Over the last week or so our posts have been getting progressively morose.  Tonight ain’t going to be an exception.  The Hornets were handled in Houston.  They never challenged.  Indeed, they never even made a push.

Bullets:

• There were a few bright spots tonight.  The first was Devin Brown, who played aggressively and was big for the Hornets off the bench.  His defense was solid, and he attacked the basket.  5-10 with 3 free throws, 13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 turnover in 19 minutes.  That’s good.
• West had 18 and 10, but 7 of those 18 points came in garbage time as he hit a three and had a couple long jumpers finally sink.  The rest of the night, he struggled against the Rockets defense.
• Our defense wasn’t bad – especially in the third and fourth – but we’ve got to bring that defense in the first.  We keep digging these awful holes for ourselves.  Play all four quarters, guys!
• Julian Wright had some nice moments, going 2-4, snagging 2 rebounds,  getting 2 assists, getting a steal and scoring 4 in 16 minutes.  He also played some nice defense.  He did pass open a few wide open shots in favor of off-the-dribble twenty footers.  Bleh.
• Peja was terrible.  Bad fouls, bad shooting, bad effort.  1-5 for 3 points.  We need our starting forwards to score, or this is going to be a long season.
• Tyson was aggressive.  He abused Yao Ming for the alley oop – but was only able to corral 4 rebounds. Still it was nice to see that play work over and over.
• I thought we had done a decent job containing Yao – but then I look and he’s got 21 points on 7-12 shooting.  Yao’s only averaging 16 so far this season.  Yay us.
• The worst part of the game was the fourth when we started intentionally fouling in order to put Chuck Hayes on the line.  I hate the hack-a-player strategy, but this was perhaps the dumbest version of it I’ve ever seen.  You hack Shaq or Ben Wallace in order to force them to hit free throws or be pulled from the game – with both of those options being good for you.  You hack Chuck Hayes – and does that give us any sort of advantage? Do you think Rick Adelman gives a crap if he has to pull Chuck Hayes from the game?  “Oh no, I have to pull my 9th best player off the floor!  Oh dear!”  Stupid.
• Paul couldn’t even hit his open shots this game.  Yes, that means the only starter who shot well was Tyson.  Sigh.

That’s enough.  I’m off to bed.