Hornets Hype

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.

Or, a huge mess of Hornets-related links, some more out of date than others but still notable, in final countdown form. Countdown to what? Hornets vs. Spurs, 8:30 PM. Be there. Or at least be watching on ESPN. #1 in the Southwest Division is on the line, as well as… some other things.

10. Jordan Brand CP3 II, v. 2.0 of Chris Paul’s shoe.

9. Hoops Addict game notes on Hornets@Raptors. Includes some fun locker room stuff. But whatever, guys. James Posey shot 5/6 from 3 in the first half. He can brush his teeth wherever he wants to.

8. Melvin Ely is bloggerific.

7. Tyson Chandler goes fishing. (In Plaquemines Parish! With video!) Update: More pics and behind the scenes stories here.

6. The Honeybees’ new website. If that kind of thing is your bag… baby.

5. Memphis fans drinkin’ the HATERADE. Bring it, guys! That’s when you know you’ve made it, when you got haters! And hey, look– there’s a way the Hornets are like the Spurs (see comment thread on previous post)– people hate us!

4. I have given up caring what these people think, but in today’s Daily Dime (scroll down to #6 on the right sidebar) there’s an audio clip of Jalen Rose on ESPN radio. He still thinks the Hornets and Lakers are the undisputed two top teams in the West, despite the Hornets’ start. Keepin’ the Movement alive…

3. The Popeyes Arena? The Zatarains Arena? The Abita Arena! Hornets are interested in finally selling the naming rights to New Orleans Arena.

2. The last time we met: This is what I wrote the day of Game 7.

1. Please, please, someone caption this pic of CP and Sual’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon defense on Rajon Rondo (you gotta click and biggify it to really get the facial expressions):

I kid.

We are guests over on today’s Spurscast on Project Spurs (20:11).

In which we talk about the Antonio Daniels trade, the great Spurs “revenge game”, how we see the West standings playing out, the burden of expectations, our NOLA patriotism and how we got going with Hornets Hype, and relationships amongst the Hornets Blogosphere. Also, we go off on a tangent on Devin Brown. But you’re not surprised by that.

So definitely head over there and check it out if you want to hear our thoughts, do some covert Spurs scouting, or learn that Ticktock6 has a disappointingly unsexy voice (yeah, sorry!).

Here’s what I want to know, ESPN. Why is this game at 8/7 Central? Don’t you know I look forward to Eastern Conference road games for the sole reason that they make me happy by starting an hour earlier, at six instead of the usual seven? Well, except for Indiana Pacers games, because I’m still not sure what time zone Indiana is in. (I was unaware of this ridiculousness till the preseason of this year, and I think I’m still not over finding out about it.) But really. Let’s get on with it, right? It is 5:54 and I should be two beers deep watching the pre-game by now. Thanks for ruining my entire evening schedule, ESPN.

And also.

Thanks, fridge, for having no beers inside.

Matchups:

Chris Paul vs. Rajon Rondo

Razwall vs. Ray

Peja vs. The M@thaf*ckin Truth

KG crawling like a dog vs. David West running past him and dunking

The Ceiling Fan Repair Man vs. Kendrick Perkins

Relevant Linkage:

Ticktock6’s Crush on Paul Pierce |  The Real Diary of James Posey | A Photograph of My Cat Jolee Bindo | An Actual Game Thread | Another Actual Game Thread

I’m just kidding. We don’t do game threads here. Now you know why.

UPDATE: Tyson Chandler not playing because he’s having random neck spasms. WTF, Tyson. We are totally not speaking. I officially am depressed in advance because of this impending blowout. Like I think I already feel tomorrow’s hangover. I believe in Hilton Armstrong, I believe in Hilton Armstrong, I believe…

For acts of rampant douchebaggery and ignorance perpetuated by the Oklahoma City media last season against the city of New Orleans,

And in consideration for me having to look at that generic H logo from OKC last season after the Hornets came back, when the Fleur de Bee was 100 times cooler,

And in solidarity with our SuperSonics brethren, with whom we empathize, being subject to certain speculations as a city ourselves in recent months,

And seeing as the Hornets play the Oklahoma City Really Lame Names tonight,

I present for your amusement the following sites:

Curse the Thunder – Click to curse the Oklahoma City Thunder! For all time!

Kevin Durant’s Get the Hell Out of OKC Countdown – It’s just a big clock. That counts down.

And then I realized as I put on my headband to wash my face, I missed out on the best idea ever: I should totally have gone as Sasha Vujacic for Halloween this year.

