I'm paraphrasing here, but Chris Paul said a few weeks back that the Hornets would be tough to stop this season because they have so many different guys who can score.

Never, in a million years, did anyone think Hilton Armstrong would be one of those guys. Check it: 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting. This coming from a guy who had played about seven seconds of regular season basketball up until that point.

Oh, and Hilton didn't just help the Hornets win, he ensured the Hornets won. He stepped to the line with three ticks left and the score tied. He calmly sank the first free-throw. He missed the second, but leaped after the rebound like a crazed lunatic, whacking the ball out of Chauncey Billups' hands, all the way to half-court and into the golden mitts of Chris Paul. The buzzer sounded. It was beautiful.

Hilton started the game alongside Brandon Bass, thereby keeping the Hornets' second unit unchanged. I questioned Byron Scott's rotation patterns yesterday, but I'm an idiot.

Notes and stuff…

• Linkage: box | recap | video | photos
• Chris Paul didn't exactly suck in this one: 20 points, 13 assists, zero turnovers. John Reid notes in today's T-P…

  Last season, when Paul was chosen the league's Rookie of the Year, he had four games with no turnovers, and the most assists he made in any of those were five.

• B-Squared scored 12 and grabbed 7. Way to bounce back.
• Peja followed up his career game with 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Turns out it's a lot easier to score when Brevin Knight or Adam Morrison is guarding you.
• Byron Scott, post-game:
  
  "A lot of questions were answered tonight. I think those guys realized that they can definitely play in this league, and they can definitely help this team. If they're called upon again in the future, they're confidence level will be high."
• Doing the damage was Chauncey Billups, who scored 29 and dished 9. Rip Hamilton shook off that elbow injury and dropped 23 points, while Tayshaun Prince scored 16 and grabbed 10.
• This picture makes me feel fuzzy.
• Nice contributions all-round from the Hornets bench, which out-scored the Pistons' reserves 33-11. Rasual Butler even remembered how to shoot, dropping a big three-ball late in the game.
• Yesterday I mentioned that crazy win against San Antonio two seasons back. Darrell Armstrong was the hero then. Hilton Armstrong is the hero now. We gotta get more Armstrongs!
• As you'd expect, Pistons fans are not at all happy with this result. DetroitBadBoys.com sums it up. Ditto Need4Sheed.

Me? I'm really happy right now. I have a big stupid smile on my face. The Hornets won a game they had absolutely no business winning, and that spins my world.

Now sporting a 6-3 record, the Hornets have their first 2-day break of the season. They play the T-Wolves in Minnesota on Saturday.