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The Hornets proved once more that they are very concerned about health and wellness.  Sporting a 20-point lead at the half and heading for a nice, relaxing blowout, the guys thoughtfully allowed the lead to slip to only four, raising the heart rate of all fans, both Pacer or Hornet, to acceptable levels.

Happily, after the letdown, there was a great team effort during the end of the fourth to keep the Pacers at bay.  Peja had a three and a big assist to West,  West drained two shots and had a great assist to Collison,  and Collison had a steal, coast-to-coast layup, a three, and a big jumper.  Even Okafor got into the act, muscling in a rolling layup and hitting a free-throw line jumper that made me give out a groan that quickly turned into a yelp of delight.

Oh, and Darren Collison had a triple double and Paul handed him the game ball.  Let's start there.

Darren Collison

Like I said, a triple double.  Yes, he did it in a lot of minutes(45) and he had 8 turnovers, but the kid is turning into a bankable monster night in and night out.  18 points on 13 shots, 13 rebounds, 12 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 three and shrieks of delight from every fantasy league owner who snatched him off FA list when Paul went down. 

In the first half, as the team built their lead, Collison was relentless, pushing the pace and keeping the Pacers on their heels.  This no small feat considering the Pacers are the third fastest team in the league - and Collison was beating them at their own game.

My favorite Collison moment of the game was during a brief close-up during an inbounds play, when TJ Ford was clutching and bumping him, hoping to slow him down so he couldn't get to the ball.  For just a brief second, Collison cocked his head and gave Ford a look I can't call anything but a sneer.  He knew TJ couldn't handle him.  Crazy confidence.

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The Hornets have lost five of their last seven, dropping them to tenth place in the Western Conference, three games behind the Blazers for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Tonight should bring some welcome relief as the 18-25 Indiana Pacers are in town, one of just two sub-500 teams the Hornets will face in the next couple weeks. The Pacers are just 6-20 on the road this season, 0-6 against Southwest division teams, and are currently on a three-game losing streak. They lost at home to the Bulls on Tuesday and the Spurs on Wednesday. Danny Granger put up 50 points in those two games combined. Troy Murphy has been a beast on the boards for the Pacers recently (13.4rpg this month), but they are not a strong rebounding team overall.

The Hornets played in Indianapolis on January 16, holding Granger to 12 points and getting strong contributions from Paul, West and Okafor in a 101-96 win. Pivot Roy Hibbert led the Pacers with a career-high 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Both the Hornets and Pacers stood pat as the trade deadline passed yesterday, though Indy were pretty close to getting a deal done with the Bobcats. Injury-wise, Darius Songaila will sit this one out due to that ankle sprain he suffered on Wednesday against the Jazz, while the Pacers' Jeff Foster is out for the season after undergoing back surgery.

Game tips at 7 Central. I'll be chatting it up throughout on ESPN.com's Daily Dime live; drop by with questions and comments.

Numbers:

Pace: Pacers 99.8 (2nd), Hornets 94.6 (18th)
Offensive Efficiency: Pacers 99.1 (27th), Hornets 104.6 (13th)
Defensive Efficiency: Pacers 103.9 (15th), Hornets 105.4 (18th)

Linkage:

• Journals: Holding Out Hope That Next Year Will be Different? I Wouldn't Bet on it.
• Rival bloggers: Eight Points, Nine Seconds (THN) | Indy Cornrows | Pacers Insider

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

Unlike in Detroit, where the teams made competing big runs all night long, the Hornets came out and did just a little more than the Pacers did each quarter, en route to a typically close win on the road.

The Hornets didn’t shoot particularly well, but for one of the only times this year, they took more free throws,  clearly won the battle of the boards, forced more errors than the other team, AND fouled less. 

The Bench Mob

An underrated part of what Jeff Bower has done for the Hornets this season is to construct a viable bench unit.  Last night in Detroit, it was second unit players that helped spark the run to get back into the game.  Tonight, the full second unit (Songaila-Posey-Wright-Thornton-Collison) was in for 5 minutes during the second quarter.   Posey and Wright completed the unit at the 10:40 mark, with the Hornets holding on to a 3 point lead.  When the first starter, Chris Paul, came back in at the 6:31 mark, the Hornets were holding on to a 2-point lead.  That’s a big difference from last year, when the Hornets averaged a six point deficit in the second quarter as the 2^nd unit floundered.

Substitions and Matchups

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The Hornets play a segababa today in Indianapolis, trying to shake off last night's overtime loss in Detroit and beat a surging, up-tempo Pacers team.

The Pacers (14-25) have won three straight, averaging 116ppg in beating the Raptors, Suns and Nets. They were in New Jersey just last night, but got up big early and cruised to the victory, with nobody playing more than 34 minutes. Starting shooting guard Luther Head did suffer an ankle sprain last night and is questionable against the Hornets, though he's only been playing a handful of minutes recently anyway.

New Orleanian Danny Granger has been back from injury for the past five games, and has really returned to form in the last two, shooting 50 percent from the field and scoring 61 total points. Granger has been getting solid support from Troy Murphy (17.2ppg, 13rpg the last five) and Mike Dunleavy (17ppg the last five). Point guard T.J. Ford is healthy but has either been inactive or a DNP-CD for the last seven games.

Some numbers:

Pace: Pacers 100.1 (2nd), Hornets 94.1 (22nd)
Offensive Efficiency: Pacers 99.3 (26th), Hornets 104.1 (16th)
Defensive Efficiency: Pacers 104.0 (16th), Hornets 105.7 (20th)

This game was originally scheduled for 6 Central, but was moved forward an hour because of the later Colts playoff game. Unfortunately, CST won't be broadcasting it, so catch it on League Pass if you can.

And if you can't, Who Dat baby!

Linkage:

• Ryan's game preview
• Journals: Rookie Marcus Thornton: Steal of the Draft
• Rival bloggers: Eight Points, Nine Seconds (THN) | Indy Cornrows | Pacers Insider

(Many thanks to Dariusz for today's banner featuring Darrell Armstrong, one of the toughest players the Hornets have ever seen. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz's designs in our Wallpapers vault.)

Friday night the Hornets hit Detroit and then travel south on Saturday to take on the Pacers in their fourth and fifth games in seven nights. So that means a double preview.  Yay?  Double the fun?

Matchups: Hornets(20-17) @ Pistons(12-25) & @ Pacers(13-25)

Offensive Efficiency:

Hornets 104.1(16th), Pistons 100.0(24th), Pacers 98.8(26th)

Defensive Efficiency:

Hornets 105.6(20th), Pistons 107.4(24th), Pacers 103.9(17th)

Pistons

The Hornets played the Pistons on December 16th, fell behind by 13 at the half, and stormed back in the second half behind tightening defense and an offensive blitz from West and Paul.(32 points combined in the half)

Since that game, Rip Hamilton has returned to the lineup for the Pistons, Austin Daye has fallen out of the rotation, and the Pistons have managed one win(over the Wizards) in fourteen tries.

The Pistons had hoped that Villueneva, Tayshaun Prince, Stuckey, Hamilton and Ben Gordon would provide the scoring needed to compete this season.  While Gordon has done well, he’s battled injuries, and is injured now, leaving the others to fire away freely. Combined, they manage a pathetic 59.3 points on 56.3 shots.  It’s so bad GM Joe Dumars could hire an Imperial Stormtrooper to teach them how to shoot and expect improvement.

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