Something strange about Bobby Jackson's first blog over at RealGM.com. It reads a bit weird all the way through, like it was written in a serious hurry, but what jumped out at me was the comments about Zach Randolph and the Blazers. Apparently penning this ahead of Monday's game against Portland, Bobby writes…

Our last game against the Blazers we held Randolph to only 12 points on 4 of 11 shooting. We won 102-86.

Not sure what game you're talking about there, Bob. I seem to remember playing the Blazers twice this season before the latest meeting. The first game was that 27-point blown lead back in November, the Hornets losing 92-91. Z-Bo scored 31 points in that one. There was also the Dec. 27 game at Portland, which the Hornets again lost, 100-85. Randolph played pretty good then, too, scoring 26 points.

Also worth noting that Bojangles spells Rasual Butler's name wrong, twice. Just some simple mistakes? Or was this even written by Bobby Jackson? I don't know. I don't really care either, just bored here.

Leaving you with Bobby's fantastic analogy about all the injuries this season…

Its almost like you getting one cut on one arm, and as soon as you put a band-aid on it to stop the bleeding, you get a cut on your other arm and must take the band-aid from your original cut and put it on the most recent one, after while all the cuts bleed a little at a time, and I feel that’s what’s happening to us.

I'll admit that there is still a chance the Hornets could make the Playoffs, but it's so slim that every defeat from here on out is potentially fatal. Last week saw losses to the lowly Sixers and the not-so-lowly Raptors, disappointments which had me throwing in the towel.

The Hornets will have an opportunity to avenge that loss in Philly when the Sixers roll into Oklahoma City on Wednesday evening. I'm posting this preview a day early because I'm away most of tomorrow on a diamond heist. We'll flip to bullet-mode and see what's what…

• Big news for the Hornets is that Christopher Emmanuel Paul will likely be back for this one. Darnell Mayberry has the full story, telling us CP looked good in practice earlier today. A decision on his status should be made at shootaround tomorrow.

• Since we last saw them, the Sixers have played four games, losing two. Both wins came on the road, in Cleveland and Atlanta. They were blown out by the Rockets over in Houston on Monday.
• Philly are now 14-32 on the season, 7-21 on the road. They've managed to pass the Celtics in the standings, so they're no longer the worst team in the worst conference. Congratulations.
• Kyle fucking Korver did plenty of damage against the Hornets last week, scoring 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting. He's averaged about 13ppg in the four games since.
• Andre Miller butchered Devin Brown for 17 points and 11 dimes last week. He had a triple-double against the Cavs on Friday, but was limited to just 6 points and 2 assists in the Houston game.
• Andre Iguodala has been on a tear. He scored 20 against the Bugs, and is averaging 23.8ppg and 6apg in his last five.
• Actually, not much done changed with the Sixers since last week. Rookie Rodney Carney is still starting st the 3-spot, with big-bodies Sam Daembert and Hornets-reject Steven Hunter holding it down inside. I'd love to see Tyson drop twenty on them.
• The Sixers halftime entertainment is damn sexy.

I'm sure I'm missing something here, but the title has me covered. Tip tomorrow is at the usual 7pm Central. Doing the old copy and paste below on the linkage from last week. Technology; it blows my mind.

• Sixers team stats
• Philadelphia Inquirer
• PhillyBurbs.com
• Trenton Times
• Sixers Shots

Found something interesting earlier. The following was buried deep in Sam Smith's column in the Chicago Tribune yesterday…

Lakers center Andrew Bynum said coach Phil Jackson told him to "watch how Tyson Chandler plays." Said Bynum, who grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds after watching the Chandler tapes: "He watches the ball and never stops moving. Sometimes I'm standing there and a guy will be leaning on me and get by me. So I tried to watch the ball and keep moving and hawk the ball."

Aww, our Tyson is all grown up.

While I'm here, might as well throw out a quick head-to-head: The table below compares the numbers of Chandler and Ben Wallace this season.

Draw your own conclusions.

The Hornets won their sixth straight home game last night, beating the Blazers 103-91 at the Ford Center. The demon of that 27-point blown lead back in November has been exorcised.

