:

http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.p…ank&nbasite=nba

Of special note? Byron Scott’s pre-game words to the team. He’s got his Lakers rings laid out on the table in the locker room, in their little velvet boxes. “It’s pretty simple,” he says. “This is what they got. This is what we want. We have a chance to do something real special this season. We do. This is another team that’s, basically, in our way.”

Let’s take them out of the way.

This one goes out to you & the rest of the TNT broadcasting crew. In case you need some NEW COLORS…

And Game One’s in the books, ladies and gentlemen.

Down 4 at halftime, the Hornets came out and owned the second half. David West dropped 30, and as David West goes, so go the Hornets. And so they went, totally shutting down Tim Duncan and forcing him into the worst game of his playoff career. Tyson Chandler destroyed on the boards. Peja was Peja (plus 18,000 or so smiley extra Pejas who also happened to be in the building). And on the night he lost the MVP award to Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul was rewarded with a thundering M-V-P chant in the fourth quarter. Because tonight 18,000 people knew better.

You know, there are a lot of people saying, “Who are the Hornets? Who the hell is David West anyway? Nobody.” No playoff experience, no mental toughness, no bench. No this and no that. No fans to care.

And then there are the people saying, “Chris Paul is great, but next year. This team should show some respect to ______. This team isn’t for real yet.”

Why should we expect this team to beat the seasoned playoff warriors of the decade? Why should we think this team deserved to be at the top of the West? Why the Hornets?

OK, you know what?

Answer me this question, tonight: Why not the Hornets? And why not now?

Only Hollingers’s stat machine thinks the Hornets will win. Just the way we like it…

Also, why is it pitch black in NOLA at 8:30 AM? Is the world about to end? Is it a sign? More importantly, are the Spurs waking up at their hotel and wondering if this is the apocalypse? (Silly Spurs… they don’t know that the apocalypse has already happened. New Orleanians know. We were there.)

… Speaking of Peja on a Stick, and when are we not this week? I JUST saw the new flash intro on the Hornets website for the Spurs series, and I almost spit water all over my laptop. I missed it the first time. Just wait for it to load, and don’t do what I did at first and click right through to the regular site.

Just. Wait.

Ball Don’t Lie wanted some of that Peja on a Stick today. (What should I say? We got BDLed? Doesn’t quite lend itself to verbmaking the way “We got TrueHooped” does.) Coincidentally, they’ve also picked Hornets in 7. And SI’s got Hornets in 6. See, now, the reason I was so PO-ed about everyone picking the Mavs and giving the Hornets no love was because, hello, the #7 over the #2 seed? Like the Hornets tripped one morning and fell into the #2 seed in the West by accident. But the Hornets only have home court against the Spurs by virtue of a tiebreaker, and the Spurs are the defending champions (even though they only win in odd years). Just when I wasn’t gonna be particularly militant about the national media picking the Hornets to lose this one… go figure, they start getting all trendy and picking them to win.

And finally, via the T.P. and falling under the broad heading of “Only In New Orleans”…

Who’s got their ride decorated for the playoffs?? I’ve been seeing more and more Hornets gear around town. The “GEAUX HORNETS” decals have been given away free at every official Hornets playoff event I’ve been to in the last three weeks. If you still haven’t gotten your hands on one, I’d investigate the Buzzfest on Saturday night. I saw some there on Tuesday. I also picked up about four at the Watch Party (what? those people won’t take no for an answer when they’re tossing free swag).

If you’ve got a Hornets ride, send me a picture at ticktock6@gmail.com, and I’ll put it in my album and on the site! (But I doubt you can beat mine. I mean, my car is friggin’ teal.)

Just a roundup of the good hype I’ve read over the past couple days:

Holy Positive Attendance Article! In USA Today. Finally. I’ve been waiting for a bunch of these to roll in. Of course, the positive ones have been slower in coming than the negative ones that were all over the place during the winter.

CP3 = King of PER: Chris Paul leads, oh, everyone in the playoffs in PER at 32.36. Kobe and Dwight come in a distant second and third at 28.31 and 28.26 respectively.

Who Made You? with Tyson Chandler: Video here. LOL at lil Tyson looking exactly like now Tyson, minus facial hair.

Mo Pete/Bart Fun: In case anyone missed it (and you shouldn’t have, since it’s been various places including Sportscenter), here’s the video of the Hornets doing trick shots in practice the day after clinching the Dallas series. Along with bonus extras from Alejandro de los Rios. And– if you’re a fan of sketchy low-budget local ads– the original Mo Pete trick shot in the Morris Bart commercial!

Why Am I Not Surprised? … that after they spent 40 minutes doing trickshots, the Hornets broke out in a spontaneous dodgeball game.

I Told You TrueHoop Dispensed Hornets Love: And here’s more, in the form of a fun Mike James interview.

And One Bee-llion (Ha. See what I did there) More Links: … located at Hornets247.

And here’s a bonus: If you’re in the CBD and you’ve got a lunch break, there’s going to be a Hornets second line going through the Quarter, starting at Café Du Monde at 11:30 and concluding at Harrah’s. There will be Soul Rebels, Hugo, Honeybees, and our favorite SerbSicles. They’ll be tossing out giveaways (T shirts, car stickers, and such) too.

Enjoy your Fan Up Friday!