Hornets Hype

Even MVPs have off days.  Not every basket falls.  Some days you’re just a step slow.  Sometimes the other guys is just better than you that day.  We still love you.  We still believe. 

See you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

mW

Here is a 100% true story from last night’s game.

Last night James Posey already had ten points in the second quarter, before injuring what was apparently his calf muscle. He was clearly limping on court. He was camping in the corner, and Chris Paul had the ball at the top of the circle. mW is like, “Chris! Call time out!” But here’s Posey and he can barely walk, and he’s waving at Chris like, “Yo! I’m open for three!” Because that is just the guy that he is. Tough as… you know, they always say tough as nails, but nails are actually rather easily bendable, aren’t they? Whereas Posey is not. Anyhow, he hangs on through the next possession and a half, and then heads for the locker room.

Now, I had been planning on purchasing his jersey in the team store at halftime, for a couple of reasons. First of all, he’s the only bench guy who has his jersey in the store, and I like to support the guy whose jersey everyone else isn’t wearing. I bought a Chandler one on the internet last year and was one of the only people who had one for awhile, because for some inexplicable reason the store wasn’t stocking them. Second, I think Posey is amazing and I want to be him when I grow up (which, you know, means I don’t have much time to get that amazing, since he is only 4 years older than me). So now I’m like, man, I don’t know. What if his ankle’s injured and he’s going to be out a while? Is it bad luck to buy the injured dude’s jersey? But I buy it anyway, a white pinstriped one.

I get back to my seat, and not a minute later, who comes loping out of the tunnel but Posey. And then a few minutes later, here he is checking into the game. I look at the scoreboard and wonder whether Chris Paul’s 24-8 so far is going to be in danger if I take off his jersey and put on Posey’s. I decide, clearly not. So I put on the new jersey. Posey goes on to score 19 points, and not just threes. I mean he was banging around in the post throwing up all kinds of crazy shots. Indestructible.

Fast forward to the end of the game. They have just finished the T-shirt gun thing. I have just finished ignoring it as usual. The players have come back on the court. mW is on his iPhone checking stats, and I am watching the screen as they announce Pose as the sub of the game.

At that moment something bangs into the glass between our heads. “Holy shit!” I yelled. It was a late shot (and I mean a way late shot– like the kind of thing where some guy brings his arm down and bludgeons some other guy under the basket 5 seconds after the play, and the ref blows the whistle and is like, “WHOA! LATE HIT! Foul!” Except in real life, not in the course of a basketball game, so really you could say it was a party foul) with the t-shirt gun, and it almost killed us. I am not making this up. We put Hugo on the Shit List for this. What the hell. That is seriously dangerous. No one was standing up, waving their arms. No one was looking that direction. The players were back on the friggin court! The deadly projectile ricocheted into the row in front of us. “Hey!” I yelled down to the guy who caught it. “That almost killed me!” And he tossed it up.

And so, James Posey = indestructible. Ticktock6 = narrowly escaped death while wearing the Posey jersey. Now, I don’t know if this all means anything. Take it as you may. But I am JUST SAYING.

P.S. I would be remiss in my job as Hornets blogger if I did not mention the most awesome thing in the history of Christmas, namely that they played a clip on the jumbotron of Mo Pete, Tyson Chandler, and Ryan Bowen singing Jingle Bells. Tyson didn’t do much besides announce the clip and then dance around in back of the other two who were doing all the work. Surprisingly (or not? he’s rather versatile) Ryan Bowen could actually sing. But Mo Pete was doing a nasty nasty beatbox, which totally stole the show. No, seriously, it was awesome. It was by far the best thing that has been on the jumbotron possibly ever. HORNETS ORGANIZATION– IF YOU ARE READING THIS, THAT WAS YOUTUBE GOLD. IT NEEDS TO BE ON THE INTERNET. IT BEGS TO BE ON THE INTERNET. Please either post it or send it to me!!

