A recent poll from Hornets247 shows that Hornets fans overwhelmingly want to face the Dallas Mavericks in round one. Given the choice between the Mavericks, Lakers, or Thunder, Over 81 percent of all participants in the poll chose the Mavs, with 11 percent saying the Lakers, and only 7 percent choosing Oklahoma City.
Why the Fans Feel That Way
The Mavericks are the only team that the Hornets have beaten in a playoff series since 2002. The Bees have enjoyed a mental advantage in recent years as well, winning the head to head advantage 13-7 since the 2007-2008 season. In fact, the Mavs haven’t been able to get a win in New Orleans since March 27th, 2007.
With the way Chris Paul typically dominates Dallas, New Orleans fans might just want to see the Mavs in order to view CP3’s best. He’s averaging 21-10 this year, while shooting over 58 percent. Last season he averaged 23-9-3 steals on 50% shooting, and the season before that he averaged 33 points, 12.5 assists, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals vs only 1.8 turnovers. In the playoff series preceding that year, he threw out a little 25-12-1.2 turnovers. So yeah, you could say that he has shown up against Dallas in recent years.
Dirk and D-West are just two players who genuinely don’t like each other, and that’s always fun for the fans. Their battles down low are enough to make any Hornets fan long for a repeat of this- (35 second mark. I just can’t find it alone)
Why Facing Dallas Would Be Tough
This ain’t your slightly older brother’s Mavericks. Dallas is a damn fine team, comprised of a number of former Hornets, most notably Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic. They’re deep, talented, and skilled on both ends of the floor. They sport 10 different players who sport a PER of over 14, and have the ability to beat you in a number of different ways.
The most troubling is that they hit the three ball at a 37 percent clip, good for 9th in the league. The Hornets have struggled defending the three ball for the better part of 2011, and Dallas is a team that will knock them down all day if left open. With Dirk, JET, Caron Butler (edit- Butler is out for the rest of the season), DeShawn Stevenson and now Peja and his still lightning quick release, they have enough threats from behind the arc that the Hornets could run into trouble if they lapse on defense for even a few plays.
Tyson Chandler continues to be a major concern as well. He plays great D against both West and Okafor, and with Haywood and Mahinmi off the bench, Dallas has one of the deepest front courts in the league. If they can effectively shut down David West as they have done all year, they will have the advantage.
West is averaging only 15 points on 14 shots and 7 rebounds per game against Dallas this year, while playing more than 37 minutes per game. Typically the Hornets struggle offensively when West can’t get it going, and if they have to rely on Okafor to bring some sort of offensive game to the table, that will spell trouble over the course of a long series. I expect West to bring everything he has for the playoffs, so hopefully Okafor would be left to focus primarily on defense, rebounding, and setting good picks.
Why Facing Dallas Would Cause My Head to Explode
Remember how much of a fuss Cuban put up when the Hornets shelled out a little cash to bring in Carl Landry? Well, if he has to face the Hornets in the playoffs, and New Orleans gets so much as one questionable call, we will never hear the end of it. His people will analyze the plays on video (aka all over the internet), and will lead some people (read- lunatics) to believe the idea that the NBA actually is influencing the officials to perform in an impartial manner.
There has already been talk among NBA conspiracy theorists that the league will help the Hornets in order to bring up their value. After all, an appearance in the second round would go a long way toward proving to CP3 that the team is close to being contenders, which could further entice both him and David West to stay, effectively keeping the franchise viable in New Orleans. That is, after all, what the league has stated it’s number one desire is in regard to it’s purchasing of the team
Of course this is all nonsense. There is no conspiracy among NBA refs, nor does the league influence how games are called, but that won’t stop the crazies from coming out of the woodwork. It won’t stop Cuban from making statements and then getting fined, and it certainly won’t stop the inevitable explosion from the internet that will occur when the Hornets get their fair share of calls in what is an extremely difficult game to officiate. Lastly, it won’t stop people from pretending that the NBA really did fix the series, and that all the proof they need is the outcome.
I dread facing Dallas mostly because I don’t want to deal with the shenanigans that Cuban and his cronies will propagate all over the internet if the outcome isn’t to their liking. That is something that nobody around here wants to deal with.
Aw, who am I kidding? A series win resulting in a Cuban hissy fit would probably be the best thing to happen to Hornets fans since 2008.
Bring on Dallas.
36 responses to “Hornets Fans Want the Dallas Mavericks in Round One”
Caption: heh heh…winning
i want the spurs in the first round!!!!
