Hornets Hype

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!

Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie thinks Kidd should be suspended for his flagrant foul on Jannero Pargo (below). What do I think? I think Pargo’s lucky he has damn good reflexes, or he could have broken his neck. That looked flat-out terrifying, before they showed the replay and I realized he hadn’t actually hit his head. But, for the purposes of the Hornets, I don’t care if Kidd’s suspended or not. Pargo wasn’t hurt, and he bounced back up, even having the presence of mind to calm JuJu (who looked like he was about to hit any Mav within two feet) down and pull him away.

It’s not like the Mavs would really miss Kidd’s 3 points anyway…

Bonus!Hype 1: I guess my mind hasn’t taken up residence in the gutter yet today, because I didn’t notice anything funny about the David West photo at the top of ESPN… but apparently other people did. Haha…

Bonus!Hype 2: If you go over to SLAM Online, today’s playoff wrapup has the headline “Wake Up Mr. West!” Except they’re referring to Delonte West’s big tiebreaker for Cleveland. Oh, see now, that’s not going to fly. Sound bite-stealing wannabe D. Wests will not be tolerated on this blog.

So here’s how it happens.

I’m in Tampa at a dinner, and I keep texting for the score. The Hornets are down by 12 at the half. The next time it’s 6. Five minutes later it’s 5. The last time I check it’s 68-65. I leave to go watch the rest of the game in the hotel bar. On the way I get a message from mW. It just says, “Wow… Go Hornets!”

And I know. I just know.

I walk up to the bar, and there in ESPN HD, the first thing I hear is, “Chris Paul has taken over this game.” New Orleans has a six-point lead.

Someone says, “There are still 9 minutes left.”

I said, “You know how many times this season the Hornets have come from behind in the second half at home and then given up the lead? Never.”

And I watch as he smokes a double team, weaves around a third defender, and takes it effortlessly right up the middle to the basket, like a dancer. And I listen as the commentating on this game stops being about Dirk Nowitzki, or Jason Kidd, or about the Mavs at all. With 35 points, 10 assists, 4 steals, and only one turnover, the “MVP!” chants thundering down, Chris Paul has said an emphatic, “Hell no. This is my party.”

It is a gorgeous thing to watch.

NBA Playoffs, meet Chris Paul.

CP3 HypeMeter: Paul finds his groove in winning playoff debut, Paul trumps experience in playoff debut. But SI gives a little bit of hate.

The Hornets are so hot right now. Friday’s game clinched a playoff spot and made the front page of the T.P. I thought about it, and I believe this is the best local media showing the Hornets have ever had. I know I haven’t had much reason to bitch at the Times Picayune’s coverage lately, because it’s improved by leaps and bounds over the last two months. The Hornets have claimed space on the front page before, in the box at the top, or on the bottom, or in the side column. But a big color picture like this? First time, baby. The Hornets were THE NEWS yesterday morning.

At the Hive shoots holes in the media’s “Hornets have no playoff experience” argument, complete with graphs and math and stuff. Excellent post to link when someone tries to argue with you. Of course, Sir Chuck was already an idiot for saying that the Hornets “play in a mausoleum.” Better turn your TV to ABC today, there, TNT guys. Get ready for some education.

J.A. Adande thinks we should call the CP3 to TC alley oop “The Big Easy.” I don’t know about that, but they sure do make it look easy…

Sunday Dime, of course, is about the Hornets, since they’re the ABC early game today.

This photo to the left? Why do I have pictures of Bonzi watching random Knicks score? No reason, except that we’re in it. Click to embiggen, then check out the two people next to the dude’s butt underneath the WHERE CHRIS PAUL HAPPENS sign. Oh, hey, folks! Hi!

NBATV just went with us over the Warriors today. Said the Warriors might win if they were at Oracle Arena, but the Hornets are “real strong at home.” Yes. Hear that? The Hornets take a 10-game home win streak into this game.

Tyson Chandler blogs about the CP3 for MVP hype. Proving that the team is just as spoiled as us when it comes to Chris Paul. (“WHAT the hell. He only had 18 points and 12 assists. We woulda put them away so much earlier if CP had had a good game.”)

“It’s funny. I was talking to Jannero the other day, and I was saying that you always turn on the different channels and you get a chance to watch Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett, so you’re a little bit in awe of them. Because you don’t get a chance to see them every day. It’s almost like having that girlfriend that you see every day and you don’t appreciate what you got until you step back and really actually look at things.

We see what CP does every day, so it’s not big to us. But then we actually sit back sometimes and watch his accomplishments, watch what he’s able to do on the floor and what he’s established already as a young player, it’s a little mind-boggling.”

Ready… set… time to show national TV what kind of parties go on at mausoleums here in the N.O.L.A!