News and notes and stuff…

• Linkage: box | recap | video | photos

• The win puts the Hornets ahead of the Blazers and eleventh overall in the Western Conference standings with a 19-25 record. Minnesota are clinging to eighth right now, their 22-22 record three games ahead of the Hornets. The Clippers (also 22-22) and the Warriors (21-23) are right there, too.
• Kudos once again to Tyson Chandler, who put up 14 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks against the Blazers. In the past three games, he's averaged 11.7 points, 14.3 rebounds and 5.0 blocks. You're making my world a better place, Tyson.

  (More on TC later today.)

• David West bounced back from that trio of poor outings to drop 21 and 10, showing no lingering effects of that ankle tweak.
• Jannero Pargo provided the boost down the stretch, downing 12 straight points for the Hornets to put the game away. He finished with 16 points on 7-13 shooting in 19 minutes. Interesting that David West and Rasual Butler each had 14 field-goal attempts, but they played 37 and 35 minutes respectively.

  But hey, as long as Jannero's knocking them down, I've got no complaints.

• In total, six Hornets scored in double figures. Desmond Mason had 16 points, Rasual scored 15 but hit only 5 of those 14 attempts.
• For the Blazers, Zach Randolph led the way with 20 points and 13 boards, while Brandon Roy netted 19. Jamaal Magloire played 23 minutes, scoring 7, grabbing 6 and swatting 3.
• Portland shot 42% from the field, compared to 48.7% for the Hornets. Our guys also knocked down 22-of-27 free-throws, dished 20 assists and turned the ball over only 8 times. Nice.
• The second pick in last year's Draft, LaMarcus Aldridge, didn't play because of the flu. Dan Dickau didn't play either, but for a different reason. Byron Scott went with an eight-man rotation, sitting out Marc Jackson, Brandon Bass and the rookies.

So the Hornets are making this interesting and making me look like a fool. Don't worry, I'm used to it. Darnell Mayberry presents an intriguing point of view on the "Playoffs or Tank" debate in his latest blog, definitely worth a read.

I'm done for now. Back later.

EDITED TO ADD: Found a fantastic and insightful look at an NBA team through the eyes of a beat writer over at Blazer's Edge. Nothing to do with the Hornets, but makes me appreciate guys like John Reid and Darnell Mayberry all the more.

I'm pretty much stealing this layout from GSoM, but I figure the About.com Division Reports are worth a post on their own each week. Some of them haven't been posted yet, so I'll be checking back to update this later. Do the click thing and get caught up…

Eastern Conference:

• Atlantic Division (usually) brought to you by Ryan McNeill from HoopsAddict.com
• Central Division brought to you by Tom from Cornrows
• Southeast Division brought to you by Mike Prada from Bullets Forever

Western Conference:

• Northwest Division brought to you by Dave from Blazers Edge
• Pacific Division brought to you by the GSoM crew.
• Southwest Division brought to you by me, so no point linking back to ourselves.

That's all. Who wants some cake?

The Blazers are in Oklahoma City today to play our enigmatic Hornets. Portland are 19-26 on the season, compared to the Hornets' 18-25 record, putting the Blazers just percentage points ahead in the standings. Both teams trail the Clippers by 3.5 games for that magical eighth and final Western Conference Playoff thing.

Portland have won four of their last six games, two of those dubs coming in OT, but are just 8-14 away from the Rose Garden in 2006-07.

This will be the last meeting between the teams this season. You might still wake up screaming to the memories of the Hornets' 92-91 loss in Portland back on November 10th, a game in which our then-healthy ballclub choked up a 27-point lead. Refresh. The Hornets tried to avenge that loss on December 27th, again in Portland. Unfortunately, Chris Paul's ankle was chubby, and the Blazers won again, 100-85. I remember a dark room and a branding iron right after that.

Zach Randolph has been the main weapon for zee Blazers this season, averaging 23.8 points and 10.3 rebounds. I guess that's impressive. He's had games of 31-12 and 26-11 this season against the Hornets, and he dropped a career-high 42 points in double OT at Memphis on Saturday, though he needed 40 shots to do it. The Blazers won that game, 135-132.

Portland of course have two of the NBA's top six draftees from 2006, with sixth pick Brandon Roy apparently leading in the race for R.O.Y. He's scoring 14.4 a game but has missed about twenty games due to injury. Second overall pick LaMarcus Aldridge has been struggling to earn playing time in the PNW, averaging 6.9 points and 3.7 rebounds in about 19 minutes a game.

