Hornets Hype

It’s almost refreshingly simple. Almost. Two roads diverged in a wood.

Tonight there are only two outcomes, two paths: Win, and go to the Conference Finals. Or lose, and the season ends.

Tonight the New Orleans Hornets have the opportunity to take the next step, a step that wasn’t supposed to come until next year, or the year after. A step that was supposed to come after a gradual building process. Lots of young teams come out of nowhere to have playoff success, but they’re 6 or 8 seeds. Few go from missing the playoffs entirely to finishing the season as the #2 seed in the toughest Western Conference race in years. The Hornets skipped a step in the 3 year plan, as it were.

And tonight? It’s just one more step.

But how ironic that it’s fallen out in this particular fashion. Game 7 against the one team that could possibly deserve the title of “dynasty” over the past decade. Game 7 in a once-empty arena, an arena these Hornets filled. Game 7 to determine, decisively, if you’re really ready.

Because you already know the truth. If the Hornets are ready, there is no way they lose this game at home. They flat-out do not allow that to happen, because champions (or future champions) don’t. If they’re not ready, no one’s going to hold it against them– they’re simply not ready. But if this team is ready, then they know what has to happen here.

I’m jittery, man. I can’t really focus on anything. This week has been an emotional rollercoaster. You’re up, you’re down. You lose, you win. The season is over, it’s just beginning. What do you think about? What do you write about, on this day that might be the end of a season or the beginning of an era?

I find myself thinking about this season, about the moments that shone. Peja from the corner, forcing overtime against Dallas. And– it seems funny now to think of, doesn’t it?– possibly the defining moment of the season against the Spurs, the 102-78 road spanking that made people sit up a little and take notice, that drew 15,600 to the arena on the following Monday in what I consider to be the game that signaled the turning of the tide attendance-wise. The night that made people in New Orleans think, “Maybe I don’t want to be missing this.” Peja again in double OT at Phoenix. The night we booed the Boston Celtics off the court. Chris Paul vs. the Chicago Bulls. Chris Paul vs. the Dallas Mavericks. Chris Paul vs. the World.

The Suns are done, man. The Mavs? Done. The Spurs… they might have a couple more years left in them. But they’ve got to know they’ll fade, and the Hornets have got to know they’ll be clinging hard tonight.

But Chris Paul just turned 23. Tyson Chandler is 25, and David West 27. You better believe the Hornets have been building for this. As Chris Paul said the other night, “This is what we play for.”

Game 7, and here’s what it comes down to: You go down– and there’s no shame in that– to the defending champs.

Or you step into your future.

Just a quick something I threw together. You can think of it as a love letter of sorts. To the Hornets, from the fans. 18,000 strong, baby!

From us to you. 21 hours.

You know what you gotta do.

In professional sports, one of the dumbest things you can do is run your mouth about an opponent. It just provides bulletin board material that the other team will use against you. Ask Rafer Alston about that. But I’ve been wondering for a little over a week now if the Hornets were not giving the Spurs a little too much respect.

You hear a lot that they’re the “champs.” Byron Scott affords them that respect in press conferences. Chris and Melvin refer to them as the “Champs” in interviews. Random White Dude just used the term on NBAtv. Here’s the thing. So far, there are no present-tense “champs.” No one has yet claimed the title for the 2007-08 season. What they are, accurately, and with all due respect, are the “former champs,” “defending champs,” or even “reigning champs.”

My initial thought was that it was dangerous to keep using this term. Because psychologically, aren’t you less likely to beat the “champs” than just some other contender? But then I thought, maybe it’s a ploy, to inflate the Spurs’ egos. But really, I’m not sure that’s Byron’s style. He’s a pretty straightforward guy.

So what my point is, is that I hope the Hornets don’t really see these guys as the “champs.” Because I strongly believe that the labels and words we use do have power. And the last thing they want to do in a difficult game 7 is psych themselves out. So while the Hornets need to see the Spurs as a very dangerous team, as a very seasoned team, and as a team that knows how to win championships, they are just another team. A team that, this year, is a lower seed. A team that according to the numbers should lose.

