Oh yeah, 8-3.

The Hornets beat zee Heat yesterday, 101-86 (box | recap | video | photos), to improve to the best 11-game start in franchise history (apparently). If ever there was non-conclusive proof that the Hornets are going to win the whole damn thing, this is it.

News and notes and a pint of the usual…

• The Hornets had six guys score in double figures, with Peja's 23 leading them all. Desmond Mason had 17 and Bobby Jackson 14. Chris Paul scored 10 and dished 11 for his sixth double-double of the season.
• It seemed like the Hornets shot better the further they stepped out. The free-throw shooting was a miserable 16-of-32, the field goal percentage was just 42% for the game, but they dropped 11-of-19 from deep.
• Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 29 points, with 13 of those coming from free-throws. I'm just saying.
• Beyond Wade there was, uh… let me see… well, there wasn't much. Dorell Wright had 10 and 12 but that's about the only help Dwyane got. The other four starters combined for just 24 points.
• Tyson Chandler scored a career-high 7 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. He had 10 of those boards in the first 10 minutes. Nice. He also had one block, bringing his season total to six.

  You read that right.

• From the AP report:

  The crowd of 19,329 was the second-largest ever for a Hornets game at the Ford Center.
  
  Amazing.

• The Piston Slayers — Hilton Armstrong and Brandon Bass — only saw a combined 6 minutes of garbage time. See kids, working hard and making the most of your opportunities doesn't pay off. Stay lazy.
• On the same subject, this from The Oklahoman today:

  Scott estimated that he learned 75 percent of his coaching philosophy from (Pat} Riley and the other 25 percent from Larry Brown.

  I'm guessing it's that 25 percent that doesn't let the kids play.*

• There were some tensions running high in this one. First, Marc Jackson and Alonzo Mourning got into it midway through the fourth (video of that here) and both were tossed. MJ could get a suspension for that. We'll see.

  Three minutes after that, Antoine Walker decided to be a prick and elbowed Chris Paul in the head. Luckily, Antoine has fat elbows, so it wasn't a sharp blow. He got ejected, Chris dusted off his halo, and the Hornets kept rolling.

There's plenty more to know about the game but I ain't got the time to tell you. Check out all the links over on the news page for more.

So, next up are the Suns in Phoenix at 8pm CT today. Steve Nash was back for the Suns' 113-110 win at G-State on Monday. He had missed two games with back spasms before that, but showed no ill-effects by dropping 19 and 15 on the Baron-less Warriors, including the clinching triple with 4 ticks left.

Phoenix are just 4-6 on the season, having started 1-5. They have played a tough schedule though, with losses coming against the Lakers, Spurs, Clippers, Jazz (twice) and Mavericks, teams with a combined record of 40-13. No joke. The Suns are 3-2 at home.

They have three guys averaging 18+ ppg in Nash, Barbosa and Marion. Amare and Raja are throwing in 14ppg, too. They're averaging 108ppg for the season, but giving up about the same amount. Full stats are here. Knock yourself out.

Your usual fill of relevant links are at the bottom of this post. (Actually, there's just two, but whatever.)

In other news, everybody and their grandmother loves JR Smith. Kid scored a career-high 36 against the Bulls yesterday, btw.

• The Rising Suns blog
• AZCentral.com

(*You know I'm just kidding, right? The team is winning. No complaints.)