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January 2009
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Bradley Handwerger: April 2008 ArchivesSo, we know this is a pretty big night for New Orleans. The Hornets become the first NBA team in the city to move into the second round. Rather, the first NBA team in the city to move out of the first round. What we don't know is this: Where does this accomplishment fall in comparison to the sports history of New Orleans? Is it as big as the Saints clinching the division and an NFC playoff win over Philadelphia in 2006? New Orleans won its first-ever NBA postseason series with its 99-94 win over Dallas. The Arena, plain and simple, went crazy when the game ended. And it did rightfully so. This city has taken to the Hornets, and I do believe the Hornets have taken to the city. Stay tuned to see who the Hornets play next. If San Antonio wins tonight, the second-round series could begin this weekend. ...The Mavericks have made it interesting, cutting the Hornets' lead to 97-94 with 33.2 seconds remaining. Can the Hornets pull it off? ...
I think it's time. I'm calling it. Time of death on Dallas' season: 7:00 to play in the fourth quarter. Really it could have been called at the end of the third quarter, but there was still a little bit of a pulse. The Hornets have all but ended the hopes of the Mavs. New Orleans broke out of the third quarter funk with a 13-4 run to push the lead to 84-67. Jannero Pargo has been the catalyst, scoring 7 point... Despite owning a 15-point lead at halftime, the Hornets couldn't put this one away in the third quarter, which could be worrisome to some. New Orleans has really owned the third quarter of late. Is this a sign that Dallas is coming out of its shell? Let's see what Scott Cody, sitting to my left, has to say: Actually, a little cross-promotion here at the Arena. The cameras spotted Reggie Bush in the courtside seats and Hugo got the Saints running back to sign a football. Hugo decided he didn't want to throw the ball to the crowd and he got Mr. Bush to toss into the crowd. Reggie Bush is on the second most famous man in attendance, though. Tommie Lee of rock and roll fame was in the house. He is more famous, no? ..."You knew it was going to be the Hornets night when Tyson Chandler had 2 points before he had two fouls. They had a little lull, Dallas tied it up, and it was right after they tied it up the Hornets exploded out like a horse race. Sometime you don't run too well with the lead. They have played well in the third quarter of every game in the series. I'm sure 15 will be 20 by the end of the third." Speaking of horse racing, be su... Well, in one of my previous posts, we talked about how the energy wasn't there and how Dallas was threatening to make this a series. It's crazy how quickly things can change. As I was writing that post, New Orleans decided to play some basketball. In fact, after Dallas tied the game at 32-32, New Orleans closed on a 22-7 run. We're now at 54-39. David West has 14 points, Tyson Chandler has 10 points and 9 rebou... So, Byron Scott put back the starters in and, lo and behold, the energy level picked up. So many times this season we've heard the players and Scott talk about how the bench really lifted the team to a win. Not this time. The starters are doing everything in their control to put this series away tonight. New Orleans' starters have 39 of the teams' 48 points tonight. Tell me, am I the only who sees it this way? ..."Avery Johnson put his starting five in to start the second save for Eric Dampier. That's what you do in an elimination game. Dirk is starting to heat up. I'm wondering if after this timeout, Byron puts his starters back in. If you can hold the lead going into halftime, it's over." My take: Well, the Hornets don't own a double-digit lead as Mr. Cody thought they might. But no worries. The score isn't as close as it seems. New Orleans is really dominating, and has from the outset. The Hornets have 12 rebounds to Dallas' 8; the Hornets have 0 turnovers to Dallas' 2; the Hornets are sharing the ball, leading in assists 7-3; and more impressive, New Orleans has five free throws to zero for the Mavericks. Davi... Dirk Nowitzki, in the prior two games in New Orleans, took the brunt of New Orleans' cat calls. No longer. Apparently, New Orleanians weren't very happy with the way Mavs point guard Jason Kidd took Jannero Pargo to the ground Sunday night. Kidd, you'll remember, was ejected after a Flagrant II. He was not suspended, however. Maybe the NBA decided being booed for, oh, 48 minutes or so, would be punishment enoug...