Therefore, you just have to have a greater respect, this year, for yourselves. The 18,000+ in the Arena will. And it’s just this that the organization as a whole has been saying all year long. Passion. Purpose. Pride. Believe it.

… in size XXXL. Haha. For those of you who didn’t know yet, we’re getting a WHITE out on Monday, with everyone in attendance getting a white Fan Up! shirt.

T minus 2 days…

Because HornetsHype loves arts and crafts. And because no one fucks with David West on my watch. And now, for your Game 7 viewing pleasure, I present to you…

Side A…

And Side B…

I’d like to clear something up. There’s been a lot of mudslinging from Spurs fans to Hornets fans and vice versa this series. To be expected. But one thing in particular, I feel the need to address: the booing for Spurs players who fall to the ground and stay there. I guess after the “Horry, Horry” chants last night for Cheap Shot Bob, I feel the need to explain to those who don’t get it.

We’re not hoping anyone gets hurt. Not at all. Rather, this is the case of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Right from the start of this series, in Game 1, Bruce Bowen took a hard foul from Bonzi Wells and went to the court hard. He then ended up on the floor for several minutes, nothing noticeably wrong, not really grasping anything or writhing in pain, but just laying there, face down. A lot of us couldn’t see the play; he was in a crowd when it happened. But believing him to be a flopper–and still not forgiving his earlier-in-the-season assault on Chris Paul–the crowd booed when he got up, rather than cheered. Some people, especially those not present at the Arena, were confused by this booing and thought that we hoped he was hurt. Not so.

Consider that when Bowen finally got up, he looked perfectly fine. He showed no later effect from the play. So some reporter asked Bowen about the incident after the game, and he had this to say: “I just want to be sure that the officials can see what’s really going on.” In other words, he faked it to make sure he got the call. And he did. A flagrant no less. A good tactic, you say? Probably. I don’t mind a little psychology. But at the same time, Bowen opened the door for us, as a crowd, to not fall for it and call his bullshit, even if the refs continue to be duped.

So, ever since, the New Orleans home crowd has been merciless to any Spur who hits the deck. With Bowen’s admission, we just assume you’re looking for a call. And to our collective credit, we’ve been right every time so far. Each Spur who’s gone down and stayed down has managed to pop right up after a few minutes, with no discernible injury.

In contrast, Tyson went down in Game 5, stayed down, and then came out of the game and didn’t return. When West got knocked down in Game 5, and stayed down, he came out of the game and didn’t return. These were real injuries. And let me tell you, if we saw some Spur get helped off the floor and come out of the game, legitimately hurt, those boos would turn to applause.

We may be a vicious home crowd, but we’re not classless. And by this post, I hope not to just explain this to those who aren’t present at the Arena, but to hopefully remind those who are going to be there of the difference. So stay classy, New Orleans.

And go fuck yourselves, San Antonio.

Why 48? Why not? Mad linkage from last night’s game, with relevant excerpts.

In case you haven’t noticed, Yahoo’s really been killing it with the quality Hornets coverage lately. Go over and read the whole article. It’s great.

Somehow, you just know the Spurs will make one final desperate run to hold off the inevitable: That eventually these young Hornets are going to overtake them in the Western Conference. Maybe this year, maybe next, but it’s coming and these Spurs understand they can’t hold back Paul and West and Chandler forever…

As much as anything, the Spurs are holding onto dear life now. An old man with seven rings delivered David West to the deck on Thursday night, and this happened to be the start of Game 7 here: All hell breaking loose, all the way to a champ’s desperate last stand.

Hardwood Paroxysm: if it looks like a rat and smells like a rat…

Basketbawful: On CP3 and flopping, on the game in general.

Oh, and when I play pickup basketball, it’s funny how I never seem to get run over by guys who are almost 100 pounds (!!) lighter than I am (Duncan weighs in at 260 pounds; Paul is 175 soaking wet). Uh, it’s called the Law of Physics, people. Look it up. It’ll be in a big book called “Science.”

