With that 106-88 win over the Celtics at the Ford Center yesterday, the Hornets have now won two of their last three games. Oh yeah, we're shit hot. Watch out Dallas. We're coming for you!
News and notes and stuff like that…
- Linkage: box | recap | video
- As Darnell Mayberry points out in today's Oklahoman, the Hornets haven't had the luxury of a blowout win in quite a while. A funky second quarter blew the game open, the Hornets outscoring the C's 31-9 in the period. Unlike countless other times this season, our guys managed not to cough up the big lead, instead running it to as much as 30 points late in the third. It was cruise control from there, and Byron Scott rested every starter not named Devin Brown in the fourth quarter.
- A couple of big-ass plays in this one. That Devin Brown kid had a monster block on Allen Ray in the second quarter, smacking what should have been a fastbreak layup off the glass and almost to half-court. Topping that was Cedric Simmons throwing down a toss from Jannero Pargo late in the fourth. Nasty. NBA.com has video evidence: Devin's block | Ced's oop.
- Having failed to register a double-double in his past four games, Tyson Chandler delivered 16 points and 11 rebounds in just 27 minutes. Chris Paul shot 5-of-8 for 15 points, and added 6 assists, 5 boards and 3 steals in about a half hour of work.
- Rasual Butler dropped 5-of-7 triples, finishing with 18 points. He's now averaging 14.7 points in his past three games, having nailed 13-of-18 from deep in the same span. Looks like he's finally out of that slump.
- Over on the HR boards, Harvey Hornets delivers a cool report from the game last night. Dude was sitting courtside, making me bright green with envy.
- Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 28 points in 29 minutes. He had 29 points and 19 rebounds on us back in November.
- Linton Johnson: DNP-CD? Anybody?
- A sobering observation from John Reid in today's T-P:
[Before last night] 13 teams had combined to shoot 50.4 percent and average 103.7 points against them since the All-Star break.
- More observin' from Peter May in the Boston Globe:
The victory was the first this season at home by the Hornets against an Atlantic Division team. They had lost to the Nets, Sixers, and Raptors.
- Check the note low here to find out why Al Jefferson gets called less for traveling these days.
- Loy's Place wrap it up from the other side. I'm sure the other million Celtics' blogs did the same.
Apparently the players were feeling pretty good about themselves after this one, smiles coming out their asses and whatnot. My first thought was that they shouldn't be patting each other on the back just yet, given that those Celtics really suck and we're still 1.5 games out of a Playoff spot. But then I caught this quote from Boss Man Scott…
"Everybody keeps talking about the playoffs and all this other stuff and the race. Like I told them a couple of weeks ago, 'We have no choice. We're going to be in a race.' I think we're thinking about it too much instead of just going out there and playing. Enjoy it. Have fun."
Ok, sure. Maybe that will work. Let's run with it.
Moving on, the Hornets play the Grizzlies in Memphis this evening. Chris Paul and Bobby Jackson are both calling it a tough game, even though those Grizzlies have the NBA's worst record at 17-50. Sad thing is, they're right. The Hornets lost in Memphis five weeks ago (refresh) so I guess every game is tough these days.
Not much time to preview, so check the linkage below for more on the game. Memphis are coming off a one-point win over the visiting Bulls last Saturday. Tip tonight is at 7 Central. And I'm done.