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Your Second Favorite Team

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Published: August 22, 2009

On TrueHoop yesterday, bloggers from around the TrueHoop Network chimed in with a few words on their second favorite team in the NBA. The Hornets got three notable mentions:

Zach Harper, Cowbell Kingdom (Sacramento Kings blog)
Chris Paul. He’s the reason that I find myself rooting for the New Orleans Hornets when there is no rooting interest established. He’s the reason that my NBA League Pass ends up on a Hornets game 82 times per year. And he’s the reason that I would adopt the New Orleans Hornets if I were spurned in a Sonicsian way.

His intensity doesn’t just move his teammates; it also galvanizes his spectators. He treats the basketball like David Copperfield treats oversized objects. He creates bewilderment and confusion with the dribble by showing the ball, making it disappear, and showing it one more time as he causes the crowd to applaud hysterically. In the lane, he’s the Tasmanian Devil trying showing how a whirling dervish moves. And best of all, he shares the glory and the basketball with his teammates in a way that not only transcends team play but also makes someone like Tyson Chandler seem worthy of an exorbitant contract.

Zach Lowe, Celtics Hub (Boston Celtics blog)
I suspect my second favorite team will be the Hornets for as long as Chris Paul plays there. Chris Paul is John Stockton if John Stockton had to lead his team in scoring along with controlling every second of every offensive possession. He is simultaneously super quick and amazingly patient. I love that moment when he turns the corner on a pick-and-roll and just stops right above the foul line, keeps his dribble, feels the defender on his back and surveys the court. The contrast between that pause and the explosion toward the rim that sometimes follows — I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a bigger contrast in the same player within a second or two.

Jared Wade, Eight Points, Nine Seconds (Indiana Pacers blog)
The devastation that Hurricane Katrina caused throughout New Orleans in 2005 represented the most unforgivable breach of trust I have ever witnessed. So it was through the lens of recent tragedy that I was delighted to watch, just a few short months later, the all-world ascension of Chris Paul, a player to whom I would donate both my kidneys if necessary. Basketball, of course, is no cure-all, but if there was one place that deserved the unique joys that only a point guard like Paul can provide, it was NOLA.

I didn’t have time to write about my second favorite team, but that would be the Portland Trail Blazers. They’ve got a lot of likable guys who can flat-out ball, they’ve got a bright future, and it seems their GM and coach can do no wrong.

What about you? Who’s your second favorite team and why?

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