Also of note for the Blazers is our old friend Jamaal Magloire. He's scoring 5.7 and boarding 5.3 in about 19 minutes a game. He won't be making the All-Star team. Little Danny Dickau is also balling with the Blazers this season, getting a massive 8.2 minutes per game. This Spanish kid named Sergio Rodriguez looks to be making noise at the point for the Blazers lately. Look out for him off the pine.

Thus ends our fantastic non-bulleted game preview. Linkage below includes millions of Blazer blogs. In other news, Hornet Henry talks some crazy shit, and not even funny crazy shit, just regular crazy shit.

• AP game preview
• Blazers team stats
• The Oregonian
• Blazers Blog
• Blazers Edge
• OregonLive: Blazers Blog
• Rose Garden Blog
• The Oregonian: Behind the Blazers Beat

The Hornets won their fifth straight home game yesterday with a 94-83 triumph over the visiting Jazz. Utah were a bit shorthanded, entering the game without Andrei Kirilenko, then losing Carlos Boozer to a knee injury about four minutes in. Boo-fucking-hoo.

No prizes for guessing what's next… 

• Linkage: box | recap | video | photos

• This one was different in that the Hornets had a double-digit lead heading into the fourth stanza, and were able to hold it for pretty much the entire quarter. Bobby Jackson and Rasual Butler made some big plays down the stretch to stave off the Jazz.
• After coming out strong in his first three games back from injury, David West struggled against Toronto, Sacramento and Utah this week. He's shot 10-of-34 from the field in those last three, and had just ten rebounds in the last two combined.

  West says an ankle injury he picked up against the Raptors has been limiting him. More on that story from John Reid here.

• Some nice individual performances last night. Desmond Mason sank 7-of-11 for 20 points. Bobby Jackson knocked down all three of his triples and finished with 21 points. Tyson Chandler was perhaps most impressive, scoring only 8 points, but nabbing 15 boards and blocking a career-high 7 shots.
• For the Jazz, Deron Williams kicked ass to the tune of 27 points and 8 assists, making me really really miss Chris Paul out there. Second-round rookie Paul Millsap also came up big for Utah, breaking loose for 15 points and 17 rebounds.
• Check the note low here about some dude who filled out 5,717 All-Star ballots to win a personalized Hornets jersey and a tour of the locker room. I guess I'm not the most freakishly obsessed fan on the planet after all.
• This new Jazz blog I found wraps it up from the other side.
• Marc Jackson was a DNP-CD for the second consecutive game.
• Darnell Mayberry is still thinking the Playoffs are a possibility. I'm still being an asshole about it.

That win gives the Hornets an 18-25 record, with three games left on the current homestand, all against sub-500 teams. Great news too that Chris Paul is set to return to full-on practice on Tuesday, meaning he should be back pretty soon.

Next up for the Hornets are the visiting Blazers tomorrow at 7pm Central. Preview in due time. I'm out. 

The Hornets got back on track last night with a win over the Kings down in New Orleans, and thus restored my faith in their Playoff chase.

Ha! Just kidding. I'm not that fickle. Nice win and all, but it will take another nine in a row to get me back on board. Anyways, these weekends are killing me. Gotta keep moving here. If you're looking for a game breakdown, sorry, not today. Check our news page instead for about a billion links (give or take) posted earlier.

As for tonight, it's back to Oklahoma City to meet the 29-15 Jazz, who come in averaging about 117ppg in their last three. They beat the Nuggets in Salt Lake City last night, though they may have lost everybody's favorite polygamist in the process. Tip is at 7pm Central. Linkage below. Turn off the lights on your way out.

• Jazz team stats
• AP game preview
• Deseret Morning News
• Salt Lake Tribune | Blogs

Yeah, I came crawling back. Being this obsessed with the Hornets isn't healthy. I should have picked the Mavs or heroin or something back in the day. Stupid purple and teal Starter jacket reeled me in.

Anyways, methinks we'll be doing the whole random shizzle thing more often now, since time spent previewing meaningless games is, well, meaningless. Feel free to keep your fingers crossed and hope for the Playoffs, but I've accepted this as a lost season.

And I'm usually such a glass-half-full guy. Bullet-mode…

• The Hornets begin a five-game homestand this evening. Well, kind of. They play the Kings today in sweet home New Orleans. Then it's back to Oklahoma City for the other four, the first of which is against Utah tomorrow night.

