The Hornets are back in action today at the Ford. In town are the Raptors and their 4-9 record, which means the Hornets should pull out of their current three-game tail spin.

But, as we know by now, there are no guarantees. Peja and West are still out, so Chris Paul will need to return to stud status and get some help from his teammates to win this one. Rasual Butler needs to get his finger out and knock down some jumpers. Ditto Marc Jackson.

Anyways, we know all about the Hornets woes so best not dwell on them. Here's the 411 on the dinos…

• The Raptors are on a season-high one game winning streak. They beat the Pacers in Toronto on Sunday, 92-83.
• Chris Bosh is of course the man for the Raptors. He led the way with 17 and 11 against Indy, and for the season he's averaging 21ppg and 12rpg. Those are big numbers.
• It's cold in Toronto this time of year.
• The top pick in this year's draft, Andrea Bargnani, has been struggling with his NBA game, averaging just 6ppg and 2rpg in 14 minutes a night. Then again, waht do you expect from a dude named Andrea?
• TJ Ford looks to be playing pretty well for the Raps, scoring 15 and dishing 8 every night. I remember CP saying something about TJ being one of the fastest guys in the League recently.
• Morris Peterson has missed the past three games and will likely miss this one. Ford and Bosh are apparently not at 100% either. All that from here.
• Some people over at the HR boards have a Mo-Pete crush, btw.
• The Raptors beat the Cavaliers just last week, so they can be dangerous.

And yeah, that's about it. I was going to go do some proper research on these guys, but I stumbled across these pics via RaptorBlog.com and all the blood rushed from my brain.

Tip is at 7pm. The usual linkage is below…

• Raptors player stats
• SLAM! Sports – Raptors
• Toronto Star
• RaptorBlog.com
• RaptorsHQ.com
• Raptors Den
• Canadian Peregrine Foundation – Raptor Identification