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Dear Mr. Thibodeau,

I write to you today not as a member of the media, but as a hopeful New Orleans Hornets fan who wants ever so much to see his favorite team bring home an NBA championship.

In an off season in which no less than six head coaching jobs will change hands, it's no surprise that a man with your credentials and personal recommendations is being sought after, especially given the Celtics stifling defensive performances throughout the playoffs. Bravo, might I add.

Now, I'm not here to tell you how great you are, since I really have only come to know the details of your supposed genius rather recently. We can leave that to the writers who have had the privilege of covering your previous and current employers, since they are obviously more qualified than I. What needs to be said is something more relating to the city of New Orleans and the team that the Hornets can be(e).

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The New Orleans Hornets will reportedly extend Tom Thibodeau an offer to become their next head coach. What remains to be seen however, is whether or not he will accept the job, or wait to see what happens in Chicago.

Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report:

"Boston Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau has emerged as the frontrunner for the New Orleans Hornets’ coaching job and an offer could be forthcoming in the near future, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

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Salary Cap Stuff

Don't get too excited, but it appears that the that the NBA salary cap and luxury tax lines are dropping less than expected. It's now being projected that the cap will fall from 57.7 million to 56.1 million. The 1.6 million dollar decrease is millions less than most front offices had anticipated.

The expected luxury tax hasn't been revealed, and likely won't be until the official salary cap is set. That said, I project it to be just over 68 million, given the historical correlation between the two. This years luxury tax line was set at 69.92 million.

As it stands right now the Hornets have ten players under contract for approximately 72.2 million dollars.

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Another game, another defensive-minded opponent for the Hornets. But hey, after beating the Bobcats and dropping 117 on the Magic, New Orleans ain't scurred. Final game before the Mardi Gras All-Star break, tipping at 7 Central.

The Celtics are 32-17 on the season, 17-8 on the road, but have gone just 9-12 since beating the Magic on Christmas Day. As a result, there are trade rumors galore.

Boston have a trio of All-Stars in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo, but Garnett has been struggling (13ppg, 6.3rpg since returning from injury last month) while Pierce has been battling a foot injury (though he will reportedly play tonight). Rondo has been brilliant of late however, averaging 19 and 12 in the C's last five games.

The Celtics last played on Sunday, imploding in the third quarter and losing 89-96 to the Magic in Boston. The C's last met the Hornets back on November 1, winning 97-87 behind 27 points from Pierce. Peja Stojakovic led New Orleans in that one with 26 points off the bench.

The Hornets will have Marcus Thornton back for tonight's game, hoping his return helps snap a four-game home losing streak. On Monday, the Hornets scored 70 points in the first half in Orlando, but eventually fell to the Magic.

Numbers:

Pace: Celtics 93.7 (24th), Hornets 94.4 (20th)
Offensive Efficiency: Celtics 105.4 (13th), Hornets 105.1 (14th)
Defensive Efficiency: Celtics 99.1 (1st), Hornets 105.9 (20th)

Linkage:

• Earlier on the blog: Ryan blames Morris Peterson
• Lagniappe: Rookie diaries, Dirk prefers Deron, Hollinger criticizes Posey
  
• Rival bloggers: CelticsBlog | CelticsHub.com (THN) | RedsArmy.com

(Many thanks to Dariusz for today's banner featuring Larry Johnson, one of the main reasons I became a Hornets fan way back when. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz's designs in our Wallpapers vault.)

The Hornets led at the start, kept it close the rest of the game, and then were out-executed by the Celtics when the Boston starting five entered with a few minutes left.  As usual, there was some good, some bad, and some ugly, but the guys played hard, displayed improving familiarity with one another, and generally showed enough that I came away satisfied.  Let's get to the observations.

• First and foremost, the Hornets lost the game because of Kevin Garnett.  After keeping him in check fairly well through the first three quarters, the Celtics went to him consistently in the fourth and he couldn't be stopped.  David West played excellent defense on him, contesting every shot and anticipating his moves, but Garnett kept drilling tough shots over the top of him.  It was a tour de force.
  
  
• On the offensive end, West and Okafor had a terrible game.  The Celtics battled West all game for position and then attacked him aggressively every time he managed to catch the ball in the post, making it impossible for him to work.  Their traps came from all sides, and sometimes he ended up taking some very bad shots since he had no open avenue for passing out. Okafor had the same problems that Dwight Howard encountered last year playing against Kendrick Perkins.  Perkins is limited, but he's as strong as a bull and defends the post extremely well.  Okafor missed some point-blank shots he normally wouldn't early, and by the second half he was so tired of battling Perkins he took a trio of mid-range jumpers.  I haven't done a full Emeka Okafor post to detail his offense, but as a mid-range shooter, he's terrible.  Terrible.  As in 30% shooting from there last season.
  
  
• Chris Paul was very quiet in the first half, picking his moments and trying to get his big men going.  In the second half, he realized it wasn't likely to happen and dropped fifteen points and four assists in the quarter.  It was vintage Paul.  I also wanted to point out that Paul's jumper, if he's given only a little room, has been automatic so far.  Until a forced three at the end of the shot clock in the third, he'd hit every three-pointer he'd taken this season, even the three-quarter's court heave he put up just after the buzzer to end the half tonight.  I know it won't happen, but if he continues to shoot this well, I'm going to have a Paulgasm.  That could be messy.

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