The National Basketball Association is having one it’s best seasons ever. Ratings are up, the players are as good as they’ve ever been and league popularity is at an all-time high. Despite LeBron James‘ decision to take his talents to South Beach, thus forming a powerhouse in Miami with two other superstars (though [...]
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The New Orleans Hornets entered their Wednesday night game against the Dallas Mavericks undermanned with their leader and star Chris Paul sitting out a second straight game due to concussion like symptoms, so when the Carl Landry fouled out and Jarret Jack and Emeka Okafor each collected their fifth personal fouls, it didn’t look [...] After being down heading into halftime, the Chicago Bulls came out in the second half against the New Orleans Hornets and rode their superstar Derrick Rose to victory. Rose fueled transition opportunities, he set up his teammates and he played some pretty darn good defense on Chris Paul during the comeback and his baseline [...] After taking on and taking out Deron Williams (and Jerry Sloan) on Wednesday night, Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose will match-up against another one of the game’s elites tonight: the Hornets’ Chris Paul. Rose has already put together a strong case for the MVP award this season by lifting his team to the [...]
But while there may be much less of a chance that Carmelo ends up staying in Denver for the remainder of the season, it’s time to start looking at the Nuggets as they are currently constructed to determine whether or not this will just be a lost cause for both Anthony and the Nuggets if they end up sticking together until the end of the year. Denver is currently the sixth seed in the Western Conference with the same record as the Utah Jazz (30-22) but with a superior head-to-head record. This a team that beat the Heat by 28 earlier in the season (though they were without LeBron James, that’s still impressive) but also a club that got smashed by the Clippers and recently lost back-to-back games to the 76ers and Nets by the scores of 110-99 and 115-99. Whether the Anthony drama has this team disinterested or in spite of their teammate, there is clearly something missing from this team that it had over the past two seasons when they were legitimate contenders to take down the Lakers in the West thanks to their uptempo offense and reliable home court advantage. But instead, ever since Carmelo was left to fend for himself against Utah in the post-season last year, Anthony has started to slip away from his supporting cast and the mojo around this squad is clearly no longer there – at least not consistently. For my recap of last night’s Rockets-Nuggets game as well as every other game in the NBA last night, hit the break…
And this isn’t one of those nine game winning streaks with a pair of games against the Warriors, a trip to New Jersey and home games against the Pacers, Pistons and Bucks. No, the Hornets have played against some of the league’s very best teams during this streak. They have three overtime victories in this stretch (over the Magic, Rockets and Grizzlies), a 41-point win over the Atlanta Hawks, a 24-point demolition of the division rival Spurs and close wins over the Bobcats, Raptors and Thunder. Their most recent victory over the Thunder was a thriller. Not to say this was a very entertaining game from start to finish, because, frankly, the first quarter of this game was nearly unwatchable. But the Hornets and Thunder went toe-to-toe for 48 minutes, with no team creating more than a five point lead after the first period. New Orleans, who lead the NBA in points allowed per game, gave up just 89 points to Oklahoma City. During the nine game stretch, the Hornets have allowed just 96.5 points per 100 possessions, which would be the number one mark in the NBA if kept up for an entire year. What’s more impressive is that, on the entire year, the Hornets have the third best defensive efficiency in the league, trailing only the Bulls and Celtics. The Hornets played stifling defense for most of the game against the Thunder, forcing Kevin Durant to take 18 shots to score 16 points from the field while holding Russell Westbrook to just 18 points. In crunch time, we saw what we have for many years. Chris Paul and David West took over the game. First it was Paul, knocking down a hero three to tie the ballgame and then it was West, raining in impossible jumpshots with the defense right in his face. With a minute left, following a Westbrook putback to give the Thunder a two-point lead, Paul orchestrated a beautiful play, resulting in a pinpoint behind-the-back pass to West, who promptly knocked down the 19-footer to tie it back up. Oklahoma City actually had a chance to hold the ball for the game-winning shot but their inbounds pass with 15 seconds left was stolen by Paul. On a set inbounds play, the Hornets put the ball in David West’s hands with nine seconds left and let him isolate. He wasn’t given any room but he still managed to hit a jumper in the face of Serge Ibaka with .5 seconds left. The Thunder threw away the ball on the last play of the game and the Hornets captured yet another victory. Paul finished the game with 24 points, nine assists, four rebounds and three steals (two of which came in the final half of the fourth quarter) and West overcame early foul trouble to add 20 hard earned points of his own, eight of which came in the final four minutes of the game. More on the Hornets and their play so far this season after the break… After just about two weeks of play, there are three undefeated teams left in the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks sit atop the Eastern Conference at 6-0 and the Lakers are back in their familiar home as the number one team in West after a 6-0 start. While both of those records are impressive, when [...] The New Orleans Hornets had to succeed this year. With Chris Paul demanding success in order to keep him in town, the pressure to produce results doubled. Three games into the season, the Hornets are 3-0, thanks not only to Paul’s brilliance, which has been magnificent and much needed as awlays, but also their [...] The New Orleans Hornets tried to make moves this off-season. With their superstar Chris Paul quietly demanding a trade during the summer before being convinced to hang on for another year in a face-to-face meeting with Hornets’ brass, new GM Dell Demps was forced to make some kind of noise this summer. Paul would [...] With 25 seconds left in the game, Kevin Durant stepped to the free throw line looking to ice the game away for the Oklahoma City Thunder. As the ball was tossed to him by the ref, Durant heard chants of “M-V-P” come down from the rafters. He couldn’t help but crack a smile. And [...] |
     
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