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The Hornets fell into their patented hole again tonight, watching the Mavericks click on all cylinders and go up by as much as 25 points in the third quarter. Luckily, New Orleans also seems to have a patent on unlikely resurrections, as they fought hard to get the Dallas lead down to 4 points with 2:45 left on the clock. It seemed Hornets fans might be in for their second incredible comeback of the weekend, but alas, Dirk Nowitzki was sipping the unstoppable and dropped in enough turnaround jumpers over James Posey to seal the deal for the bad guys.

108-100 the final score. Some quick game notes before the full moon takes me...

Okafor anyone?

If any one guy turned this game around for the Hornets, it was Emeka Okafor. I've been down on his performance the past few weeks, but in that third quarter he was playing all kinds of great defense. His numbers for the period: 4 points, 9 rebounds (3 offensive), 4 steals and 2 blocks. He was that guy the Hornets desperately needed to step up and make a defensive stand after the Mavs had poured in 69 points on 67 percent shooting in the first half. Okafor was quick with his outlets too, hurrying the ball into Marcus Thornton's hands and allowing the rookie to unleash some of that funky fury on the break.

Okafor started the fourth quarter making the same impact, grabbing three rebounds (two offensive) in two minutes. And then... he was gone: benched in favor of James Posey for the rest of the game, a move brought to you by the letters W, T and F.

Now we've seen Jeff Bower keep Okafor off the floor down the stretch several times already this season, and much more often than not there has been a good reason for such a move. (Usually it's because Okafor is having trouble defending the high pick and roll.) But tonight, I can't for the life of me see the logic in it. The Mavs weren't dragging Okafor out high. He was being left under the basket and happily doing his shot-blocking, pass-deflecting, glass-cleaning thang.

It's not like Posey was on some superstar ish either, since Dirk was quite content to back him down, turn and fire home clutch jumpers. Granted, not much any defender can do about that, but I would have loved to have seen David West trying to handle Dirk down the stretch while Okafor was reinserted into the middle to do more goodness. If that had happened, you know Brendan Haywood would have been less likely to get those two back-breaking offensive rebounds.

SMH, as Julian Wright would tweet.

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The Hornets just got done knocking off the mighty Magic on ESPN on Friday, and tonight they'll look to slay another formidable foe on national TV. Game tips at 8:30 Central, and you can watch it online via ESPN360. There's also the Daily Dime chat, where Joe will be talking Hornets during the game.

The Mavericks come in riding a season-high six-game win streak, which puts them at 38-21 on the season, 19-9 at home. They've beaten the Magic, Lakers and Hawks during their streak and are getting great play from the likes of Dirk Nowitzki (27.7ppg in his last seven), Jason Kidd (19, 17 and 16 vs. the Hawks on Friday) and Brendan Haywood.

Haywood joined the Mavs as part of the Josh-Howard-for-Caron-Butler swap at the trade deadline and has filled in brilliantly for the injured Erick Dampier, averaging 11 points, 11 boards and 3 blocks for Dallas. But Aaron Gray ain't scurred.

The Hornets and Mavericks have met twice already this season. The Hornets won a thriller in overtime in New Orleans back in November, but the Mavs got revenge in Dallas with a 94-90 win in mid-December. Nowitzki was unusually ineffective in both those meetings, scoring a total of 22 points on 31 percent shooting.

Injuries:

Dampier will be out for a few weeks with a dislocated finger, while Caron Butler has missed the past two games "due to a negative reaction to medication he takes for his knee." Sounds like Butler will play tonight though. As for the Hornets, Chris Paul (knee surgery) and Darius Songaila (ankle) remain sidelined.

Numbers:

Pace: Mavericks 94.4 (20th), Hornets 94.7 (17th)
Offensive Efficiency: Mavericks 106.1 (10th), Hornets 104.5 (13th)
Defensive Efficiency: Mavericks 102.9 (12th), Hornets 105.4 (18th)

Linkage:

• Standings: Hornets 2.5 games behind the Blazers for the 8th spot. No game for Portland tonight.
  
• Rival bloggers: Mavs Moneyball | The Two Man Game (THN)
  

(Many thanks to Dariusz for today's banner featuring Peja Stojakovic. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz's designs in our Wallpapers vault.)

