Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Them Hornets are for Real!!

From our seats in the Ford center last season you could kind of see this coming. The OKC/NOLA Hornets were a good young team on the rise that got decimated by their big 4 missing a collective 126 games between them (Chris Paul (missed 18 games), David West (missed 30 games), Peja Stojakovic missed (69 games), Tyson Chandler (missed 9 games)). Even so they almost made the playoffs despite putting a pretty offensively challenged team on the court down the stretch. Chris Paul was GOOD and Tyson Chandler was scoring as well as rebounding.

Now, sadly for us, the Hornets are gone, but they are healthy and kicking butt in the NBA's tough Western Conference. Just a bit past the halfway point of the season, they are the biggest positive story in the Association, leading the West with a 32-12 record.

CP3 is averaging 20.6 points, 10.7 assists, 2.7 steals and only 2.6 turnovers per game. These are phenomenal numbers. For comparison, two time MVP Steve Nash's stats are 17.4 points, 11.9 assists, 0.7 steals and 3.7 turnovers.

David West puts up 19.5 points and 9.3 boards per game which is about the same as Kevin Garnett's numbers with the Celtics. Chandler is averaging 12 points and 12 boards per game and Peja is shooting over 45% from the three point line.

I know it's just the regular season, their bench is an issue, and the road to the finals goes through San Antonio and all that crap, but man the Hornets are doing great. I miss them a lot.