The Mavericks are in New Orleans today to play our favorite insect-themed pro sports franchise, and that usually isn't a good thing. The Hornets have dropped 18 straight games to Dallas, which equates to not having beaten the Mavs since November of 1999, back when Baron Davis was a rookie and there was no such thing as television.

(Of course, the real tragedy in all of this is that I never got to use that "Diddy Does Dallas" headline.)

I have a good feeling about the game today though, for no particular reason. Maybe I'm still drunk from that seriously fantastic sandwich I had earlier, I don't know.

Here's what I do know…

• The Mavs are pretty gosh darn good judging by their 16-7 record. Delve a little deeper however, and you'll find that the Mavs are even better than that. You might remember how they started the season 0-4, so my brain figures they're 16-3 since then.
• The great news is that the Mavs are playing the second game of a back-to-back today, having beaten the Sixers, 93-79, in Dallas last night. The Spurs were playing the second of a back-to-back on Thursday, and that really seemed to wear on them at the end of the game when they were up 20 points. Awesome.
• About that Philly game yesterday. That was the Sixerseses tenth straight loss, their longest in ten years. The Mavs had a balanced attack, with six guys scoring 12 points or more. Jerry Stackhouse sat out with a tweaked groin muscle, but he's expected back against the Hornets.
• The Hornets have already dropped a game to the Mavs this season. Refresh. The final score was 73-85. Peja and D-West were both injured for that one while Bojangles was ejected for disrespecting referee Derek Richardson's mama.
• Tyson Chandler says he's good to go tonight and he won't be eating green chicken any more, no sir.

In other news, we learn that Chris Paul is a poker shark (about halfway down), and he's going to be a Hornet forever. There's not much more beyond that. Linkage please…

• AP game preview
• Dallas Morning News
• Forth-Worth Star-Telegram
• Dallas Basketball
• Blog Maverick
• Mavs Moneyball
• The Official David Hasselhoff Myspace Page

Tip is at 7pm CT. Still undecided about getting messed up tonight and forgetting my own name. A little help?