“With Dirk, JET, (Caron Butler), DeShawn Stevenson and now Peja”
This dude calling Caron Butler a 3 point thread lol
threat* sorry i couldnt even type it my brain wouldn’t allow it
He actually was shooting 43% on the year before getting hurt. I’m not sure why I thought he was coming back at some point. My bad.
Ya i was just playing. Besides him being injured Caron Butler is one of the worst 3 point shooters (at the 2 and 3 position) ive ever seen in my life and hes been hated on it since he entered the league. I just saw hes 43% on the year but thats on very limited shots (i think hes just performing outside of himself). Just found it funny someone would call him a 3pt threat
I agree about the s-storm we will get if we win. I hope if we face them carl goes crazy on them. It would suck having to listen to all of it but as you said pissin off Cuban really would be delicious.
I wonder if the mavs fans want to play us in the first round. Imma try and troll on some forums and see what the general consensus is on what team they want in the first round. I hope they are scared of us, cuz they should be
The Mavs also have no one that can guard Landry if Landry is coming off the bench. Landry would be huge in a series with Dallas.
mental advantage, hornets. Of all the teams in the league, we seem to have a serious mental advantage over the Mavs. That on top of the pressure u know they put on themselves for wanting so desperately to get out of the first round will more than likely be their undoing. They are unquestionablely one of the most tragic teams in the last decade when it comes to the post-season. They always have a reall good record, finish near the top of the West, then get curvestomped in the playoffs. The one year they went to the Finals, they lost to the Heat. After that, they seemed to be doomed to be a great regular season team, but just not someone u expect to see in the finals, or even the confrence finals.
Yeah the Mavs are a choke-a-thon in the playoffs. Dirk can shoot and everything, but his teams gag it up when it counts. Maybe the Mavs bigs can slow down the Hornets’ but Oak can d-up on Chandler, too. Not so much on the Spurs, Nugs, or Lakers bigs. The Mavs have perimeter shooting and run nice plays for open threes, but if Willinelli can d-up a bit, retroCP3 can eat, eat,eat that backcourt. Playoff teams that live by the three die.
Caption: (in Emperor voice) “Give in to your hatred… gooooood!”
Lol dont know why but that cracked me up lol oh well played
Forget the Mavs. I still want the Spurs!!!
It’s not guaranteed the Hornets will beat the Mavs in the playoffs. I remember when the Mavs and their fans wanted the Hornets in the 08 playoffs. We have to be careful what we ask for. Also, it would be nice to beat another team besides the Mavs in a series.
Also, not having homecourt advantage will be tough.
How far you go in the playoffs are determined by matchups and good health. Hornets fans know that even though it’ll be tough, Dallas is a matchup the Hornets can likely win. The Lakers are tough, and the Thunder are still looked at as league darlings ever since they left Seattle. Durant would live on the free throw line. If I as a fan had to choose out of the Lakers, Dallas and OKC, my order would be Dallas, OKC, Lakers.
Surprised only 7% wanted OKC.
Give me anyone but the thunder. That would be the most aggrivating playoff series of my life. It would be like a greyhound chasing that stuffed rabbit at the track, they wouldnt beat us by a mile wed keep getting close but just not close enough. And there would be nothing we could do, they can shoot, they can slash, they play 100 mph offense anyone but the thunder please God. They are the only team i am confident we cant beat
The 11% that wanted the Lakers are the fair weather fans that follow this site FYI. No Hornets fan would want to see them in the first round.
I emphatically disagree. I’ve been a fan for a long time and I would actually prefer to see the Lakers in the first round. The Lakers aren’t unbeatable. Can you imagine what it would do for Chris Paul and David West’s confidence if they were to knock off the champs?! And it’s not impossible.
Same here. I say bring it Western Conference!
Of course, that’s me being an Optimist Prime. 😀
http://images.geeknative.com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/optimist_prime.jpg
That is some funny s}%t.
A good friend of mine, who is a huge Mavs fan, said that he really doesn’t want to play NO and thinks its a toss-up due to the homecourt advantage the Hornets have on the Mavs. Who knows, we could win out at home and get just one game on the road and it’s our series.
Caption-“Guess where my hands are.”
