As has been noted over on the HR boards, and by the ever-funky Joe in yesterday's comments, the Hornets have an important stretch coming up, one that could make or break their season.

Starting with the visiting Nets tonight, four of our next five opponents have losing records, and the Wizards, who we visit on Saturday, are a-not-all-that-fantastic 34-28. After that run, we'll see the Lakers, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio all within a week. As you know, they are all good teams who can dribble with both hands without looking down.

And I'm still pretty down on the Hornets. I remain optimistic about them making the Playoffs, but I no longer think they can cause chaos once they get there. They're just way too shoddy right now. They'd be lucky to get blown out only thrice in a sweep by Dallas or Phoenix in the first round. Maybe Peja can come back and provide a lift, but I'm not feeling it. I haven't seen any fire from this team since those two consecutive OT wins over a month ago.

Anyways, if the Hornets are to turn this bus around, they need to do it one game at a time, starting tonight in OKC. News and notes as we await them Nets…

• New Joisey have all the motivation they need for this one. They ride into town with a 29-35 record, just a half game back of the Knicks for the East's final Playoff spot. On top of that, the Hornets beat these dudes on their home court just three weeks ago, 111-107. Vince Carter went off for 46 points of the scoring variety, while David West poured in 32 to lead our crew. Refresh.

  (By the way, that result in Jersey is the lone road win for the Hornets the past month. Awesome.)

• The Nets had lost five straight before beating the Grizzlies just last night, 113-102. They did have a tough run before that, though, with stops at Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Again with the dribbling and the no looking.
• Guess who's playing well for the Nets? Boki Frickin' Nachbar. Yes, the same Boki Frickin' Nachbar that the Hornets traded last season for Marc Jackson and Linton Johnson Version 3.0. The Slovenian is averaging 14.5ppg for the Nets over the past 11 games, a stretch which included a career-high 29 against the Rockets last Friday.

  Nachbar remains one of the top five Slovenians to ever play for the Hornets, while also having the distinction of being listed first alphabetically among NBA players whose last name begins with the letter N. He is truly a hero of our time.

• Boki got his opportunity when Richard Jefferson went down with an injury to what I can only presume was some part of his body. RJ made his return last Friday, but struggled against the Rockets and Spurs. He was better last night, scoring 18 in Memphis.
• Vince Carter can score, Jason Kidd can pass, the sky is blue, etc. etc.
• Bobby Jackson turns 34 years old today. I wonder has anyone ever done a study of how players perform on their birthdays. Do they play better or worse? I remember Bobby Sura a few years ago when he played for the Hawks dropping 23 and 15 on the Hornets on his birthday. I still hate him for it.
• David West is in the news today, telling us that the static and predictable offense is to blame for the Hornets' recent woes.

  "We're not making teams have to guard us, we're doing a lot of standing around, and it's killing us," West said. "We bring the ball up on one side, and it stays on that side for the entire possession… We've got to be able to attack certain things and go away from certain things as opposed to everybody knowing that we're going to run a screen and roll to Tyson and Chris"
  

That's all the time I got right now. As usual, there's more in the linkage below. Tip tonight is at 7pm Central. Show me something, Hornets.

• NBA.com's preview
• Hooplah Nation's preview
• Nets team stats
• JoeNetsFan
• David West Sabotages Chris Paul's Rep