Final
New Orleans came on strong in the end, but couldn't find a way all the way back from behind, losing to the New York Knicks 101-95 Monday night in the New Orleans Arena.

The Hornets fall to 22-12 while New York improves to 14-22.

3:45 4th Quarter
The Hornets are back in the game as Rasual Butler just made a 3 followed by a fast-break layup. And the crowd is in the game...sort of. Loud, but not as loud as I've ever heard this place.

The Knicks being the Knicks - and by that I mean a bad team - I can totally see this slipping from them and into the home-standing Hornets' hands. If New York were a better team, Byron Scott's Hornets would be done for.

7:22 4th Quarter
The Hornets are getting killed on the back-door cuts by New York. Byron Scott will have to find a way to stop that.

The New Orleans defense still isn't producing stops. And the offense still isn't hitting.

New York leads 81-72.

End 3rd
The only stat you need to know is this: Chris Paul has only two assists through three quarters.

No one is making shots for New Orleans.

2:45 3rd Quarter
The only new news is that Chris Paul is beginning to heat up. I think he's beginning to take it personally that the Hornets are playing like, well, the mud at the bottom of the Mississippi River.

He has 7 points and a steal in the past 4 minutes of the game. And he's going to be at the free throw line after the timeout.

Hornets are still down 63-58.

5:39 3rd Quarter
Well, we're more than halfway into the third quarter and New Orleans is still listless.

Chris Paul isn't penetrating. Tyson Chandler and David West can't get anything going.

Meanwhile, the Knicks are holding New Orleans to 35 percent shooting, this from a team that allows 106-plus points per game to its opponents.

Byron Scott needs to light a fire under his teams' behind. But that's not going to happen, at least right now. The Hornets coaches are watching Hugo do a mid-court routine on a bicycle. I admit. it's entertaining. But shouldn't they be talking with the players?

Halftime

What does Juan Kincaid have to say about a pretty energy-less first half that has the Hornets down 47-40:

"It's a bad-shooting night for the Hornets so far. Missing shots. Looking a step slow. Byron Scott talked about how you can't overlook a team like the Knicks. He said, 'The reason we can't overlook is we're still young.' The Knicks are taking advantage.

David West is missing a lot of easy shots. But you're shooting so bad and playing with very little life and you're still down only 7 points. That's the encouraging part.

4:39 2nd Quarter
This much is certain - New Orleans isn't taking advantage of its size on the inside.

David West just stood at the goal for about 10 seconds and had an easy shot. But Antonio Daniels and teammates didn't get him the ball until he was double-teamed underneath the basket and West missed an easy layup.

More importantly, when Byron Scott called a timeout, he didn't exactly do any rear end chewing. He met with his coaches about 10 feet away from the bench.

No word on what he told the team during the rest of the timeout.

8:48 2nd Quarter
it's obvious what the Suns, er, Knicks offense is - find the 3-pointer, shoot the 3-pointer. It's very reminiscent of the Phoenix teams that Mike D'Antoni used to coach. So it's no coincidence that D'Antoni coaches the Knicks now.

New York is 3 of 8 from beyond the arc.

New Orleans, meanwhile, is 0-for-5 from 3-point land.

The Hornets' starters are out, and maybe that's what's going on here. But we'll see what changes Byron Scott makes the rest of this quarter.

End 1st Quarter
Juan Kincaid's 1st Quarter thoughts:
"Nothing has changed since we spoke last."

No. Seriously. He's right. Not much has changed.

Still no energy. Still no defense. Still a sub-par effort from the Hornets.

1:20 1st Quarter
Tyson Chandler just threw down a dunk from underneath the basket after corralling a nice pass from David West.

I still can't get a feel for this game. The crowd is silent - we just heard David West shout at a referee that the Knicks traveled. The stands seem about half full.

But there's also very little energy on the court.

We'll see how what happens out of this timeout.

4:30 1st Quarter
First thing - there is very little defense being played in the New Orleans Arena tonight. it's all about the offense.

Tyson Chandler has a good start with 8 points. That's about all I've got.

But what about Juan Kincaid, award-winning sportscaster at WWL-TV:
"Tyson has been aggressive. Really not much more besides that. Hornets have a size advantage in a lot of spots. They need to utilize that."

And that's why Juan Kincaid is who he is. He has the scoop.

Pregame entertainment
Hornets lineup:: G Rasual Butler, C Tyson Chandler, G Chris Paul, F Peja Stojakovic, F David West.

Knickerbockers lineup: F Wilson Chandler, G Chris Duhon, C Jared Jeffries, F David Lee, G Quentin Richardson

Noteworthy...notes:
**G Devin Brown said in the locker room prior to the game his left ankle was getting better and that he feels good about both ankles.

**The Hornets are looking for their 8th straight win against the Knicks

**New Orleans' last loss against New York at home came on Dec. 8, 2004 when the Hornets fell 84-79.

**New York is 5-14 on the road this season, while New Orleans is 12-4 at home, with losses coming to the Lakers twice, Atlanta and Sacramento.

**The Knicks enter the game with the league's sixth-most prolific offense, averaging 102.9 points per game, aided by a league-high 10.4 made 3's per game. The Hornets, meanwhile, are third-best in the NBA in scoring defense, allowing only 92.2 points per game.

The (Almost) Always Quotable Byron Scott
Byron Scott apparently is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan. So much so, in fact, that he wanted to talk more about the team's AFC Championship game against Baltimore than the Hornets' game on Monday against the Knicks.

"We should talk about the Steelers. We shouldn't even talk about NBA basketball tonight. What do y'all think?" -- Byron Scott at the beginning of his pregame news gathering.

He predicted, by the way, a 17-14 Pittsburgh win.

"You've got to run back to your man and almost turn around at the 3-point line." -- Scott, talking about defending a team that jacks up an NBA-high 29.3 treys per game.

"It's going to be just like it was last year. Four teams in the playoffs. Whoever wins it will will it by a game," -- Scott, talking about how deep the Western Conference's Southwest Division is this year.

"We're not playing on a consistent basis. We're up and down as far as energy goes. Maybe that was due to the fact that nobody gave us a chance and we played with a chip on our shoulder." -- Scott, on the main difference between the 2008-09 campaign and the 2007-08 season.

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