Hornets taking on the Raptors this afternoon at the Air Canada Center Centre in Toronto.

Them Raps have disappointed this season, starting out with a 12-17 record. They blew out the visiting Nets on Friday but had lost four of five before that. They’re 8-5 at home this season.

Meanwhile, the Hornets are coming off a big win over the Nuggets in New Orleans on Friday, when Chris Paul went off for 30, 19 and 9. The Hornets are just 2-10 on the road this season, 0-4 against Eastern Conference hosts. A win today would get them back to .500 with a 13-13 record.

Hornets and Raps last met on November 4th, with Toronto using a 34-14 third quarter to blow the game open and cruise to a W. Video analysis of that here.

Game tips at noon Central, but it’s not on local TV. If you don’t have NBA League Pass, tune into Sean Kelley and Gerry V calling it on 106.7 FM.

Linkage:

• Journals: Contenders or Pretenders?
• Lagniappe: Chris Paul talks about his shoe release, plus some other stuff
  
• Rival bloggers: RaptorBlog.com | Raptors Republic | RaptorsHQ.com

(Many thanks to Dariusz for the banner, today featuring Kirk Snyder. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz’s designs in our Wallpapers vault.)