The James Posey replica jersey: If life was a video game it woud be +100 against CERTAIN DEATH

We’ve called for Mo repeatedly.  No offense to Devin Brown or Rasual Butler, but Mo is the best two guard the Hornets have.  (Rasual is second.  Sorry, Devin.  I love you, but sit down.)  We have bitched in every forum we could find.  And tonight?  Redemption.  Byron Scott is renowned for making sure his guys are conditioned properly, so I wasn’t overly optimistic about Mo getting a lot of time after his recent bout with the flu.  But tonight presented a pleasant surprise, courtesy of the aforementioned Byron Scott and his acknowledgment and/or acquiescence to the phenomenon that is Mo Pete.

Mo slipped into the line-up some time in the second quarter, and TT6 and I were on our feet, yelling and clapping as loud as we could.  We love Mo.  He had a quiet few minutes.  Until the Kings slowly stole the lead from us.  The bastards.  And then CP drove to the rim as the clock expired in the first half and dished to the wing.  To Mo.  In the corner.  For three.  Money.  Tie game going into the half.

Huge emotional lift.  And listen, I’ve been a huge critic of Byron for being stubborn, and not recognizing the hot/cold hand, but he proved me wrong tonight.  With Devin and Rasual going 1-13 from the field and 0-8 from deep (Rasual hit one lay-up cutter to start the game.  It was quite nice, but all downhill from there), Byron played Mo most of the second half.  The man responded.  In spades.  He ended up with 4-8 shooting on the night, and was 2-4 from beyond the arc; adding also 2 rebounds–which I feel compelled to say were timely rebounds, when we really needed them, he just happened to be in the right place.

When playing with the second unit, Mo kept us afloat.  When playing with the starters, he fit right in.  Moreover, what those stats don’t show are all the hustle plays he made on both ends of the floor, getting into the right spaces on offense, and sliding into the right places on defense, including key stops on Salmons.  I think Salmons had about 18 at the half, but only finished with 26.  Nice job Mo.

The moral of the story?  Mo is back.  And he’s money.  Hopefully Byron took notice.  Because we sure did.  If the Hornets struggled without Peja, they surely missed Mo too.  Having him back helped seal this win against a pugnacious team that was unwilling to go away, but ultimately was shown the door.  I can only feel that this win, and Mo’s role in it, signal the best is yet to come.

Fourth quarter. The Hornets are in the hole big time. The crowd doesn’t know what to do. The usual shots just aren’t going in. We’ve been here before. May 19th. The Spurs went on to take a heartbreaking Game 7 on the Hornets’ floor, 91-82.

Tonight, on Chris Paul’s historic record-setting ball-thieving night, the Hornets also found themselves down in the fourth quarter. The crowd was subdued, after coming out screaming and booing and standing in what absolutely looked and felt like a playoff game. With 8 minutes to go, the Hornets were behind 74-67. I sat in the arena watching the shots not falling, thinking, “Not again.”

Not tonight. I wrote on May 19th that Game 7 would be one that defined the team.

And maybe it did. This time New Orleans won 90-83.