• Just the quick dip on the Kings: We haven't seen them yet this season, but starting tonight they'll play the Hornets three times in the next three weeks. They're 17-23 on the season, 5-12 on the road. They've won three of their last four. Kevin Martin is their leading scorer (20.5ppg), Artest, Bibby and Shareef are all dangerous, Artest in more ways than one. Check the linkage down low for plenty more.
• HornetsReport have a funky new layout for their homepage. I give it three thumbs up.
• Former Hornet wide-body Robbie Tracky Traylor done got involved with some shady dudes and is now facing up to 14 months in prison. Whoops. At least he won't be anybody's bitch in there.
• The Hornets have signed a sponsorship deal with the 7up people, making that the official soft drink of the Hornets and therefore my new favourite drink. New Orleans Trumpeters are on me.

Tip tonight is at 7pm CT down on the Bayou. And that's all I have to say about that.

• Kings team stats
• AP game preview
• Sacramento Bee
• Sactown Royalty
• The Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick

Game over.

I said yesterday that if the Hornets lost to the Raptors, the season was done. No Playoffs, see you next year. You know by now that the Hornets did indeed lose. And they didn't just lose in any old unspectacular fashion. No sir, not our Hornets. They waited until they had a 15-point lead with seven minutes left before imploding.

And now the hole is too deep. 

Check out the standings. 16-25. Third worst in the West. Still just four games behind Minnesota for that eighth and final Playoff spot, but four teams with more realistic ambitions between us and them.

Clark Matthews pretty much covered this in a HC blog post yesterday, figuring that the Hornets need to win about 60% of their games the rest of the way to have any kind of shot. Even at that, we'd have to count on Golden State, Sacramento, Portland, the Clippers and the T-Wolves playing like dogs and falling out of contention. Let's face it, that's not going to happen. We're not that lucky.

So, I guess I could just take the rest of the season off, work on my gardening blog. It's less stressful, you know?

Well, last night's loss to the Sixers brought the Hornets crashing back down to earth. Just when I thought the season was finally beginning to look up, they go and drop one to the worst team in the Eastern Conference. Said Byron Scott afterwards: "Forget about this playoff talk. We got no chance if we can't sustain it every night.”

For further depression, check out the following news and notes…

• Linkage: box | recap | video | photos

• The Hornets sucked pretty consistently throughout, falling behind by as many as 19 points in the second quarter and 20 points in the fourth. They were able to cut it down at the end, but it was too little, too late. More from Scott…

  "We were never in this game. Tonight was ridiculous, it really was."

• The worst part of all this hit me this morning when I was taking a look at the latest standings. The Sixers seem destined for one of the top spots in the Lottery with their 12-30 record, but that's not a million miles worse than the Hornets 16-24 record.
• David West continued his solid play, scoring 23 points on 10-of-21 shooting (including a late triple) and grabbing 11 boards, too, just for the hell of it. He's now managed a double-double in all three games since returning from injury. Great news for all you fantasy basketball nerds.
• Rasual Butler had a rough night in his hometown, knocking down just 3-of-12 shots for 7 points, his lowest output in almost three weeks. He reportedly had 50 or so friends and family in the stands. Sucks he couldn't give them a good show.
• Devin Brown canned 24 points despite a swollen left wrist, his bestscoring performance as a Hornet. Desmond Mason was the only other guy in double figures for the Hornets, finishing with 17 points.
• Everyone else pretty much sucked. Tyson Chandler's 9-point, 7-rebound performance were way below what we've come to expect from him, while Bobby Jackson hit just 1-of-7 shots en route to 6 points. In Bobby's defense, his effectiveness may have been hindered by a knee to the nuts.
• For the victors, Kyle Korver came off the bench and torched the Hornets for 25 points. Iguodala added 20, while Andre Miller scored 17 and dished 11.
• Passion and Pride wrap this one up from the other side.

Ok, so where does that leave us?

The Hornets will play game 41 of the regular season tonight at Toronto. I figure this game is an absolute must-win for the Hornets.

The Raps are 20-22 on the season, 12-7 at home, and are currently latching on to the eighth and final Playoff spot in the East. That means they are significantly better than the team we just lost to. Way I see it, if the Hornets can't bounce back from a humilating defeat and beat a mediocre team, there's no way they deserve a Playoff spot. Lose this one, and I'm officially giving up hope.

