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A disappointing win for the Hornets tonight, if there is such a thing. Facing a woeful 3-win Nets team at New Orleans Arena, the Hornets led for most of the game, several times going up double digits, but they could never quite blow it open. The Nets were able to score with ease for much of the night, and finally put together some defensive stops in the fourth, overcoming a ten-point deficit in the final two minutes to steal the lead with eleven seconds remaining. Thankfully Chris Paul had some heroics up his sleeve and Yi Jianlian saw fit to set an illegal pick, resulting in the Hornets coming away with their fifth straight win. 103-99 the final score (box).

David West and Chris Paul

Those two guys were the heroes for the Hornets tonight. Everyone else was suspect.

West came up huge, scoring 32 points on just 18 shots, grabbing 10 rebounds (5 offensive) and doing a solid job guarding Brook Lopez and Yi at different times. West's jumper was dialed in and the Nets gave him plenty of room to fire. Bad idea for them.

The Nets gave Paul plenty of attention on defense and so he didn't look to score much, launching just 9 shots and making 4 of them. CP was content to suck in the defense and find his teammates for open looks. Half of his 18 assists were to David West, and he surely would have had a bunch more dimes had his wingmen been hitting.

Nets zone

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Uh oh, expectations starting to rise with this four-game winning streak the Hornets are on. A terrible Nets team in town. Careful now.

New Jersey is 3-30 on the season, those wins coming against the Bobcats, Knicks and at Chicago. Yi Jianlian has been carrying the Nets offensively of late, averaging 20+ points since returning from a knee injury in late December. Meanwhile, Devin Harris is having a disappointing season, and Sebastian Pruiti of Nets Are Scorching wonders if he's even a top 20 point guard at this stage.

No significant injuries to report for the Nets, while Sean Marks remains sidelined for New Orleans.

The Hornets are entering a stretch of six games against teams with losing records, hoping to take advantage and make up some ground in the Western Conference. New Orleans has only blown out one team all season, and has yet to win a game by double figures with Jeff Bower as head coach.

Game tips at 7 Central. Word is the Saints will be in the building.

Linkage:

• Ryan's game preview
• Lagniappe: Hornets not shopping West, All-Decade team, Byron on ESPN plus much more
  
• Rival bloggers: Joe Netsfan.com | Nets Are Scorching (THN) | Nets Blast

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

Matchup: Nets(3-30) @ Hornets(17-16)

Off Efficiency: Nets 94.3(30th), Hornets 103.0(21st)
Def Efficiency: Nets 107.1(23rd), Hornets 105.6(20th)

Injuries:

Nets: Jarvis Hayes is Day-to-Day
Hornets: Ike Diogu, Sean Marks

The Nets are terrible.  Yeah, I know that's a bit of a "duh" statement since their record stands at 3-30.  Their offense, however, is more than just terrible.  Over the last five years, offensive rules changes has made scoring much easier, and not a single team has ended the season with an efficiency below 100.  The Nets trail that mark by 5.7.  I guess that's what happens when you consciously trade away your best players for picks and cap space - and then hold all that cap space for the future.

Oddly, the Nets do have a few efficient scorers on their team.  Yi Jianlin and Brook Lopez both average over 1.3 points per shot - and Devin Harris is posting a decent David West-like 1.23.  The problem, however, is their other players.  Chris Douglas-Roberts, Courtney Lee, and the recently waived Rafer Alston took a combined 33 shots a game - and produced 35.  That's awful.  Again, it would be like us running our offense through Devin Brown.  Last year's Devin Brown.  Oh, and he'd have to take as many shots as Kobe does.  Yeah.  It's that bad.

So, for the Hornets to take out the Nets, the key is to let the guards shoot.  Pressure Lopez, stay on Yi, and ask Courtney Lee and Douglas-Roberts to fire away from the perimeter, please.

OR they Hornets could win by crashing the boards, because the Nets ignore the glass, giving up a 6-rebound advantage to opposing teams.  Lopez isn't a bad rebounder, but Yi is weak on that end, and none of their guards bother with the boards in any meaningful sense.  In fact, Peja Stojakovic produces more rebounds per minute than every one of their swingmen and point guards - except Douglas Roberts, who exactly equals him.  That's pretty tough, considering I turn up my nose at Peja's rebounding efforts.

So - there are a lot of ways to beat this team.  Let's hope the Hornets take advantage of one of them.

Enjoy the game.

Another hard fought game, another down the wire finish, and another night when Tyson looked like his old self, West ate the opposing big men alive, and Paul did his best orchestrating it all and pulling a near triple double.  Oh yeah - as usual - the bench left the starters a big steaming turd on the court.  Yay.

Observations:

• I have to start with David West tonight.  He opened the game with 5 misses and four free throws as Yi Jianlin did an excellent job harassing his drive and contesting his layups.  I was pretty impressed with Yi, and at one point, West started doing his old "Palm, jab, jab, pump, jab, jab, fade-away flat-footed 20-footer, clank" routine that he'd gone away from recently.  Then, halfway through the second quarter, he started getting the ball at the elbow instead of the wing, and he turned into an animal.  When Yi got his second stint, he went to the bench in moments with 2 more fouls.  West finished the game going 10-15 with 9-9 from the free throw line.  He also got no less than 4 offensive boards in the fourth.  Over the course of the game, he also had three nice assists and only a pair of turnovers.  Great game.
  
  
• Speaking of West, Byron drew up this great new play in the fourth.  The team feeds West at the elbow, who dribbles and forces  the defense to collapse.  West then whips the ball to Paul who swings it to Peja.  Peja then clangs a wide-open, uncontested three off the front of the rim, while David West battles for position so he can rip it down and put it in for two.  The Hornets ran it three times in four posessions in the fourth, and if not for Tyson screwing things up by grabbing the offensive rebound and throwing it to Butler before West could get to it the third time, it worked perfectly.

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The Hornets are in New Jersey today, stopping off in the swamp to play the Nets. This is the first game of a quick East coast road trip, with our guys busing it to Philly tonight to play the Sixers tomorrow.

The 26-32 Nets are right there in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. They've won two straight after a five-game losing streak. They last played on Wednesday, beating the Bulls thanks to 42 points from Devin Harris. Previous to that scoring outburst, Devin did this to beat Philly. The Nets are 13-17 on their home court this season.

Stromile Swift (chapped lips) and Eduardo Najera (belly ache) are out injured for the Nets. Our Hornets are fully healthy and we might even see Morris Peterson back in action tonight.

Game tips a little after 5 p.m. Central.

Linkage:

• Ryan's game preview
• Help us out: Your thoughts on the Hornets game day experience
• Journals: Who Dats for Hornets?
  
• Lagniappe: Rasheed fined, Paul's 20 dimes, Possession stats, and more.
  
• Rival bloggers: Joe Netsfan.com | Nets Blast
  

(Many thanks to Dariusz for the banner and the above image.)