• Wow.
• CP’s huge jump ball against Manu Ginobili. Insane. He’s at least 6 inches shorter, maybe 7. It was like he just went, “I will not be stopped.” (mW while watching the replay: “Oh my god, I think he actually flopped on the jump ball. No, seriously, I think he’s in the act of flopping WHILE IN THE AIR.”)
• D-West for three? Wait, really? OK… D-West for three AGAIN??
• I straight up want to have sex with James Posey. But that’s OK, because so does everyone else who was in New Orleans Arena. Yep, even the dudes. The man seals the deal like none other.
• Our side of the arena saw CP’s steal right away and everyone leaped out of their seats and started yelling. “THAT WAS IT! Was that it? That was it!” It rolled into a standing O that lasted several minutes, drowned out the PA guy, and ended with Chris Paul going to center court alone and waving to the crowd.
• I forgot about mW’s rampant hatred for Kurt Thomas.
• Tyson! Making both free throws down the stretch to give the Hornets the lead! Tyson, I love you! I wear your jersey!
• I want a stat for how many consecutive games CP has done that thing where he runs in a circle around the opposing team’s entire defense and then either passes or scores. That alley oop with Chandler where no one should conceivably have been looking that direction was… whoa.
• Oh, yeah, and this all happens with Peja and Mo Pete not dressed, and in fact not even there. The Hornets rolled with the same nine guys all night (they didn’t have to– hello, Byron– but whatev).
• “Why are they booing Tony Parker?” – random commenter on Spurs blog. Psshhh. Why AREN’T we booing the Spurs? That is the question.
• Rasual Butler’s ridiculously ridiculous stretch of what had to be the best 10 seconds of his career. He races down the court to get the hard foul on a Spurs breakaway, somehow comes up with a block instead, steals the ball back, dives to save it from going out of bounds, and then scores on a jumper.
• LOL at CP being interviewed after the game calling his steal record “a weird stat.” Also, sure enough, as he’s said before, he also mentioned the fact that D West shoots threes all the time and is perfectly capable of it, he just doesn’t take the shot in games. We’re all glad he took it tonight.
• Quote of the Night: “Ginobili is 6′6. He used to be 6′7. But his hair flopped.” – mW
• At the free throw line with 17 seconds left, Chris Paul received the first MVP chant of the season. This time he hit both of the free throws too.
• Best game I’ve seen this season, hands down.
• I wore my tall socks to this game, and I am not sure I should launder them ever. I wouldn’t want to wash the Win off them.
• Wow.

I told you I was going to wear tall socks. They are an homage to Posey. They are the wrong color for tonight's game, but the gods of the three care not.

If you want to see a trash-talking clip about the Spurs, check out this clip from the always hilarious Steve Nash, ironically, courtesy of Project Spurs.

Pacing the sideline in an eerily quiet TD Banknorth Garden, with his team gutting out a small lead, Byron somehow found a way to ignore every instinct a coach should have and went with absolutely mystifying decision after mystifying decision.  In one of ESPN’s “Wired” segments, he told his guys that they couldn’t guard in transition.  Hubie Brown followed it up by saying they should kick out to guys on the three point line, because that’s the Beaners one weakness.  Funny, that’s something we do all the time.  Except for last night.  You’re going to start seeing a trend here.

That quiet crowd wasn’t going to stay down all night, and neither were the Celtics.  As is now no secret, the Celtics went on to beat the Hornets.  Some saw in this loss hope.  Hope that the Hornets could take the World Champs for half a game, thereafter take their best effort, and still only be seven down late, on the road, with the unerring belief that a comeback was just a few shots and stops away.  That may be true.  But that’s not really what I took away from this one.  I saw it as a tough, grind-it-out game that we could have won.  Just as we looked bad because they had a great defensive effort, they looked like, well, a typical Eastern Conference team for quite awhile because of our stout D.  That said, I think what turned the tables was our coach lost in the effluvium of his own success and making insane mistakes.  It wasn’t a matter of Doc outcoaching Byron.  Nope, our COY Itossed this one away with his stubborn rigidity to whatever his master plan is.

The mistakes started before the game.  No Tyson, due to injury.  So you’re down a big.  Logically, you activate your extra forward, Bowen, right?  Nope.  Instead he dresses new acquisition Antonio Daniels.  I mean, I’m excited to see him play in due time, but when you’re 99.9999999% sure has no chance of hitting the floor, what’s the point of dressing him.  Maybe Bowen rides the pine anyway, but maybe he doesn’t.  Last time we saw him (the only time we saw him), he looked sharp.  So I don’t get that one.

