With the season winding down, the last two games have made it pretty clear – some of the Hornets are already on vacation.  Chris Paul, Marcus Thornton, and Darren Collison wanted that game.  The rest of the team was there. For the first half, it was the same problem that the Hornets struggled with all […]

One of the perks of writing a sports blog and focusing on advanced statistics is that sometimes you get to have conversations with the guys who came up with those advanced statistics.  Another perk is we also sometimes luck into great giveaways as a result of our unique non-traditional audience. Well, today, I get to […]

With about 8 minutes to go in the third quarter, the Hornets mathematical chances to reach the playoffs finally acknowledged what the rest of us have known for about three weeks:  The Hornets aren’t going to the playoffs.  At least for the first half, the team was working to stay in it, but Brandon Roy […]

The Hornets started the game with Paul on the floor, took and missed a slew of very long jumpshots, and watched as the Mavericks drilled every jumper they took.  At the 10:00 mark of the 2nd quarter, with the Mavs up 16,  I had in my notes “Caron Butler finally misses a long two.” To […]

I get the people who want Paul to remain out for the rest of the season to make sure he’s 100% healthy. I understand wanting the Hornets to keep Paul out, lose games and jockey for lottery position now that they have no hope for the post-season. In fact, without the playoffs, it’s perfectly logical […]

The game was a complete meltdown for the Hornets.  They held a 20+ point lead in the third, and then went away from everything that got them that lead – i.e. interior scoring – lost their scoring edge, and the Warriors unleashed an absolutely crazy barrage of three pointers to win the game, feeding off […]

The Hornets kicked off their road trip in Phoenix tonight, and despite pulling off the rare feat of shooting 17 more times than their opponent due to their 9 more offensive rebounds and 5 fewer turnovers, still lost by 14. The problem hasn’t changed.  It’s been there from the start of the season.  The defense […]

The Nuggets came visiting and though the Hornets fought all game long, the Nuggets executed beautifully at the end behind Carmelo and Billups and took the win at the Hive.  The last two minutes of Hornets posessions were a bit frustrating.  They took lots of what I call “Hero Shots” as multiple Hornets took off-balance […]

The Hornets managed to eke out a win tonight against the vastly undersized Warriors, keeping alive their slim hopes of reaching the playoffs.  West and Okafor routinely took advantage of a rare game where they could outmuscle the opposition and reeled in 11 offensive rebounds between them. The game itself was decidedly not a typical […]

Those of you who have read this blog for a while know that I’m rather fond of metrics like Wins Produced.  Recently, Dave Berri of the Wages of Wins produced two articles I think you all will enjoy, and so I decided I’d draw your attention to them with a full on blog post, rather […]

No game tonight, but Survivor is on, at least.  Seems like the perfect day for me to post Part 2 of my Survivor: Heroes vs Villains comparison to NBA players.  Part 1, in case you missed it, can be found here. Today, we hit the Heroes of the show and their NBA analog.  Enjoy: Heroes […]

That was a tough game to swallow.  The Hornets had a solid lead with 5 minutes to go, they had Rudy Gay barking at the referees, and earning a tech, and it seemed like they momentarily relaxed.  One minute later the score was tied.  Then the Hornets were down, and then Posey got a vital […]

I was trying to keep from addressing this until the off-season, but the kid from UCLA just won’t let it rest.  With every amazing comeback he leads, with every poised fourth quarter, with every explosive foray to the hoop, he’s forced the issue.  So here’s the question: What do you do when your team’s best […]

Well, I just saved that game on TiVO as “Keep until I Delete”.  It simply had everything I love about basketball in it:  Incredible shooting by the Hornets, West playing with fire, a tremendous comeback against the odds, big shots, and an unlikely hero.  The comeback was crazy, considering how the Magic had built their […]

There are two bits of must-see TV in my life:  The Hornets and Survivor.  I never miss a minute of either.  This season of Survivor has been, quite possibly, one of the most exciting seasons I’ve seen in a long time.  The producers brought back their top ten Villains and top ten Heroes and pitted […]

On the day I write about Darren Collison for ESPN.com’s Daily Dime, the rookie point and his “pedestrian” 22 and 10 was upstaged by fellow rookie Marcus Thornton pouring in 37 points in 31 minutes.  On 22 shots.  Oh, and the 23 points Thornton scored in the second quarter surpassed Peja’s 2006 record for most […]

The Hornets proved once more that they are very concerned about health and wellness.  Sporting a 20-point lead at the half and heading for a nice, relaxing blowout, the guys thoughtfully allowed the lead to slip to only four, raising the heart rate of all fans, both Pacer or Hornet, to acceptable levels. Happily, after […]

As Niall noted below, yesterday Julian Wright vented some of the frustration he must have been feeling all season via Twitter. He then, unsurprisingly, spent the next 9 hours or so defending the series of tweets as various followers jumped on him.  He ended with this statement: Ok, I apologize for venting and making anybody uncomfortable. […]

That’s right.  I blame Morris Peterson for Vince Carter’s explosion last night, and no, it has nothing to do with the fact Peterson couldn’t stay in front of him.(Well, okay, that hurt too)  I blame Peterson because he made Vince Carter care.  Motivation has been the problem for Carter for half a dozen years now.  […]

Normally after a game, I want to write about some items of interest about the Hornets game plan, and then bring up some other items to  illustrate styles of play from either team.  Tonight, however,  I’m flabbergasted.  Nothing in that game was normal or consistent.   Well, other than the fact Tyson Chandler wasn’t playing and […]