The measure of the moment
In a difference of degree
Just one little victory
A spirit breaking free
One little victory
The greatest act can be
One little victory

— Rush, One Little Victory

Sports

After a thrilling week with but a single victory, the Hornets are 25-48, good for sixth worst in the NBA with 9 games to go. They play tonight against one of those 5 teams with a worst record, Cleveland, tonight at 5 CDT. You can see the game on FSNO and at the Arena.

That single victory opened the week and was against the Nuggets ending their winning streak. The short-handed Hornets dominated the offensive boards, allowing the Hornets to take 25 more shots . . . and making 16 more of them. Toss in going 14 of 25 from 3 in that set, and the Nuggets advantage at the line was unnoticeable. It was a great win, even if impossible to approximate again. Good job, Hornets.

In the loss to the Clippers, their rebounding advantage disappeared and with it their advantage in number of shots attempted. Being on the wrong side of the advantage behind the arc then did them in. The Hornets hung in the game through three quarters, but could not even come near closing the game out with the 12 points of the 14-point-deficit coming in the fourth quarter.

The Heat had a TS% of 0.710.

News

The Hornets signed Terrel Harris for the rest of the season.

The New Orleans Hornets have signed guard Terrel Harris for the remainder of the season, Hornets Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Dell Demps announced today.

The Oklahoma State product has appeared in seven games for the Hornets this season, averaging 0.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 11.4 minutes per game. Earlier this season, Harris appeared in seven regular season games with the Miami Heat before being waived on January 5th, 2013. In 14 total appearances this season, Harris has averaged 1.0 point, 1.5 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 7.8 minutes of play with the Heat and Hornets combined.

The 6’4” guard is in his second NBA season after going undrafted in the 2009 NBA Draft. A Texas native, Harris originally signed with the Heat on December 10, 2011. Prior to his signing with the Heat before the 2010-11 season, Harris spent professional stints with Strasbourg IG of the France ProA League as well as the Maine Red Claws and Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League.

Around the Site

In the NO this week featured discussion of the Hornets win streak that continued into the Nuggets win. Jake’s beneath the screen looks at end-of-game situations while Mason takes a look at what kind of offers might be made to Aminu this offseason.

`Voices’ of the People

One of my favorite articles of the year. It’s the best reasoning I’ve heard so far about his end of game tactics. Execution on end of game sets like this will come as our guys get older, more experienced, and get more chemistry together. You can fault the play calling if you want to I guess, but Davis maybe doesn’t get the right spacing and position for that tip back if this is the first game of the year.

— Bigeauz

Good god I was hoping Miller would have a solid game before the end of the year. I’m all for ping pong balls, but I think it’s great for this young team to win a game like this by playing hard-nosed defense, attacking first, and never letting the pressure off. Brian Roberts played amazing tonight! Proud of the work the guys put in tonight. Wouldn’t mind seeing them beat the Clips April, the one time a year I make the trip to The Hive. Man I hate living in Shreveport! Awesome article Mason.

— loudlikepat

So happy for this win. Shows our future is looking good. Real proud of Miller and Roberts! I seem real improvements in them tonight

— Snow

42 Sense

Against 3 strong opponents, the Hornets dominated, were dominated, and hung with a better team in a loss before the game got away them. One can argue that Nuggets game was just a fluke, and it certainly could have been in some respects, but the short-handed-Hornets’ Victory showcased some of the improvement on this team. It also showed exactly what the various pieces of the team can do, and it was impressive, if disjointed. Gordon is driving more and getting to the line. Anderson has been doing his thing, and Davis is steadily getting better, even in longer minutes. Many of the role players are showing flashes.

The better these guys play, the more options Dell will have the offseason to keep these guys and send them away to help bring back quality.

Besides that, the win against the Nuggets seemed to energize everyone on the team and most of the fans and it showed. It was a great week on the court (yeah, the Heat game was messy) and off. Bottom line: victories have value beyond getting a team to the playoffs or reducing lottery odds. Bring on the wins.

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