Also, the starting line-up.  I love that Byron trusts Butler, I love him too.  But Mo is your starter.  He obviously had it all going the other night, cranking out 16 while Butler was finding rim, so why not put him back into the starting lineup?  Even if you don’t, why the hell is Mo riding the pine?  He should be your first guy off the bench.  But instead we see Devin Brown.  Yes, yes, I love that he drives to the hole, but he’s usually out of control, doesn’t always know when he should dish it off, and is a step slow on defense, getting burned by quicker guards consistently.  Plus, Mo/Rasual have several inches on him, which, in itself, is a huge advantage.  Oh, and a better shooting percentage.

Back to the bigs.  Hilton was your starter by circumstance.  He stepped up to the challenge; getting several boards, hustling, and with one completely dumb-founding move in the paint.  Yet you only play him 25 minutes?  Oh, but his stats weren’t great, some will say.  Listen, I know you can’t quantify gut reactions, but sometimes you just have to know a guy is feeling it and go with him.  Sorry if that doesn’t input on some coaches’ chart somewhere, but you do.  For example, one sequence, Hilton gets a rebound and misses two contested tip-ins, but finally grabs the board and kicks it back out.  New set.  That looks like 0-2 with a couple of boards, but he outhustled someone.  Twice.  Maybe three times.  That should count for something.  Plus, everyone agrees he has the talent, but not the confidence.  Maybe rewarding good play would help with that.  Think on it, Byron.

First in for Hilton, was Ely.  Ely was just as effective.  Perkins might be having a nice year, but he wasn’t doing much to slow down our fives.  So to reward him also, Byron only gave him 11 minutes, while going to Marks for extended time.  I saw Marks get yanked once for a dumb foul and once for getting torched for an easy basket.  Yet Byron kept going back to him.  Sure, he made some good plays in there somewhere, but he never got into the offensive groove and was a liability on defense.  Maybe he just still needs to learn the system.  Finally, so irate at Marks, Byron turned to Ju-Ju in the fourth.  Which, incidentally, was when Marks’ minutes took a dip; to that point they were proportionately much higher than they had any right to be, and thus, significantly larger than what the final number (9) looks like.  So it’s at this point, with that much frustration, that Byron turns to Julian?  After riding him so hard, Byron decides to throw him under the bus against the Champs in a physical fourth quarter is a good idea?  Bonkers, man.  What was Byron thinking? Hey, though, no pressure, kid.  So, as usual, Ju-Ju made a few good plays and a few bad ones, and was promptly yanked.  Come on Byron.  He’s young.  He’s barely played.  What did you expect, him to take over the game like the next Jordan and steal a victory?  Yeah that’d have been nice.

Which is my next beef.  A) Julian is one of the team’s best defenders.  Period.  He’s got good footwork, he’s lanky, and is freakishly athletic and quick.  B) He is a chaotic explosion on offence that can drive, jump shoot, or catch that funky alley-oop.  So why is he riding the bench?  Based on his hot performance at the end of last year, even the perennial haters, ESPN, listed him as #10 on its list of sophomores they most expected to explode this year.  And that was on pure potential, because they’ve barely seen him play.  The man is obviously meant to supplant Peja in time.  So let’s get him on the court.  He needs to know that each next mistake won’t be the one that puts him back in street clothes.  Screw Brown, screw Marks (though I like them both personally).  This is a young man’s game.  Give the young man a chance.  Over time, he might surprise you.  Think back to a young, albeit point guard, who everyone said was a liability, and they needed a trade to improve at that position.  Tony Parker.  They guy they said they should trade for?  Jason Kidd, who subsequently got torched by Parker in the Finals.  My point?  Parker wouldn’t have had that Finals fall for him if he hadn’t been playing.  Byron, play Julian.  Otherwise, well, you’re just plain making a mistake.

