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Just what the doctor ordered. The Hornets got just their third win in 13 tries tonight, ending a 7-game road losing streak in the process. It was their fourth win of the season against the Clippers, and 13th consecutive overall against them. If only we could play Baron and the boys every night.

The game was tight throughout the first half with David West and Emeka Okafor keeping the Hornets in it. In the third quarter, Darren Collison turned it up a notch and the momentum started to swing permanently in the Hornets' favor. Once Marcus Thornton joined in the fun in the fourth quarter, the Clippers were done.

108-100 the final (box).

Darren Collison

We witnessed perhaps DC's best Chris Paul imitation tonight in the third quarter. He'd dished out 6 assists in the first half, but had attempted just four shots and had been overshadowed by Baron Davis. But Collison came out of halftime aggressive, and within six minutes he'd knocked down 5-of-6 shots for 12 points and had the Hornets on track.

Later in the quarter, he ran a pick and roll with David West and whipped a gorgeous behind-the-back bounce feed to him for an easy 2 when the Clippers tried to trap. Jogging back on defense after that, Collison noticed Drew Gooden jogging behind him but not paying much attention, so he put on the brakes and let himself get clobbered. Offensive foul on the Clippers. Less than a minute later, Emeka Okafor got called for an iffy foul on defense, and Collison worked over the ref who called it during the ensuing free throws, being bold enough to put his arm around the official's shoulder as he pleaded his teammate's case.

Next thing you know, Collison will be purposely getting defenders on his back, sporting a mouthpiece and letting his eyebrows meet in the middle.

DC's final numbers tonight: 18 points, 8-13 FGs, 14 assists, 4 turnovers and 3 rebounds without a single breather.

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The Nuggets came visiting and though the Hornets fought all game long, the Nuggets executed beautifully at the end behind Carmelo and Billups and took the win at the Hive.  The last two minutes of Hornets posessions were a bit frustrating.  They took lots of what I call "Hero Shots" as multiple Hornets took off-balance three pointers instead of chipping away at the Nuggets lead.  They had lots of chances there - but came up empty on all those poor attempts.

Still, I enjoy watching the team playing hard.  It's why I watch basketball.

Oh, and this was odd . . . the Hornets didn't seem to miss James Posey much.  Any surprise at this?  No?

David West

For the second time in recent games, I came away very happy with David West's play.  He seemed really focused and played aggressively.  Against Nene, he drove hard, picking up fouls on help defenders, and against Andersen, he did exactly what you need to do against a lanky shot-blocker - he put his shoulder into his chest, made it near impossible for him to leap quickly, and powered in a shot over his head.  Even defensively West was working hard, talking and switching and doubling on Carmelo hard in the second quarter.  He even led a fast break, taking the middle of the floor with the ball, and then sprinted ahead of the field for a fast break dunk off a turnover he wasn't even involved in.

Try as I might, I can't really figure out where this West has been all season.  He looks almost joyful out there at times.  I know its a bit of blasphemy, but sometimes I wonder if Chris Paul's intensity and continuous barking sometimes wears on his teammates.  I know if a teammate at work kept vocally pointing out my errors, I'd probably accidentally spill coffee all over his or her laptop.  Not that I make errors.  Really.

The Rookies

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Those of you who have read this blog for a while know that I'm rather fond of metrics like Wins Produced.  Recently, Dave Berri of the Wages of Wins produced two articles I think you all will enjoy, and so I decided I'd draw your attention to them with a full on blog post, rather than dropping them in the news section.

Professor Berri's first post addresses the sexy new NBA metric: Adjusted +/-.  As a prime exhibit as to the inherent oddities of that metric, Dave Berri details the production of the Hornets very own Darius Songaila.  To summarize, Songaila has posted pretty consistent numbers across his career according to most traditional metrics.  However, according to +/-, his impact has varied wildly, producing a significant positive impact in Washington, and a significant negative impact in New Orleans.

As a result of that post, I had a brief email exchange with Professor Berri about two other Hornets we've been focusing on the past month or so:  Our rookies.  That discussion spurred his latest post about the Hornets, addressing the rookies, a brief comparison of Collison to Paul, one of his general breakdowns of the Hornets production on the whole, and even includes a response on our own Joe Gerrity's post about Emeka Okafor.  Good Stuff.

I am a little surprised by the rookie results.  While it doesn't surprise me that over the course of the entire season Collison and Thornton have been a little below average - they did start off the season shooting poorly -  I would not have guessed that Collison would have ranked lower than Thornton.  Collison's assist and scoring numbers have been impressive, and Thornton is almost exclusively a scorer.  Traditionally, one trick ponies don't rank that high in Wins Produced.  Not the case in this situation.

Of course, that just illustrates the impact of minutes.  Buckets and his recent standard of 20 efficient points in 24 minutes is crazy, and Collison has been wracking up huge minutes to go with his huge numbers, which mitigate them somewhat.

Enjoy.

Yet again, the Hornets lost to the surging San Antonio Spurs, who completed a season sweep of the Hornets for the second time in the last four years. Even worse, the Hornets dropped below .500 for the fist time since January 2nd.

It's becoming increasingly clear that missing their leader is wearing on the Hornets, as even big nights from the rookies go unrewarded in the win column. As great as Collison has been, and again was tonight, the drop off between solid point guard and superstar player has been simply too much for the Hornets. On the year they dropped to 10-16 without their superstar, and 21-16 with him. I personally count the game they blew against Portland as being without him, since his injury led to Portland's comeback. You don't like my math? Tough.

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That was a tough game to swallow.  The Hornets had a solid lead with 5 minutes to go, they had Rudy Gay barking at the referees, and earning a tech, and it seemed like they momentarily relaxed.  One minute later the score was tied.  Then the Hornets were down, and then Posey got a vital rebound with 8 seconds left, turned . . . and led a fastbreak towards the sideline with his head down.  Turnover.  Game.

Wow.

At this point in the season, losses like that are deadly to the Hornets' playoff chances.  Like Niall said in the comments post-game, I'm sure the team will keep fighting, but the margin for error is vanishing quickly.

Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton

Thornton and Collison were fully what we've come to expect and love during the game.  High energy and lots of stat-stuffing.  Thornton, in particular, was an offensive firestorm tonight.  24 points on 16 shots in 32 minutes.  His first play upon entering the game was a sneaky strip of a rebound from Gasol.

That said, both players showed all game long that they could be abused defensively.  In the first half, the Grizzlies posted Collison 6 times - and they resulted in 1 basket, 4 free throws, 2 hockey assists, and one missed shot.  They then did the same thing to Thornton when he came in, posting him with Mayo and Young.  Thornton held his own against Mayo, but Young was muscling him all over the court.  He went 3/3 with an assist during that stretch.

Of course, Thornton was infinitely better than Morris Peterson, who practiced waving at Mayo's shots all night long - from about ten feet away.

David West

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