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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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Hornets doing the segababa thing up in Minnesota this evening. They just played the Timberwolves last Friday, with Chris Paul returning from injury and filling up the stat sheet en route to a Hornets win.

The T'Wolves managed to pick up their third win of the season since then, beating the visiting Jazz on Saturday. Last night they got back to losing with a 88-94 defeat in Toronto. Kevin Love is still coming off the bench but playing big minutes.

If you're in New Orleans this eve, come watch the game with us at Handsome Willy's. Here's a map. There'll be food and drink specials, plus $150 worth of prizes. More details here.

Game tips at 7 p.m. Central, party starts at 6.

Linkage:

• Earlier on the blog: Points guards and venn diagrams
  
• Journals: First Quarter Grades
  
• Lagniappe: Hornets disappointing, a Mo-Pete interview and plenty more
  
• Rival bloggers: Cannis Hoopus | Howlin' T-Wolf | TWolves Blog

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

Both teams had players return from injury last night that made a major difference.  Kevin Love played for the first time this season, giving his usual brand of tough and intelligent basketball, leavened by unexpected spot up shooting.  For the Hornets, Chris Paul came back, and . . . yeah, he was pretty good.

The Return of Chris Paul

Paul was clearly not at 100% during this game.  He started the game moving at a deliberate pace and not exploding off of any of the picks set for him.  In fact, his top speed only showed up a handful of times during the entire game - on a trio of fast breaks and several times when Jonny Flynn or Ramon Sessions turned on the jets while he was covering them.  He also opened up front-rimming his first five shots as he struggled to get his legs under him.

So - most teams, knowing their star player is probably playing at only 75%, couldn't expect too much from him.  Chris Paul, however, isn't your average star player.  He assisted on the Hornet's first three baskets, and ended the half only one rebound off the pace of earning a quadruple double.  Yes, that's right.  Not a double double.  Or a triple double.  A quadruple double. 

Predictably, he fell off the pace in the second half, but he still finished the game with 16 points, 15 assists, 8 steals, 6 rebounds, 1 block(? . . .!) and 3 turnovers.  As if we care about 3 turnovers at this point.  Chris Paul probably does.  The guy is intense, clever, determined and downright nasty, even when injured.

Nothing shows Paul's unremitting will to win than the last play of the first half.  1 second to shoot.  Nothing there but a heave-ho half court shot, and Ryan Hollins providing a little pressure to make the shot a little harder.  Chris Paul took what was given to him, and launched his body into Hollins as he heaved up a three point shot, drawing three free throws.

Who does that?  Really?  With a bad ankle?  That's the fourth time in two seasons that Chris Paul has drawn free throws when the other team was pressuring him at half-court.  Who does that?

(Yes, it was a bad call. I don't care.  It was a sneakily awesome basketball play.) 

The Offense

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