Scott Cody, now a certified Hornets expert after traveling to Dallas for Games 3 & 4 has this to say about tonight's game as he watches it sitting next to me: Sayeth he - Sayethe me- Earlier today, New Orleans head coach Byron Scott officially was awarded the NBA's Coach of the Year trophy. This afternoon, hours before his Hornets tipped off a potential series-clinching game against the Mavericks, he was still, well, some would say on cloud nine. "I'm still kind of in shock," Scott said. "I've got to give credit to the guys in the (locker room). I gave CP the keys to the engine. They've done all the work." ... I knew Byron Scott was going to have a fairly good chance to become the NBA's Coach of the Year. But to do it in the fashion that he did, well, that speaks volumes to the respect the Hornets and Scott have earned as a franchise this year. Scott picked up 458 votes, including 70 first-place. Doc Rivers, the runner-up, received 242 votes, including 23 first-place votes. That means Scott was the overwhelming Coach of the Year. >> Continue reading: Scott NBA's CoY in big way Just quickly, the Hornets set franchise marks all over the place Tuesday night. The Hornets: New Orleans hasn't won in Dallas since 1998, or, as Paul put it, "since Muggsy Bogues was running th... Chris Paul just recorded his 15th assist of the night. That ties a franchise record for the playoffs (Muggsy Bogues). He also has 29 points right now, pending a free throw. And Dallas can do nothing about him. Oh yeah, the crowd continues to shout M.V.P! M.V.P.! This guy. He's good. The NBA playoffs - it's where Chris Paul happens. Update: 3:41 left You know, there were a bunch of people - we'll call them experts - who said Dallas was just too good for New Orleans. Too much, what do they call it? Oh yeah, experience. Chris Paul and his friends have stepped on that theory and crushed it pretty darn good. And their feet aren't off the pedal. This game is completely in New Orleans' control. It's shooting 64 percent and holding the Mavericks to 45 percent. On... Peja Stojakovic just pretty much put this one in the bag. Sure, it's early to call it. There's still 7:47 left in the game. But "Treyja" just hammered home a 3-pointer and the place went nuts (as they normally do whenever Peja steps back to line up for a 3-pointer). He followed that with a lengthy 2. It's 80-58 and the Hornets are doing whatever they want to...and the fans are loving it. The best part of this run - th... Chris Paul has 12 points and 10 assists. David West is 7-of-11 for 18 points. Peja Stojakovic has 14 and Jannero Pargo has 10. You know what that says? It says that New Orleans is getting contributions from more than one player, and that means the Mavericks aren't doing a very good job of containing the Hornets. But the stat that stands out the most right now is this - New Orleans is leading Dallas in fast-break points 17-4. <... New Orleans leads 67-51 at the break. I personally don't get the feeling that this one is over. I can't explain it other than Dallas doesn't seem to be going away. It has no reason to. Now, aforementioned WWL ace reporter Juan Kincaid's take: Says he - "The Mavs said their game plan was to get the ball out of Chris Paul's hands. Paul has 10 assists at halftime; four guys are in double figures, including Paul and (Janne... As stated before, New Orleans shot 70.8 percent. Here's some more: The Hornets outrebounded Dallas 11-5, held Dallas to 11-of-19 shooting and forced one Mavericks turnover. New Orleans' 39 points was a franchise playoff record for the first quarter, and the Hornets outscored the Mavs 18-10 in the paint. ...Dallas is shooting nearly 58 percent from the floor. That's not too bad. Do you know how to combat? OK, good answer. Good defense helps. But no, New Orleans is shooting 70.8 percent, scorching the nets. Chris Paul is on fire again. He only has 6 points, but he's running the offense to perfection and has eight assists after one quarter. He's on pace for 32 assists in the game. That won't happen, but that ain't bad. ...OK, it's not from the Mavs. But the Hornets are on a roll, running off a 9-4 run that has the Arena rocking. And the fans are waving their white towels. WWL Ace Juan Kincaid talked with this guy Byron Scott yesterday, I don't know if you've heard of him. He's the Hornets head coach. Scott told Kincaid that he expected Dallas to pressure Chris Paul more. He wanted Paul to attack the pressure by dribbling through the double. >> Continue reading: White towels are waving in the Arena We're 4 1/2 minutes in and Tyson Chandler has set an early tone. First, he blocked Eric Dampier, then ran the floor and graciously accepted a pass up high from Chris Paul for an alley oop that rocked the Hornets Nest. For the first time in I can't remember how long, the Hornets have started a game fast. I'd say this is exactly what the Hornets needed to do tonight against Dallas. So far, I've yet to see any of the prom... I say that, but there's like 12 people here with 10 minutes left before the 6 p.m. hour. This is one thing I've never understood about the Hornets, and to a lesser extent, Saints fans. There's a show up at halftime mentality in this town. No one would ever show up late to an LSU football game. And here we are talking about the playoffs. Playoffs! We're talking about the playoffs, not just some random game against oh, ... John Hollinger is high on the Hornets. In fact, he's calling shenannigans on the whole "lack of experience" factor people seem to bring up day after day after day. (continued) From the Hornets Staff: I've crunched the numbers. I've read the Times-Picayune. I've recrunched the numbers. I still can't find where the paper came up with its total since Dec. 1, the agreed upon date for New Orleans to average 17,735. After getting 17,388 fans - the team's sixth straight sellout and 12th in the past 17 games - New Orleans Arena is seeing an average 14,732. That's not ba... That's a lot of initials and acronyms and such, but hey, the end rhymes and we're all about rhyming here in the Handwerger household. That said, ESPN put to a vote who its writers thought was the NBA MVP. KB24 - you know, that just doesn't work for me - Kobe Bryant came through with a close win. ...The Hornets will host a "Hornets Fan Up Playoff Pep Rally" Thursday from 6-9 p.m. on Harrah's Fulton Street. At this event, you can meet the Honeybees - the reason why the attendance has risen, right? No? - as well as the Used to Bees, Hugo and the Hornets Drum line. Oh, right. Coach Byron Scott and the players will be out there addressing the crowd, as well. There will be chances to win playoff merchandise and the Topcats will... OK, I've been a little late with this one. All right, a lot late. The Hornets have played three home games since I last updated this. But here we go. Heading into Tuesday night's home finale against the Los Angeles Clippers, attendance is flying high. In the past three games, New Orleans Arena's average attendance has risen by 300 fans to 14,651. That's fewer than 100 fans from the Hugo Line, ... OK, so maybe that doesn't sound as good as the monster truck or super sale slogan Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!, but I was trying to get your attention. Despite losing two in a row and three of their past four games, the Hornets still are battling for home-court advantage, at least in the first round. Heck, a dream of a division title is still out there. So, that said, New Orleans plays at home against the Clippers on Tuesday and at ... First, ESPN was giving love to Hornets guard Chris Paul. Now, the World Wide Leader in sports is all over New Orleans head coach Byron Scott. J.A. Adande says that if we're talking about Paul for MVP should the Hornets win the West, why not Scott for Coach of the Year for the same reason? ...You've heard the debate for at least the past two months. But ESPN's Jemele Hill takes the NBA's MVP race a step further and declares that it would be a slap in the face to give it to anyone other than Chris Paul if the Hornets stay in first in the West. ...So, with the playoffs fast coming upon us, ESPN's John Hollinger says he thinks the Hornets have enough in them to finish the regular season as the No. 1 seed in the West. ... |
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