Doesn't bode well that the Raptors beat the Hornets at home back in November. Refresh.

I'm not going to break down the Raps much here. We all know about Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon is playing well, not exactly sure who else is kicking ass for them. Usual starting quarterback TJ Ford has a bum ankle that kept him out of Monday's crucifiction of the Bobcats. His status tonight is probably questionable or questionably probable. Plenty of Raps linkage below if you crave more knowledge.

In other news, Honeybee Karin won the voting thing and will be going to Vegas. Congrats and all that. HornetsCentral.com couldn't be happier, especially with the lady herself posting on their message board (as "LKD").

Also, check out this NBA-TV prank call. I think all the punchlines have already been done.

Tip today is at 6pm Central. I'm out.

• AP game preview
• Raptors team stats
• RaptorBlog.com
• RaptorsHQ.com
• Raptors Den

The Hornets are in Philadelphia today to meet the Sixers for the first time this season. Philly have been in the news for all the wrong reasons the past few months, from trading Allen Iverson, to buying out Chris Webber, to their lowly 11-30 record. After all that, they'd better get lucky in the Lottery.

Some random bits and pieces on today's game…

• We'll keep an eye on the Playoffs from here on out. As of this writing, our 16-23 Hornets are tied with the Kings for the eleventh best record in the West, but we're just 3.5 games away from that eighth spot, currently occupied by the 20-20 T-Wolves. The Clippers and Warriors are right in the hunt, too.

• The Sixers are 5-11 since trading Iverson, compared to 5-12 with him in the lineup earlier this season. They're 6-10 at home overall.
• Philly have lost four of their last five, the lone win in that stretch coming in OT against the visiting Heat last Friday. Andre Iguodala, Willie Green and Andre Miller each scored 16 points for the Sixers.
• Speaking of Miller, he was of course the principal return for Philly in the Iverson trade (Joe Smith came East, too). His numbers are actually down a little since the deal, averaging 12.6 points and 7.9 assists as the starting PG. Phil Jasner raves about Miller in today's Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Big Steven Hunter, who the Hornets acquired from the Sixers in a trade last year before sending him back after failing a physical, has played 31 games this season, scoring 4.6, boarding 3.6 and blocking 1.4. Hunter has moved into the starting lineup alongside Sam Dalembert in the past two games, and even busted out for a 10-point, 15-rebound performance against the Spurs on Sunday.
• Sammy D is nice in the middle, good for about 10 points, 8 boards and 2 blocks each outing. Sixers' honcho Mo Cheeks is liking him paired with Hunter inside.
• Philly dropped their last game, getting beat 99-85 by the Spurs at home. The other AI led the Sixers with 20 points. What kind of losers must they be though if they can't even beat the frickin Spurs? Sheesh.
• Philly's biggest threat right now is probably Iguodala. He's having a well-rounded season, averaging 16.2ppg, 5.6rpg, 4.9apg and 2.2spg.
• Kyle Korver can be lethal off the bench. He averages 14.3ppg, but has dropped 25+ four times in the past month.
• Found this while browsing for Sixers' pictures. I think I love her.

Had enough yet? Well that's all you're getting. Check the usual linkage below for plenty more on the Sixers, and don't forget there's still questions need answering in the latest trivia post.

Tip this evening is scheduled for 6pm CT. Keep rolling, Hornets.

• AP game preview
• Team stats
• Philadelphia Inquirer
• PhillyBurbs.com
• Trenton Times
• Sixers Shots

Answers for the previous trivia gizmo are in the comments here. Now get cracking at this lot…

1. Which Hornet has a brother named Jeremy balling at Gonzaga?

2. Who the hell is Scott Cochran?
3. Entering Tuesday's game in Philly, who was the last player to have a 20-10 game against the Hornets?
4. What number did Byron Scott wear during his playing days with the Lakers?
5. Who are Karin, Talor and Leah?
6. Ahead of Tuesday's game, how many different starting lineups have the Hornets had this season? (No multiple choice, sorry.)
7. The Saints' Marques Colston played his college football at Hofstra. Which 2005-06 Hornet attended the same school?

That'll do it. Comment away. And no googling this time, Mo!

A few things worth your attention today. In no particular order…

• As mentioned before, I'm writing a weekly report on the Southwest Division as part of a big collaborative effort over at About.com. It's posted every Monday, and there's some great bloggers covering the other divisions, too. I think you'll find it's a handy way to keep up with the team-by-team happenings in the League each week.