I really had to ponder over this post for the better part of a day, because there were just so many incredulous coaching decisions last night.  I mean, I hate to second guess professional coaches, because, well, they’re professional coaches and I’m just a guy who watches games now and then.  I mean, I watch a lot of games, but do I know the intricacies of coaching?  Do I see these guys in practice?  No.  So with that caveat, I’m calling on Byron to clue the rest of us in.  I mean, last night, rest CP a lot in the first, sure, because he was going to play the entire second (he did).  But he also barely played Peja.  And when he did, he ran about zero plays for the Serbian sniper.  Why?  The man had been on fire.  Hitting about 45-50% from three lately.  He wasn’t as much bad last night as that he just never got touches.  Besides, Peja is one of those rare talents that can go 0-12 through 40 minutes and then just explode for 9 points in three trips down the floor and win the game for you.  Not many guys can do that.

That kind of shooting, in fact, is exactly what we needed when we fell down by double digits late.  Probably a good idea to put in three point shooters, right?  Peja?  Nope.  Mo?  Nope.  Finally we get Butler, but it’s Posey who’s jacking them all up.  I think about the three minute mark Peja finally came back in.  Normally I’d be okay with Posey taking open threes, but I’d rather have any of the other three guys shooting them.  Let alone Devin Brown, who’s shooting 25%, about 8% below his not-so-impressive 33% lifetime percentage.  What is it about Brown that you are so in love with Byron?

So this is a first for me.  It’s an anti-hype.  I love the Hornets.  I am as encouraged as ever that they can compete at the next level.  Moreover, I think Byron has the potential to take them there.  I really hope, though, that Byron figures something out by tomorrow morning.  Otherwise, this could become a long road trip.

… You are dead to me.
It was good while it lasted, but… I have realized the real Truth.

There can be only one Paul for me.

Sincerely,

Ticktock6

In the storied recent history of this blog, we have promised to keep our honest eyes on Hilton and to tell you whether he’s progressing as expected or busting like so many other nobodies.  I start by pointing out how the man packed on the pounds in the offseason.  His dedication to improving involved more than just proving he can make shots or grab boards, but also has to do with what happens off the court and in the weight room.  (Cf. Tayshaun Prince.)  It has to do with how dedicated he was to improvement en whole.  Gold star number one.

So what differs from his much maligned last season?  The main difference this year has been his assertiveness.  He seems to have Coach Scott’s tacit approval at the 5 and doesn’t seem as worried about being yanked in favor of an ever-rotating selection of forwards/centers.  This is a good thing.  Hilton has responded positively, even if it is not always obvious from the stat sheet.

Hey, we give guys like Posey credit for making those “intangible” plays that don’t show up on the stat sheet, so why not Hilton?  How many tip-outs does Tyson get that don’t show up as rebounds, but everyone in the Arena knows are plays he made?  Same with Hilton.  He’s been aggressive this year.  He’s gotten boards some games, blocks in others. He’s hustled to make second effort plays, and made some nice moves in the post.  He runs well, and every now and then he can actually play defense without committing the stupid fouls that have plagued him thus far in his career.  

Bottom line: I like what I see.  He’s not yet TC.  He’s not Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan, or even Andris Biedrins.  But how many back-up fives are better than him?  Seriously?  Not many.  Name them. I dare you.  And can you honestly say that in the next year or so he maybe doesn’t evolve into a starter as TC ages?  I see it.  So should you.

You can tell from the stands when teams are happy and everyone is on the same page. You can see it during every timeout huddle, you can see it with how they interact and support each other, and you can see it with the way they carry themselves. So last night at the Phoenix game I studied the Hornets like a marriage counselor. With a PhD. Here are some observations…

Pre-Game

The starters circle up. Chris Paul’s hand touches David West’s butt.

Posey stands by the scorers’ table offering some man loving to Peja and D-West, but they’re having none of it. He gets a taker in CP, and they have a prolonged hug. Oh, Posey. Why won’t you whisper in my ear?

At the end of the bench, Ryan Bowen tells Sean Marks a joke. Marks doesn’t get it.

1st Quarter

11:04 Morris Peterson and Julian Wright leap off the bench in happiness as Peja takes a shot. Interesting. I read on ESPN.com that the Hornets are not happy. Oh, Hornets, you’re so tricky. Fooling me with your fake camaraderie and joy.

