The Hornets won their sixth straight home game last night, beating the Blazers 103-91 at the Ford Center. The demon of that 27-point blown lead back in November has been exorcised.

News and notes and stuff…

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• The win puts the Hornets ahead of the Blazers and eleventh overall in the Western Conference standings with a 19-25 record. Minnesota are clinging to eighth right now, their 22-22 record three games ahead of the Hornets. The Clippers (also 22-22) and the Warriors (21-23) are right there, too.
• Kudos once again to Tyson Chandler, who put up 14 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks against the Blazers. In the past three games, he's averaged 11.7 points, 14.3 rebounds and 5.0 blocks. You're making my world a better place, Tyson.

  (More on TC later today.)

• David West bounced back from that trio of poor outings to drop 21 and 10, showing no lingering effects of that ankle tweak.
• Jannero Pargo provided the boost down the stretch, downing 12 straight points for the Hornets to put the game away. He finished with 16 points on 7-13 shooting in 19 minutes. Interesting that David West and Rasual Butler each had 14 field-goal attempts, but they played 37 and 35 minutes respectively.

  But hey, as long as Jannero's knocking them down, I've got no complaints.

• In total, six Hornets scored in double figures. Desmond Mason had 16 points, Rasual scored 15 but hit only 5 of those 14 attempts.
• For the Blazers, Zach Randolph led the way with 20 points and 13 boards, while Brandon Roy netted 19. Jamaal Magloire played 23 minutes, scoring 7, grabbing 6 and swatting 3.
• Portland shot 42% from the field, compared to 48.7% for the Hornets. Our guys also knocked down 22-of-27 free-throws, dished 20 assists and turned the ball over only 8 times. Nice.
• The second pick in last year's Draft, LaMarcus Aldridge, didn't play because of the flu. Dan Dickau didn't play either, but for a different reason. Byron Scott went with an eight-man rotation, sitting out Marc Jackson, Brandon Bass and the rookies.

So the Hornets are making this interesting and making me look like a fool. Don't worry, I'm used to it. Darnell Mayberry presents an intriguing point of view on the "Playoffs or Tank" debate in his latest blog, definitely worth a read.

I'm done for now. Back later.

EDITED TO ADD: Found a fantastic and insightful look at an NBA team through the eyes of a beat writer over at Blazer's Edge. Nothing to do with the Hornets, but makes me appreciate guys like John Reid and Darnell Mayberry all the more.