• Another good way to keep up with the ever-increasing volume of NBA content out there is the latest Carnival of the NBA, this week/month/whenever hosted by Detroit Bad Boys.
• Shame about the Saints yesterday, but it was one helluva ride. The Times-Picayune has all the best coverage right here if you're interested. The front page of the T-P was pretty cool today, too. That last link is to a PDF, by the way.
• Darnell Mayberry breaks down the Hornets' upcoming schedule, concluding that the wins need to come now if the Playoff dream is to become a reality.

And I'm done. Thought I had more. Must get working on some trivia. Check back.

I am positively BUZZING today. Forget drugs man, following the Hornets this season gives you all the highs and lows you need. I'd go so far as to say that the win over L.A. last night was the best of the season. The Hornets may have had better during the 8-3 start, but that seems like a decade ago.

Before this all gets way too incoherent, lets flip to bullet-mode…

• Linkage: box | recap | video | photos

• David West, I missed you man. I can't empahsize enough how good it is watching him pull up for an 18-footer and just knowing it's going in. Marc Jackson, thanks for your efforts, but get back on the bench.

  West really has been unnatural in his first two games back. 19 and 11 against San Antonio, then 26 and 12 last night. Dude misses 28 games with that elbow injury and is able to pick up right where he left off.

• I don't think it's any coincidence either that the Hornets dropped 113 points on the Lakers last night, their second highest output of the season. West opens things up for everyone else, the defense has to pay attention to him.
• Tyson Chandler had his best game of the season, scoring 17, grabbing 12 and swatting 3. He was 7-of-13 from the field, making it the first time he's attempted more than 10 shots in a game for the Hornets. He's now averaging 11.1 points, 10.7 boards and 1.7 blocks over the last seven games.

  Pack your bags, Tyson. You're going to Vegas.

• Altogether, the Hornets had six guys score in double figures. Rasual Butler rattled home 8-of-16 shots for 20 points, while Bobby Jackson scored three points for every cracked rib, including a key steal and finish at the death.
• Butler, with plenty of help from his teammates, also did a nice enough job on Kobe, who finished with 23 points, although KB24 was more passive than you'd expect. Check this from ESPN's game report…

  The Lakers have played 10 games this month, and during that time Kobe has taken 71 percent more shots in the second half (111) than in the first half (65); but he has recorded 87 percent more assists in the first half (43) than in the second (23).

  Vlade Divac wouldn't do that.

• Maurice Evans came up big for LA, netting a career-high 23-points on 8-of-9 shooting off the bench. Smush Parker was the only other Laker to score in double figures for the Lakers with 13.
• I don't think I've been giving Rasual enough credit lately. He's making me forget all about that Serbian guy.
• Berry Tramel tells us that Toby Keith was in the building last night. I have no fucking idea who that is.
• With West and Bojangles back, the rotation has been shuffled somewhat. Marc Jackson is seeing the biggest demotion so far, playing just six minutes against the Lakers. Devin Brown remains in the starting lineup.

We'll wrap this up with the words of David West post-game: "A lot of people are writing us off, thinking the season is over."

Not me, D. We're 16-23 with more than half the season ahead. That's a lot of basketball left to be played. I'm pumped.

Hornets back in action Tuesday at Philly and Wednesday at Toronto. Winnable games. There's also some big NFL thing today. Kick ass, Saints.

The Hornets lost to the Spurs last night, but as usual, I have F.A. time to throw out notes and thoughts on the game. Being a full-time veterinarian, sacrifices have to be made, sure you understand. Here's your linkage: box | recap | video | photos

Real quick, David West and Bobby Jackson looked pretty damn good last night considering the time they missed. Even though the Hornets left San Antonio with an L, I feel like we're coming off a win because those two guys are back. Big boost right there.

And Chris Paul getting ejected? Crazy shit. According to the S.A. Express-News, all he said was "That's crazy," in reference to Desmond Mason's ejection. Next time he wants to disagree with the refs he should just unbuckle and flash some ass, maybe comment on the flirtatious nature of Mrs. Ref at the Christmas party. You know, make the crime fit the punishment.

Lakers-Hornets tonight at the Ford. Tip is at 7pm CT as usual. More linkage below. Look for the words underlined and in a different color. Dead giveaway.

