I'm gonna take a pass on the usual game flow notes today, and just jump straight to crunch time of Hornets-Raptors last night.

After Chris Paul uncharacteristically missed two free throws that would have put the Hornets up one with 25 seconds left, the Raps grabbed the board and called timeout. They inbound in the backcourt and Jose Calderon gets it up the floor, turns his back on the basket and just dribbles down the clock. Chris is right there defensively, but there's no way he's stealing one. With 5 seconds left, CP finally gets the okay from Byron Scott on the sideline to foul Calderon. The Spaniard makes the resulting free throws, the Raptors are up three, and the Hornets run an inbounds play for the tie. Peja ends up launching a tough three with Chris Bosh in his jersey.

Air. Game over.

So the question is this: What the hell was the Hornets' plan coming out of that timeout? Sure, you try for the steal off the inbound, but if that doesn't happen, you must foul immediately, right? If we had done that, we would have had several chances to make up the score, instead of just one. As it was, we let Calderon dribble 20 seconds off the clock for no particular reason. I don't get it.

Anyways, great job by David West last night. He had some turnovers late, but overall he played like a freak of nature. I think some of the blunders by him and CP in the fourth quarter can be attributed to them playing pretty much the entire game. The bench needs to step up in a hurry or we seriously need to start looking for a trade.

Hornets back at it tomorrow, when they start a three-game road trip in LA against the Clipper Snappers. Leaving you with some linkage for the Raps game: box | recap | standings

Oh, and Happy New Year. If you weren't in New Orleans for the change over, believe me, you missed out.