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Denver 92 (19-8) | New Orleans 98 (12-13)

As we've previously mention, "Holy jeezum... Chris Paul."

Seriously, how did we pull this one out? the Nuggets outplayed us for most of the first half and some of the second. We looked absolutely pitiful for stretches. Devin Brown, when he wasn't busy killing us with bad shots, looked slow on defense (of course, I think Ty Lawson would make just about everyone other than Collison look slow). Meanwhile, in the paint, Nene was owning Mekatron. Peja's hot hand and slow night from Melo kept the game close for a bit, but things look pretty bleak leading into the half.

But then, as expected, CP pulled up on the assists (he already had 15) and begin dropping shots. The whole thing was bananas; he was all over the court. What's more, is that his efforts seemed to energize the rest of the team, allowing the Hornets to finish a 33 point third quarter holding an 8 point lead. 

The Nuggets, who played well the whole night, couldn't stop the bleeding, and the Hornets marched on through the 4th and took home the W. Different game if Billups plays? Probably. But the Bee's held their own and finished strong. I'm not saying they've finally put it together, but we did see Paul shifting into a gear of venomously competitive play that we haven't seen regularly in quite a while. And that's nice to have going forward.

Bullets after the jump.

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Detroit 87 (11-14) | New Orleans 95 (11-13)

Up and down. Up and down. Weird game.

There was groaning a plenty from the less than impressive crowd (in size). But who could blame them. #1: The Hornets committed 14 turnovers in the first half alone. #2: It was Honeybee night in what had to be the worst marketing idea ever.

The turnovers, along with a shooting implosion in the second quarter (which included 6 scoreless minutes... in a row), put the Hornets at a seemingly insurmountable 13 point deficit. But somehow, some way, the Bees started taking better care of the ball and making shots that were rimming out throughout the first half. Oh, and CP played 43 minutes. That helped.

You hate to see CP have to step up his minutes so much--especially since we all thought our bench was going to better this year--but mediocre to poor performances from everyone besides David forced Bower's hand. I was just glad to see the crowd join in and get behind the team... at least the ones who stayed after the second quarter.

Bullets after the jump.

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New York 113 (8–15) | New Orleans 96 (10–12)

Swept by the Knicks? Say it ain't say so, Chris. Say it ain't so.

Unfortunately the Hornets, after starting strong in the first half, put up only 34 points in the second half and allowed the Knicks to turn a 9 point deficit into a 17 point victory. Frankly, the first half was pretty much what you would expect for a team like the Knicks: dumb fouls by Eddie Curry, careless turnovers by Al Harrington, and WTF?! shots from Larry Hughes.

But credit the Knicks for getting it together and out-shooting the Hornets like whoa... like really whoa. Final percentages for the Knicks: 55% from the field, 52% from deep, and 93% from the stripe. The Hornets? 40%, 22%, 88% respectively... or not so respectively... or something.

Bullets after the jump, but first:

While averting our eyes from the unraveling Hornets, Curry and I started discussing Okafor's lack of a nickname. Curry suggesed "The Big Oak." I retorted that a tree, while tall, is ostensibly rooted to the ground and maybe not the best metaphor for basketball player. I've been using "Mek," but I'd be willing to change. Vote below!

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Sacramento 94 (9-11) | New Orleans 96 (9-11)

Hooray! Another nail-biter against an inferior organization! No offense to the players and fans of California's capital, but a CP-led Hornets squad should be able to take care of business against a Kevin Martin-less Kings.

Both teams shot at or above 50% on the night, but both seemed to approach scoring quite differently. The Kings flew through the lane (Collison had met his speedy nemesis in Tyreke Evans) and outscored the Bees in the paint by more than 20 (56 to 34). The Hornets, on the other hand, took care of business downtown, going 8 for 18 from deep. 

New Orleans was also fortunate to have great performances from CP, DX, and Mek, which was nice since the bench didn't show up. The 3 aforementioned players each logged 35+ minutes and finished with a double-double and at or above 50% from the field. On the other side of the ball, the Kings got a more even performance from their entire team, with the exceptions of Evans and Jason Thompson, who both played out of their minds.

Ultimately, the team stats for both teams look remarkably similar (which isn't surprising for a game decided by 2 points), but it would appear that the King's poor, poor performance from the stripe is what ultimately did them in (9 for 19... which is worse than Shaq's career 51%). Actually, the Hornets performed poorly from the stripe, too (just over 60%... you don't have to be better than the best, just the team you're playing). Both teams combined to go 23 for 42 from the stripe tonight, which comes down to about 54.8%. Looks like everyone will be running laps tomorrow.

