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Heading into an all too early off-season, the Hornets, and their fans specifically, needed something positive. In the final home game of a disappointing year, the Bees whooped on the T'Wolves and gave the home town crowd something to cheer about, winning 114-86, equaling the largest margin of the season.

Sporting a lead of over twenty for the majority of the second half, the Bees looked at ease. Although the team had been expected to win this one, the margin of victory was a relief for a fan base that used to requiring buzzer beaters to beat even the most mediocre opponents.

Okafor Shows Up

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This eve at the Hive: Hornets vs. Timberwolves in the last home game of the season. Tons of giveaways and a t-shirt for everyone in attendance. Tip off is at 6 Central.

The T'Wolves are the worst team in the West, and it's not even close, as their 15-64 record puts them 9 games behind the Golden State Warriors. Minnesota has only won five road games all season and have just one win (home or away) since February.

However, the Hornets have struggled against these guys recently, winning the last two meetings by only a combined 3 points. You may remember the Hornets using the same sideline out-of-bounds play to score the game winner in both. First it was Paul, then it was Posey.

Big Al Jefferson has averaged 21 points and 14 boards in three games against New Orleans this season. He has missed Minnesota's last two games due to a family matter, but is with the team on the road trip and is expected to play tonight.

The Hornets are 35-45 on the season and have lost five straight. Chris Paul is done for the season and Peja Stojakovic is unlikely to return from injury at this point.

Numbers:

Pace: T'Wolves 98.4 (3rd), Hornets 94.7 (16th)
Offensive Efficiency: T'Wolves 98.9 (29th), Hornets 104.7 (17th)
Defensive Efficiency: T'Wolves 109.8 (28th), Hornets 107.5 (24th)

Linkage:

• Earlier on the blog: Marcus Thornton and Vinnie Johnson
• Rival bloggers: Cannis Hoopus | Howlin' T-Wolf (THN) | TWolves Blog

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

I can't help but smile a big stupid smile after that game.

48 hours after knocking in the buzzer-beating game-winner against the Grizzlies, James Posey came through again in the clutch, faking a hand off to Chris Paul with three seconds left before creaking down the lane and scoring the layup to beat the T'Wolves. Making it even better was the fact that the Hornets ran the same two-man sideline inbounds play back on December 9th in the same building, that time David West taking the feed and getting it right back to Paul who cut back door on Jonny Flynn for the gamer. Beautiful job reading the defense both times.

96-94 the final score tonight (box).

Unlikely Heroes

Chris Paul, Emeka Okafor, James Posey and Peja Stojakovic all played poorly against the Timberwolves, but it was those four guys making the big plays in the final 30 seconds to get the win.

CP and Okafor teamed up to spring a great sideline trap on Corey Brewer out of the pick and roll, forcing Brewer to pick up his dribble and force a cross-court pass that Darren Collison was able to pick off. The T'Wolves were down by one at that point, desperately needing a bucket.

Peja did a nice job twice shaking free and getting the ball in his hands after that, resulting in two trips to the line and four vital free throws. It was an otherwise woeful night for him, as he missed all six three-point attempts and finished with only 6 points.

As for Posey, he was almost invisible during his 26 minutes of action, missing all four of his triples, grabbing just 3 boards and dishing one lonely assist. But he more than made up for all that, didn't he?

Planeteers

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The Hornets get started on their four-game road trip tonight, visiting the Timberwolves in Minneapolis. Game tips at 7 Central.

The T'Wolves are the worst team in the Western Conference. Losing ten of their last twelve puts their record at 9-34 on the season. They're scoring 9.4 points less than their opponents per game, which is by far the worst scoring margin among all teams not named the Nets. That said, Minnesota has played a number of close games recently, taking the Rockets and Sixers to OT and losing by just a deuce to the visiting Thunder on Wednesday. Kevin Love has missed the last two games for the T'Wolves with strep throat but will play tonight.

This is meeting three of four between the Hornets and T'Wolves this season. New Orleans won both previous battles, with Chris Paul returning from injury like a stud on December 4, then dropping the game-winning layup on December 9. Worth noting that the T'Wolves out-rebounded the Hornets by an average of 15 in those two games. Marcus Thornton dropped 20 in the latter.

Some numbers:

Pace: T'Wolves 98.5 (4th), Hornets 94.2 (21st)
Offensive Efficiency: T'Wolves 97.3 (29th), Hornets 104.3 (14th)
Defensive Efficiency: T'Wolves 107.2 (23rd), Hornets 105.7 (20th)

The Hornets have been up and down lately (loss-win-loss-win-loss-win), coming off Wednesday's thrilling win over the Grizzlies in New Orleans. David West has been playing well, averaging 22 points and 9 boards in his last four.

Linkage:

• Lagniappe: Relearning how to be a Hornets fan, Thornton becoming a Posey, and the case for trading D-West
  
• Rival bloggers: Cannis Hoopus | Howlin' T-Wolf (THN) | TWolves Blog

(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.)

For about 20 minutes of that game, the Hornets weren't even competing.  Lazy passes, terrible rotations, constant miscommunications on defense, too much watching Paul dribble, and some of the worst transition defense I've ever seen.  They would brick shots, Paul would get back, and three Timberwolves would follow him in for a layup as Devin Brown tried to decide if he could catch one of them.  You look at the box score and its hard to figure out how the Hornets win.  The Wolves had a 20 rebound advantage, shot 52% from the field and had twice as many free throw attempts as the Hornets.

The Hornets, however, were bailed out by three things:  a furious three-point assault, the rookies playing well, and a quick-moving small-ball lineup that had Songaila playing center and Posey playing power forward.(and getting the benefit of some 50-50 calls)

Going Small

Jeff Bower recognized something as the game wore on.  Their bigs were tearing up our bigs.  West and Okafor held their own against Jefferson, but when Kevin Love entered the fray, the Hornets started getting crushed on the boards.  Since our bigs couldn't handle the boards, outlet passes were flying, and the young Wolves were out and running, scoring easily in transition en route to a 16 point lead.  It got so bad that even Chris Paul started giving up defensively.

So Bower rolled the dice, sent Songaila out as the center, Posey as the power forward, and loaded up with Thornton, Collison and eventually, Chris Paul on the perimeter.  The Hornets continued to get crushed on the glass, but their pressure on the perimeter and energetic defense inside made it impossible to feed Jefferson and Love in the post.  They stayed home on Sessions, Ellington, and somewhat on Flynn and begged Corey Brewer to shoot.  15-2 run and the Hornets were back into it.  They didn't go back to the starting lineup until 3:30 was left in the game - at which point they immediately gave up a three point lead and had to struggle to finish out.

One thing is clear from that game, though, Posey is not a small forward any longer.  His foot speed is so drastically reduced, he cannot cover anyone on the perimeter.  As a stretch four, he still has possibilities, however limited they may be.

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