Three and oh, baby! Hornets 96, Rockets 90 (box | recap | video). What a game. Pretty much everything clicked: David West scored 22, Chris Paul dished 16, Tyson grabbed 11, Bobby Jackson was electric off the bench, and Peja finally knocked down some three-balls. It was pretty much what we dreamed of all summer.

I'm buzzing way too much to sleep right now. Notes and stuff coming at you…

• Was it a sellout? Officially, yes, although there were more than a few empty seats. Lots of speculation about this over on the HR boards.
• Peja busted out of his funk by dropping 5-of-8 threes, finishing with 16 points. He's the exact same person now that he was yesterday, but now I like him much more. I'm shallow like that.
• Chris Paul's full line: 12pts, 5-12 FGs, 16asts, 3stls, 5 turnovers. He had 10 and 10 by halftime.
• Rasual Butler dropped 3x3s, finishing with 11 points for the second straight game. As a team, the Hornets finished 9-of-16 from deep. You might call that an improvement from their 4-of-25 performance in the first two games.
• From the T-P:

  LSU basketball coach John Brady was in the stands, along with star center Glen Davis. Restaurateur Al Copeland sat next to the Hornets' bench. Rap star Lil Wayne, a friend of Paul's, sat courtside.

• The Rockets top performers were Yao (17pts, 10rebs), Battier (18pts, 7rebs, 5asts, 3stls) and T-Mac (14, 7 and 7).
• You gotta love the defense so far. The Hornets held the Rockets to 90 points on 40.5% shooting. For the season, those numbers average out at 89.3ppg and 40.2%. Funky.
• Looks like Bonzi is struggling to fit in with the Rockets. He played just 17 minutes, scoring 4 and grabbing 6. He scored just 2 points in Houston's rout of Dallas on Saturday.
• Byron Scott, post-game: "None of our wins have been pretty, but we're getting the job done."
• Of course, the game wasn't 100% fantastic. There were some problems — *cough* free-throws *cough* — but I'm not dwelling on those right now. Let's enjoy this unbeaten record while it lasts.

The other good news is the Saints won, too. Given how the Hornets have so far mimicked their season, I'm guessing we have a loss coming against the Warriors on Tuesday.

Ha, you know I'm kidding. We're finishing 78-4 this season. Fucking Mavericks.