The Hornets played some of their worst basketball of the season to fall into an early 21-point hole tonight in Dallas, but clawed back into the game thanks to some unlikely contributions from the likes of James Posey, Julian Wright and Hilton Armstrong. In the second half it was Chris Paul putting on a show and leading the troops, but the Mavs proved to be the better team in the end, executing enough to keep the Hornets at arms length.

94-90 the final score. Hornets fall to 10-13.

Defense

The Mavericks came out and got whatever shots they wanted in the first quarter. The only thing the Hornets did well was keep the ball out of Dirk Nowitzki's hands, but in doing so they seemed to forget about the other four Mavericks on the floor. J.J. Barea got in the lane untouched several times, Erick Dampier got deep under the basket for easy scores more than once, and the Hornets transition defense was non-existent.

It all changed in the second quarter when Posey, Chris Paul and Darren Collison decided to apply some defensive pressure and started forcing the Mavs to turn it over. Really, the only change in the defense was the intensity, which proved contagious and resulted in easy baskets at the other end.

The Hornets kept much of that defensive intensity the rest of the way, making Dallas work a lot harder for their baskets. There were some costly blown rotations in the fourth quarter though, two of them leading to big threes for the Mavs.

Still, it was nice to see the Hornets make some progress on the defensive end. Allowing just 59 points in three quarters is nice work.

Chris Paul

Chris Paul made plenty of big plays and kept the Hornets close in the second half. He played 40 minutes despite showing signs of that ankle bothering him again in the fourth quarter, and finished with 20 points, 16 assists, 5 steals, 4 rebounds and just one turnover. At least three times tonight he had me picking my jaw off the floor after a no-look feed or a sneaky steal. In five games since returning from injury, he's averaging 15.8 points, 14 assists, 4.8 boards and 3.4 steals.

Having noted all of that, this next sentence might seem a little misplaced: Chris Paul is part of the problem.

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Tough game for the Hornets tonight as they're back on the road and taking on the 17-7 Dallas Mavericks. Game tipping at 7:30 Central.

The Hornets and Mavs met six weeks ago in New Orleans, with the Hornets prevailing in overtime thanks to some bricked free throws by Dallas and a clutch three from Peja. Methinks the Mavs won't have forgotten that one.

Dallas has won three straight, most recently beating the Bobcats in overtime on Saturday thanks to 36 points from Dirk Nowitzki. Josh Howard sat that game out to rest his surgically repaired left ankle, but should be good to go tonight.

The Hornets had won three straight before imploding against the Knicks on Friday night. Jeff Bower has been limiting Chris Paul's practice time since then, trying to keep him healthy and rested.

Linkage:

• Ryan's game preview
• Journals: Evaluating and Improving the Hornets
• Rival bloggers: Mavs Moneyball | The Two Man Game

Matchup: Hornets(10-12) @ Mavericks(17-7)

Off Efficiency: Hornets 103.4(18th), Mavericks 106.2(11th)
Def Efficiency: Hornets 107.4(24th), Mavericks 99.8(5th)

The Hornets beat the Mavericks earlier this year - in a game they really had no business winning.  It's not often that you can spot a team a three point lead and four free throw attempts with less than a minute left and walk away with an overtime win.  It won't happen again.

Now, the Hornets have matched up well with the Mavericks over the past few years, as no Maverick can hope to contain Chris Paul, David West has done enough to almost balance out Dirk, and Peja Stojakovic has baited Josh Howard into a low efficiency jump-shooter.  Unfortunately for the Hornets, West isn't playing well, Paul is not explosive with that gimpy ankle, and Josh Howard probably isn't around to be baited by Peja.

That's not to say the guys don't have a chance tonight, with Paul on the floor and a couple more days of rest for that ankle, anything is possible.  Still, not feeling good going into a game against the Mavericks is a bit of a change for me.  I used to think the Hornets were simply a bad matchup for the Mavericks.  I don't feel comfortable thinking that anymore. 

I mean, look at the efficiencies above.  The Hornets haven't even been average this season.  They've been well below average.  Defensively, the Hornets have been like the French in 1940.

Injuries:

Hornets: Diogu is done.  Marks is still struggling.
Mavericks: Josh Howard is trying to get back, having sat out the last pair of games.  He may play tonight.  Quinton Ross is day to day.

Positional Analysis

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