Ok, I’m not understanding this at all. I believe the Hornets can win against Dallas. I don’t think we would be favored by anyone, and I don’t think it’s a given that we would win. If you look at this objectively, Dallas is CLEARLY the more talented team, and it’s not even close. We only have an advantage at one position (albeit it’s a huge one, if CP is healthy). Also, regarding the choking thing, how many times did they choke? Really it was only that one year against the Warriors, and that was due more to bad/stupid coaching and poor matchups which Avery Johnson’s horrible coaching successfully allowed GS to exploit. Last year sure they were a 2 seed, but they lost to the Spurs, who were not a normal 7 seed.
I’d rather face the Thunder simply because they don’t have the kind of experience the rest of these teams have and Ariza and CP can do a decent job neutralizing Durant and Westbrook, and Perkins probably won’t be healthy so Mek might have a good series
Hence why I’m surprised by how few people prefer to see the Thunder in the first round.
As of the current seeding we are sitting at 7th place. Looking at the remaining games POR and DEN have easier schedule than us. I think it narrows our chances to face either LA or DAL. Head to head wise we are 0-3 against the lakers and 2-1 (one away game to play) vs the mavs. In my opinion we have a better chance advancing 2nd round against DAL. But the payoffs is a different level. We have guys getting there just for the first time (Mek, coach, etc.) and guys who been there before but out for a long time. Playoff experience wise we are still short. Plus we dont have the home advantage which is for sure. But then again we also know how to win on the road. We may not have any chance of beating the defending champs in a series be we have a preety good chance against the mavs so I guess hornets fans got it right on the polls.
I want the Mavs or Spurs. Mavs just to see Landry go off and get Cuban’s panties in even more of a bunch. And the Spurs because we’ve always give them a run for their money. And with Duncan’s ankle right now looking like it might linger into the first half of the first round that would make Mek’s life easier because lets face it even tho Duncan’s lost a step he’s still very much what makes that team tick. But getting the spurs would mean dropping to 8th. But i would think the goal is to is to stay playoff bound but get away from the lakers in the first round. We CAN beat any team in the West besides the lakers in a series in my opinion. People outside the NO fanbase think we should be a lottery team and although we have some headscratching losses. If you look at some of our wins we’ve won at least 1 game against MIA, BOS, and won twice against ORL, DAL, and SA. I’d say thats a pretty good resume.
And am I the only one hoping that the last game of the regular season against Dallas will determine if we get dallas in the 1st round. Man if we were to beat them on their own floor to get them in the first round… would be priceless. The fear in their hearts would be glorius for me as a Hornet fan.
That would be excellent.
I guarantee you that we are the team that Dallas does NOT want in the 1st round. Essentially the difference between the Hornets and Mavs is that the Mavs don’t lose to inferior competition. They pound on weaker teams, which is why their record is so good. They do, however, have a losing record within the Southwest division, which should tell you somthething. The Hornets, on the other hand, play to the level of their competition on most nights.
In the regular season, Dallas is able to wear down bad teams with their depth. Depth at each position is their greatest strength. The problem with that is, although fantastic depth helps you get into the playoffs, it gets mostly negated in the playoffs because the rotations get shorter. That means the biggest weapon in the Mavericks arsenal doesn’t pack the firepower in the postseason that it does from November-April.
I would still give Dallas a slight individual player advantage from at least 4 of the top 6 players on each team’s rotation, but it’s my no means a huge gap. The Hornets know they can beat Dallas on any given night, and would not have a problem getting up to give the Mavericks a fight.
I’m not saying the Hornets would win a series against DAL, but I will say that this is by-far the most favorable 1st round matchup. OKC and the Lakers would both destroy the Hornets (hopefully not Nugget-style), and the Spurs are the Spurs. The Hornets would take that series to 6 or 7 games, but Timmy and company would end up breaking our collective hearts (again).
Well said my man..
Doesn’t matter.
You still need to beat everybody on the way to the top.
If you think about this stuff, you are off target and not working on your game.
Whoever it is…
Study their game hard, come up with your plans and then play the game.
Just an observation… we seem to have trouble with teams that makes Dwest offense struggle. Few teams to mention are Lakers (Odom), OKC (Durant), Chicago (Noah). That’s why whenever we face those teams, we always come up short. With the mavs, I’m just worried that TC will be all over Dwest. The last time we won a playoff series TC is on our side.
As much as I’d like to see Dallas, I’m reminded of similar scenario from the Charlotte days. Back in ’97 the Hornets wanted to face the Knicks in the playoffs, as they matched up very well against them. They could have finished as high as 4th, but “managed” to drop to 6th and drew New York. That ended in the Hornets’ most embarassing playoff loss until the series that shall not be named, a quick and messy 3-0 sweep.
I’m just saying, careful what you wish for.