The Hornets return home, down two, and the odds and history are against them coming back and taking this series.  However, there are still some reasons for optimism, so I’m going to keep this post light and hopeful.(And no, I’m not going to bash the refs.  Never had much use for that.)

6 Reasons the Hornets will win:

1.  Chauncey isn’t going to keep this up.  Seriously.  Billups has played so far over his head this series its ridiculous.  The most he’s ever managed to average in a playoff series was 23.3 against Milwaukee a few years ago.  He’s had a good dozen series where he managed 21-22 points a game.  He’s a good, consistent point guard, but he’s not consistently unstoppable.

2. Carmelo Anthony.  Carmelo has done exactly what the Hornets have wanted him to do in both games.  Look, the guy isn’t that efficient of a scorer at the best of times(1.25 points per shot ain’t that great) but in both games he’s been baited into taking jumpers exclusively.  Melo could destroy the Hornets if he drove, but he won’t.  That’s good for us.

3. No one puts CP3 in the corner.(consistently)

4. The shooters have been open.  Rasual Butler, Peja Stojakovic and James Posey have had their looks all series long.  They’ll continue to.

5. Home-cookin’.  It’s gotta be nice to be out of thin air and not worry about jokers tossing beer bottles at you.  And the gumbo . . . mmmm.

6. Niall has the recap.  It seems like I recap most of the losses, he recaps most of the wins.  He’s a bit like our very own “Lucky” – you know, the little leprechaun character that sells Lucky Charms?  I mean, he’s even irish!  Can there be a better analogy?

Enjoy the game.