Tyson is a man who has destroyed lesser competition this year and tonight was no different. Miami’s frontcourt, apparently made up of actual NBA players, had no answer for the Bees’ big man. He ended up with 20 points on 10/10 shooting, with 10 rebounds thrown in for giggles. The only disappointing thing is that he had I think 14 at halftime and didn’t even take a shot in the third. Oh well. Much love TC.

….

ticktock6: Is Bonzi chewing gum?

mW: Lots of players chew gum.

ticktock6: You think he was blowing bubbles on the floor when they were playing the Celtics? I’m just saying.

mW: I’m not going to answer that question.

34-19 in the 2nd.

….

Oh god. Gil and Bob discussing buying teal seersucker suits for the playoffs. And I think they’re serious.

The Heat closed for a short time but then the Hornets started playing again.

91-70 in the 4th.

….

LOL at Tyson swinging a towel in circles on the bench and hitting himself in the eye with it. They are gonna show that clip all night. When CST latches onto something, they do not let it go. That shit was made for YouTube.

Plus we actually missed the last minute of play or so because CST thought Chris Paul tossing autographed sneakers into the crowd and other bench hijink was more interesting than the game . . . ummm . . . (sudden silence)

106-77 Final.

….

ESPN, apropos of nothing, during Mavs/Warriors game just now:

“How about the New Orleans Hornets? Wow… blah blah… 52-22… can’t see them finishing out of the Top 2… just a great team… 30 games over .500… great record against the Western Conference too… oh, and Dirk just scored.”

YES, HOW ABOUT THE NEW ORLEANS HORNETS!!!

I have seen enough to know that my job here is done.

Yeah. Hollinger believes this week.

And that’s a perfect metaphor for Tuesday’s game. These guys didn’t go away, and instead they stole a game they had absolutely, positively no business winning. As a result, they’re still shockingly on top of the West — and games like this make it seem increasingly plausible that they’ll hold that spot til the end.

That spot you said they’d lose and end up 5th?

Bandwagoner.

Nah, just kidding. There’s room for you, ESPN! This thing is rolling.

It looks like the trip to Canada did wonders for Mo Pete. Although he only played 24 minutes, he was 2-4 from 3-point range and ended the night with 8. He was aggressive on defense and and got a warm reception from the Air Canada Centre crowd. Then he moved south with the team to Orlando. From the beginning of the game he was hot. Mo ended up leading the Hornets with 19 points, his most since January, on 7-9 shooting overall and 5-6 from 3-point range. In his 32 minutes, he also pulled down 6 rebounds and was hustling on both ends of the floor.

Down the stretch is was Peja’s big shot that put the team ahead, but we wouldn’t even have been in striking distance if it wasn’t for Mo. He made shots throughout the game and kept the team floating when the rest were struggling to hit shots.  So keep it up Mo.  We here at Hornets Hype have faith in you.  We know you are key to our playoff run.  When you’ve been great, so have the Hornets.

We believe.

Hypemeter:  wicked high, after a gut-wrenching series of runs back and forth, the fourth quarter was edge-of-your-seat entertainment, culminating in a huge Hornets’ win!

Another day, another city. And, as the Hornets board the plane for the next game on the road trip, another bunch of articles saying basically what Hornets fans knew about Chris Paul all along, which is, essentially, “Wow.” They love him in Canada, plus a couple of other cities too.

Paul takes throne from Nash National Post.

No contest in MVP race: Give the hardware to Paul Chicago Daily Herald.

Right now, Paul is my MVP pick Charlotte Observer. Oh hey, y’all, this is an actual vote.

This was a really nice Mo Pete story from a Toronto fan.

And, as an extra special bonus, the Globe and Mail raves about D West and thinks Chris Paul is god.

If you’re an MVP candidate, maybe… maybe… articles about your game last night should… maybe… not lead off like this.

Kobe Bryant abandoned his one-man show, got his teammates involved and the Los Angeles Lakers prevailed in a shooting contest.

I’m just throwing that out there. Do with it what you will.

On the other hand, Kobe did end up with 26 points and 13 assists. In other news, CP3 went 20-16 (routine for him) and the Hornets held on to beat the Raptors 118-111 and grab win #50. Of course, Chris Paul played 12 minutes less…

What? I said I was just going to put it out there.

HypeMeter: They love us, they really do. 

Or is that the sweet, sweet sound of NBATV going off on the Hornets? I mean, this is NBATV. They hate on us on a regular basis. Obviously, it has to be taken with a grain of salt because they are covering our team. But they started with the Hornets as opposed to the Celtics. And 4 minutes later, they’re still going. (Oh, but David West can’t create his own shot? Meh… don’t know about that.)

“Give us your CP3 for MVP argument– 15 seconds!” Aaaand I love it.