Bullets after the jump.

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Minnesota 89 (2-17) | New Orleans 98 (8-11)

CP3 is back! CP3 is back! CP3 is back!

And without missing a beat I might add. Chris put any lingering concerns about his injury to rest with a ridiculous line of 16 points, 15 assits, 8 steals, 6 rebounds, and a block.

Unfortunately, I was only able ot catch pieces of the game via radio, so I'm afraid any insight I might have is limited to "we won," "it's nice to see Emeka continuing to score at a high percentage to go along with all his boards," and "CP3 is back!"

I don't (and won't) do this often, but for some truly insightful analysis, turn to our buddies over at Hornets 24/7. They'll (unknowingly) cover for us today. But I'll be back in full force Tuesday (with actual coverage).

Oppenents Take: Canis Hoopus

Comment if you got 'em.

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Phoenix 103 (10–3) | New Orleans 110 (5–8)

Wow, right? How did that happen?

I have to admit, 15 minutes before the game tonight I sat down in my seat at the arena and thought, "Oh yeah, this is a TNT game. Now everyone will get to see the slaughter. Like the Christmas Day Massacre all over again."

And why not? Despite beating the Clip Show the other night, we've been playing some pretty uninspiring ball. Not to mention that the glue that holds this team together is sitting on the sidelines in a (formidable) suit. Take that and throw it out against the team with the best record in the conference and who do you think walks away with the W? Thankfully, no one on the Hornets was buying my sour nancy act.

The Suns scored first, but then Hornets rattled off 15 unanswered points, capping an improbable run that brought the previously listless crowd roaring to their feet. 15 points for the Hornets, 2 for the Western Conference-leading Suns. (I would like to reiterate that CP3 did not play. At all.) Sure, those numbers were unsustainable–Phoenix had to start hitting shots at some point–but the by then, the buzz in the arena was flying. It almost felt like home-court advantage again. Like, dare I say, 2007. More correctly, it was fun in a way that the previous 10 or so games hadn't been.

At any rate, Phoenix closed the gap and even took the lead a few times, but Hornets dominated in a few key areas to seal the deal. For starters, we rebounded like crazy tonight. 56 to 38 was the final tally, but more importantly we finished with a 51% rate on the offensive glass (that would be 25 to 14) which led to a 31 to 13 advantage on second chance points. It probably didn't hurt that we shot high percentages from deep (52%) and the stripe (83%), but it was our aggression on the boards that gave us the real advantage. Oh, that and we finally played like a "team" (Devin Brown passed! Like 5 times!). Byron had run that notion out of the locker room, so it's nice to see it make a return.

Bullets after the jump.

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Portland 86 (7–3) | New Orleans 73 (3–7)

Well, that could have gone better.

Sorry I'm so late with the recap. I'm on the road all day, so this one will be short. Then again, most of us probably just want to forget about this game all together, so there's that.

For the Hornets, last night was a game of new coaches, bricked shots, an injury which we shall not reference (lest it become more serious), and a couple of rookies running all over the place. For the Blazers, last night was about bricking shots but still finding a way to win.

By the way, I don't think I can over emphasize the amount of poor shooting we saw in this game. Both teams combined to miss over 100 shots... without factoring in the clangers from the charity stripe. Combined percentage from the field for both teams: 37.3%. Even worse, from deep both teams managed to hit only 5 of 27 shots from deep (which is roughly 18.5%)... Oof.

You know what? This is depressing. Let's just move on to the bullets.

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Toronto 107 (3-2) | New Orleans 90 (2–4)

Oof. That wasn't pretty.

The game was actually pretty close throughout the first half, but then the Raptors (who are the third highest scoring team this year) went bananas in the second half, shooting almost sixty percent and draining what felt like an endless barrage of threes (they finished with 14 to our 6... but they made theirs 50% of the time to our 30%). Credit the Raptors for shooting so well, but don't forget to thank the Hornet's new defensive scheme called "the sieve."

But seriously, though we did look pretty helpless on defense, the Raptors were simply on fire. For instance, there were several series where Emeka played Bosh really well on D giving him no space and always getting a hand in his face during shots. But Bosh seemed to sink every one of his shots anyway. And when I say every one, I mean every one. Bosh was a perfect 10 for 10 on the night (including a trey) and also managed 8 for 11 from the stripe. The guy was an absolute beast.

Our offense, on the other hand, looked so ineffective on the court that I was surprised when I looked at the box score and saw that we shot 48% from the field. If we could just cut down on the turnovers and play something that resembles defense once in a while, we might actually start winning games. You know, like in a row.

Bullets after the jump.

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