• LA Times
• Club Lakers
• Forum Blue and Gold
• Lakers Blog
• Show Time

The Hornets take their unlikely three-game winning streak to San Antonio today, as they begin a stretch of four games in six days, three of which will be on the road.

The 411…

• The Hornets have already played the Spurs twice this season, once in New Orleans and once in Oklahoma City. The Spurs won those games by a combined 61 points, which kind of makes us their bitch. Figuratively speaking.

• The Oklahoman is reporting that there's a 50-50 chance David West will return to action tonight. I think if the Hornets' doctors are giving him the all clear, he should probably wait another three weeks before actually coming back. You know, just in case.
• The Spurs have been struggling lately, having dropped their last two, and five of their last nine. So our opponent tonight could show up determined to beat the shit out of a Hornets' team they've already murdered twice this season, or they could come out "old and slow" as Pounding the Rock puts it.
• Overall though, the Spurs are light years ahead of the Hornets in the standings with a 27-13 record. They're 14-7 at home.
• Spurs' chief Gregg Double-G Popovich had this to say in today's Express-News…

  "We're not playing very well right now. We're playing in spurts. You guys can say, 'Why is that?' Well, I don't know. If I knew, we'd be winning every game."

• Darnell Mayberry has an interesting take on back-to-backs in his latest blog.
• Speaking of blogs, Clark Matthews crunches some numbers over at Hornets Central, figuring out which guys have been stepping up in Chris Paul's absence.
• Great opening line from the Hornets-Spurs AP preview…

  The struggling San Antonio Spurs hope to rebound from another uncharacteristic home loss when they face Jannero Pargo and the surging New Orleans Hornets on Friday.

  Jannero Pargo. Franchise player.

And I'm done. I really don't know what to expect tonight. Our ragtag squad is peaking right now, while the Spurs are slumping, so this could be a great night. Then again, those guys have OWNED the Hornets so far this season, so it may not turn out so fantastic.

Either way, today is Friday, that's for sure. Tip is at 7pm CT. Linkage below.

• Spurs team stats
• Pounding the Rock
• San Antonio Express News

Yes, the Hornets have one of those legitimate (i.e. more than two games) winning streak things like you’d read about in the Dallas or Phoenix newspapers. And it’s thanks to a bunch of scrappy underdogs like Jannero Pargo, who went and did some kind of Gilbert Arenas impersonation last night.

News and notes and the like…

• Linkage: box | recap | video | photos
• As hinted, the guy they call Jannero was the big news, scoring a season-high 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting. He started banging in long jumpers mid-way through the third, and Jameer Nelson had no answer.

  I’m really starting to like Pargo, and not in a Dan Dickau sort of way.

• Tyson Chandler saw his fantastic and wonderful and awesome five-game run of double-figure scoring come to an end, as he managed just 4 lonely points on 1-of-2 shooting. He also fouled out with a hack on Darko Milicic at the end of regulation. That led to Darko knocking down a free throw to tie the game up and force OT.
• Marc Jackson celebrated his 32nd birthday by missing all five of his shots and grabbing two rebounds in 21 minutes. Yay!
• Desmond Mason scored 21 for the Hornets, shooting 6-of-18 from the floor, while everybody’s favorite humanitarian, Rasual Butler, scored 19 points on 8-16 shooting and pulled down 11 boards.
• Devin Brown: 3-17 FGs.
• Hilton Armstrong got 16 minutes of burn and came up with 6 rebounds and that big block on Dwight Howard in OT that you’ve no doubt seen by now.
• Hedo Turkoglu scored 16 and grabbed 7 for the Magic, but he was apparently not feeling too good.
• Dwight Howard led Orlando with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Also mentioned in the above Turk link that Dwight will be dunking lots of dunks in the Dunk Contest next month.
• John Rohde wrote a story in today’s Daily Oklahoman entitled “Team is happy with ugly win“.

  I’m not sure about you, but a win could look like the lovechild of Sam Cassell and George Karl and I’d still be ecstatic. The again, both the Hornets and Magic had more turnovers than assists last night. That’s pretty damn ugly.

• Tyson Chandler described the win as “Shakespeare-like”, whatever that means.
• The Orlando Magic Blog, a blog about the Orlando Magic, blog about the Orlando Magic.