Freeze frame of the moment Robert Horry made contact with David West. (Found via TrueHoop)

ESPN gives playoff awards, featuring Chris Paul (MVP) & David West (Breakout Player).

Yes, he’s averaging 24.6 points and 11.0 assists per game in the postseason while shooting 50.7 percent from the floor, even though he’s played the past six games against one of the league’s most accomplished defensive squads. But here’s my favorite stat: He’s turned it over on only 4.8 percent of his possessions in the playoffs. That, my friends, is insane — not even stand-still jump shooters can get their turnover rate that low, much less a guy asked to create something on nearly every trip. As a result, the Hornets have the lowest turnover rate of any playoff team.

Ron Hitley thinks it wasn’t intentional, AttheHive thinks it was– and you can go vote.

Chris Paul looks like he’s visibly trying to restrain himself from busting out with something assholeish at certain points in the press conference. Just keeps saying, “Wow… wow,” like he can’t believe it. Watch it here.

DX HEALTH UPDATE: The Hornets expect David West to be ready to go on Monday.

… to the Heads on Sticks craze, I give you: Robert Horry On a Stick.

OK, so here’s what I’ve decided. Maybe some calls in a certain 30 second stretch were sketchy. Maybe Robert Horry’s pick on David West was dirty.

It is possible they weren’t.

But there were a lot of us who were too furious to be objective last night and, frankly, I see it continuing into today.

Therefore I declare the previous thread, entitled “The Vitruvian Ref,” to be a SAFE SPACE.

There you may bitch all you want regardless of language or rationality. But let’s keep it there. And I, meanwhile, will moderate all Spurs troll comments OUT of that thread.

Yeah, you heard me. As I said, maybe we’re right, maybe we’re wrong, but this is my space and I’m going to give us one thread in which to bitch our hearts out. We’re all fans who get fired up. You’d be doing it if it was your team.

Now. Everyone else who doesn’t want to bitch, feel free to comment in this thread, where we will hopefully keep all talk of breaking glass and throwing things limited. If you’re an objective third party/Spurs fan and you want to come up here and talk, we’re perfectly willing to show you we can be reasonable. But don’t go down there and try to tell us we’re homers, whiners, the worst fans ever, etc. and the Hornets suck. I will kick your ass out.

FURY THIS WAY. ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER.

Click for the Comment Thread of Rage, or scroll to previous post.

Hello. I am the perfect ref. I am the canonical proportion of he/she who controls/ manages the NBA games. It is also my job to deliver on the expectations of David Stern and other league officials. Moreover, I am paid to protect certain players and teams.

For example, when the upstart New Orleans Hornets come out at halftime playing stifling defense and making shots, and pulling within 5 of the stalwart Spurs at the 10:07 mark, I feel the need to call an offensive, if ridiculous, foul on Chris Paul, who incidentally, was taking over an NBA game without being named Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, or Tim Duncan. So, over the next 1:23 of game time, I make sure to call another foul on Chris, and three on David West, who although not playing his best game, has started the third quarter hot and might take over the game. Just for good measure, I’ll call a technical foul on West too. Incidentally, I’ll ignore the fact that Bruce Bowen, a renowned flopper, who switched to Paul after halftime, keeps hitting the floor suddenly and I keep rewarding him with fouls.

So, since on the first of those fouls, Chris made the shot, the Hornets would have been within 2 or 3 points, I feel good that the Hornets are now pushed to 7, which isn’t a huge swing, but those pesky Hornets keep trying to defend. But the longer this goes, the more upset and angry they are and now they’re playing scared, and the lead blossoms to 11. Fortunately, when you have two evenly matched teams, a 10 point swing really IS the game.

[EDIT: Fuck the refs, fuck the Spurs. Steal your home games any way you want. Bring it Monday, bitches. We'll see who the better team is. Believe that.]