8:16 Tyson Chandler dunks. Chris Paul hugs him around the waist. ‘Cause that’s just how tall he is.

5:45 Byron Scott smiles at assistant coach Kenny Gattison.

2:12 David West misses a shot. Chris Paul tells him all the missed long twos in the world can’t stop him from loving him.

2nd Quarter

11:23 David West returns from a bathroom break, towel on his head, to find that Melvin Ely has placed his nachos on D-West’s seat. In a touching moment, Ely, dressed in a plaid suit, offers to share.

9:33 Devin Brown falls under the basket. BUT! Hilton Armstrong helps him up.

8:00 The bench gets yanked for letting up an 8-0 run.

0:58 Rasual Butler smiles goofily.

3rd Quarter

10:49 Mike James is not a cancer on this team. I know this because he is sitting on the bench with his leg touching Mo Pete’s, and you know Mo would not let him do that if he thought he was contagious. He’s just misunderstood.

2:29 Julian Wright sings Hilton Armstrong a song he made up.

0:34 James Posey kicks up his feet, puts his head on Mo Pete’s shoulder, and they watch the Dance Cam together on the jumbotron.

4th Quarter

8:55 David West is sweating. Devin Brown offers to share his headband. It is the ultimate display of sacrifice and camaraderie. Because that is one bald man and that is a lot of sweat.

6:13 Peja and Posey are chatting just outside the huddle. Peja lays a hand on Posey’s chest. Clearly some deep expression of teammateship was just exchanged. I don’t know what it is because I sit in Row 26.

4:44 Hilton Armstrong hands Morris Peterson a cup of Gatorade. Sweetly.

2:18 JuJu tries to sing Chris Paul his song. CP stares past him with the eyes of a predator locked into its prey. That CP, he is just so mean and detached to everyone on court. Even his teammates, who only want to sing to him while CP is obsessing over silly things like closing out games.

1:06 Melvin Ely and Ryan Bowen surreptitiously clink plastic arena beer bottles together under their seats on the bench.

0:21 Byron Scott gives Chris Paul a celebratory butt slap as the Hornets roll 104-91.

This has been breaking news, brought to you by Hornets Hype. It’s breaking ’cause I WAS THERE. I saw it. That’s what makes news news, ya know. Stay tuned, people. To paraphrase a wise literary man, I’ll have grounds more relative than this.

The game’s the thing.

In this morning’s Times Picayune, CP fires back at Bill Simmons. By now you’re aware of my opinion of Simmons’ column alleging the chemistry problems between Chris Paul and coach Byron Scott. But you knew Chris Paul, despite his choirboy reputation offcourt, would have something to say. You can read the whole article here, but this is CP’s quote:

For his part, Paul, too, was dumbfounded over the baseless Internet report.

“It’s crazy,” Paul said. “I figure you guys (beat writers) who are with us every day, if something was going on, you all would see it. Maybe he knows something I don’t know. If he knows something I don’t know, tell him to let me know. I would think me and coach might have one of the best relationships out of the entire NBA.

“I guess people got to have something to talk about. Maybe he should come to a game. Let’s talk. If I had a problem with coach, I’d say it. I guess he comes to one game, and he can figure it out.”

Snark! We knew CP could do snark, after the Rafer Alston incident last spring. Here’s the thing. I don’t care if it’s true or not. They were aware that it was out there, floating on the front page of ESPN.com and giving a negative impression of the team to casual NBA fans, and so they dealt with it. (Just to show you how quick that stuff travels, I’ve already read one article this weekend, and now I can’t remember where, that cited the Simmons column about the CP/Byron clash. “Reports are that Chris Paul and Byron Scott…”) Chris Paul is not going to go rogue, or go Marbury, or any junk like that.

No. You circle up, close ranks, and deal with it behind closed doors. You stick up for the team.

And you know what? I’ll throw a shout-out to the T.P. beat writers too on this one. You did something right.