I was browsing the HR Forums earlier, and saw somebody mention that the Hornets are now just 4.0 games behind the Nuggets for the eighth seed in the West. Huh? I stopped checking the standings about two weeks ago, mostly because they were giving me an almost uncontrollable urge to take a bath with the toaster. Turns out though that the Hornets are indeed just 4.0 games out of the final Playoff spot. Full standings here.

So I guess everyone that was on the tank bandwagon will be getting off right about now. Or sticking hot needles in their Jannero Pargo voodoo doll.

In other news, David West should be back playing actual basketball games within a week, news which deserves more sentences than I have time to give it right now.

Also, Marcus Vinicius has been recalled from the D-League because he done strained an achilles. Or one of his achilleses. I think “achilles” is supposed to be capitalized for some reason. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor. What I do know is that Quiznos is hurt and now he won’t be able to play the last 15 seconds of every fourth blowout loss. And that really sucks.

Next game for the Hornets is at San Antonio on Friday. Revel in the win streak while you still can.

This latest edition of our trivia thing is all about Hornets' coaches. I'm talking past and present, heads and assistants. We'll do this in that oh-so-popular "Who am I?" style.

So, yeah, get started…

1. I have the best winning percentage of any Hornets head coach ever. I'm currently an assistant with the Detroit Pistons.

2. Besides being in charge of the Hornets once upon a time, I've also been head coach of the Cavaliers and Nuggets. Last anyone heard, I was an assistant for the Sixers two seasons ago.
3. I was a rebounding machine as a player, and my son, Stephen, is currently an assistant coach in Golden State.
4. I won three Championships as a player with the Lakers, and my dislikes include JR Smith and unfolded arms.
5. As a player in 1994, a Michael Cage elbow left me with a contusion of the upper spine. The doctors told me I'd never play again. I disagreed, and returned to the court just seven weeks after surgery.
6. I wrote a pretty good weekly column for the Salt Lake Tribune last season. As a matter of fact, I might still write that column, but Ron hasn't bothered checking.

And that will do it. Answers by phone or in the comments. First one to answer 'em all correctly gets a job with the Hornets as chief medical officer. Salary negotiable, no experience necessary.

I’ll barely have time to shit tomorrow, so this is going up now. In fact, I’ve been so busy lately, that I even completely forgot about the seventh anniversary of Bobby Phills’ death. And I call myself an old school Hornets’ fan? Shame on me.

• The Magic are 22-16 on the season, having cooled a bit since their 14-5 start. They’re 8-10 on the road this season, and will finish up a four-game West coast trip with Tuesday’s game against the Hornets.
• Orlando have lost two in a row following five-game winning streak. They last played at Phoenix on Saturday, dropping that one 101-107. Jameer Nelson led six Magic players in double figures with 26 points.
• Dwight Howard is the main man in Disneyland, averaging 17.4 points, 12.6 rebounds and a pair of blocks a night. He scored a career-high 30 and grabbed a season-high 25 last Wednesday against the Warriors. Those numbers ain’t wrong, I checked.

  He did struggle against the Suns however, managing just 10 points and 5 rebounds in 29 minutes.

• Out injured for Orlando is the uber-athletic Trevor Ariza. He won’t be gardening for 6-8 weeks with a sprained MCL.

  Ariza doesn’t normally start, but Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel is calling him the Magic’s least expendable player after Dwight Howard.

  I remember the Hornets worked out Ariza before the draft a few years ago. Or maybe they didn’t. I’m sure Baron Davis was pushing for the Hornets to draft him though because of the UCLA connection.

• Other players in blue tomorrow who are skilled at various aspects of the game of basketball include Hedo Turkoglu and that Grant Hill dude. Darko Milicic also plays for Orlando, but he’s not better than Dwyane Wade or Carmelo Anthony or Chris Bosh or David West. Full team stats here.
• The Hornets and Magic did tango in Orlando just before the Christmas, back when Chris Paul had two good ankles and Tyson Chandler wan’t a scoring machine. You may remember CP dunking all nasty like on Dwight in that game, but the Hornets lost in the end, 86-83. Refresh.

So yeah, that’s about it. Tip tomorrow is at 7pm CT. Third win in a row? Maybe, although I figure Milwaukee would have been an easier place to get it. No word on when that game will be rescheduled, btw. Linkage below. I’m done.

• Unusually early AP game preview
• Orlando Sentinel
• Believing in Magic
• Dwight Howard YouTube mix