Dallas Mavericks
Jake Kerr: Mavs Moneyball

Houston Rockets
grungedave and UofTOrange: The Dream Shake

Memphis Grizzlies
Joshua Coleman: 3 Shades of Blue

New Orleans Hornets
Rohan: At the Hive
ticktock6 & mW: Hornets Hype
Ryan Schwan & Ron Hitley: Hornets247.com

San Antonio Spurs
Graydon Gordian: 48 Minutes of Hell

Also see links to all the previews at CelticsBlog.com

So out in the ether of the world wide web, there is plenty of Hornets’ hatred for the Lakers. Go figure. Is it because CP didn’t get the MVP award and Kobe did? The fact of the matter is, that the award was CP’s to win, and whether he blew it down the stretch and couldn’t help his team seal up the #1 seed, or Byron instructed him to do so so that they’d have a better matchup in Round 1, he still lost it. Kobe earned it. There was no thievery there. Almost any critic in the league would tell you that Kobe’s the best player in the league, and has been for years. Most valuable? There’s plenty of room for argument there. But the answer, like it or not, for this year, is yes.

Maybe it’s jealousy because they got Gasol? But why? If the Trailblazers had offered us Brandon Roy for Adam Haluska, Rasual Butler, the rights to Birdman, Arvydas Macijauskas’ expiring contract, two first round draft picks, and cash, who would have said no? You can’t hold it to them for making a great trade. Leave the complaining to asses like Popovich, who said the league should banned the trade. Boo hoo from the guy wearing 4 rings.

Maybe it’s the realization that we might not have beaten them the Lakers this year if we made it to the conference finals, and they weren’t even sporting one of their best players, Bynum. Or maybe it’s the gut reflex of knowing these are the guys we’re going to have to go through over the next four-plus years, and anticipatorily hating them for it. That I can buy. A rivalry. Let’s just hope we don’t end up like the Kings or Blazers from the years the Spurs and Lakers were taking home trophies.

Any way. The fact of the matter is that the Lakers are the Western Conference representative. So I’m rooting for them. I know I stand alone on this. There seems to be plenty of Boston love out there. (Thus the title of this post!) But not me. I still have a permanent scar on my head from the Garden. Fuck Boston. Besides, does anyone out there really believe that the Eastern Conference deserves a champion? Please. Come back when you can field eight playoff teams with a winning record.

Finally! The NBA plans to impose fines on floppers next season. (Why oh why couldn’t they have come up with this idea sooner, so we could all be watching Hornets/Lakers right now?) So, right on. If players feel they’re not doing the right thing unless they fall on the floor to “sell” calls, something is awry. Hockey eventually began to penalize diving, and that’s worked out pretty well. Of course, the best part of this article is what Rasheed Wallace had to say about it. I won’t quote it here because, hey, this is not a Sheed blog, but trust me. You’ll be (expletive) entertained.

Over on the official blog, it’s been announced that they’re going to have Hornets Insider articles, along with a couple of other new features, next season. The first one is Eight Things to Know About NBA Scouting, which was an interesting read, especially the parts about the off-the-court stuff the Hornets look at in prospects.

And don’t forget to go to At the Hive and vote on the How’d He Do? season player review series. He’s done Ely, Peterson, West, and Wells so far. (Wow, I decided I was gonna go with all last names on that one to keep it consistent, but it felt really weird to type. Like my fingers really were resistant to not throwing in nicknames or initials. Wah.)

And here’s a sentence you never thought you’d see:

The Spurs are going to have to put better players around their big three. They’re going to have to get younger and more athletic, and they’ll need to get a better power forward to match up with David West in N.O., and Pau Gasol (who will move to the 4 when Andrew Bynum returns) or Odom in L.A.

That’s from the ESPN Roundtable today, which discusses the Spurs’ future. I just love the name drop of D West. A year ago, you didn’t think you’d see that, did you? (Of course you didn’t think Gasol would be in L.A., either, come to think of it…) They also call the Hornets “ascendant.”

Ascendant. Great word.

Anyhow, tomorrow morning I’m taking a flight to Syracuse, on my way to visit the (expletive) awesomeness that is St. Lawrence University, where I will be getting up to All. Sorts. Of. Trouble at my 5 Year Reunion. So I will clearly not be seen in these parts until Monday, not that I’ve been posting much lately anyway. But I do want to go through that playoff swag next week and figure out what to send to who. So ticktock6 = partying. Ticktock6 = not in the NOLA.

And then next Friday is my birthday, which, if someone wants to make it a real memorable one, you know, it would be great to wake up and be notified that next year’s season tickets are now free. Or like, Tyson Chandler on my doorstep… I’m just saying. No? Fine, I’ll just have a Tanqueray and tonic, I guess…

Later, Buzz Friends. I’m out like Ginobili’s flop.

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…