The Hornets return to action – we hope – tomorrow night at the Ford Center v. the Phoenix Suns. The game starts at 7 p.m. and is on Cox.

Given the last 2 games, particularly the last, “action” would certainly be a welcome thing! The Hornets will have had 4-5 days off to regroup from last Wednesday’s Clippers second half performance in which the Hornets only managed 8 points per period setting a new league record for the least points scored in a half ... actually, the 67-89 final score doesn’t emphasize the points scored sufficiently since it includes the 51 points scored by the Hornets in the 1st half, at which point we led the Clippers by 4.

Here’s the scoring by periods:

http://www.dougloudenback.com/hornets/boxclippers2.gif

If the halves were reversed, the half-time score would have been 16 - 42 at the end of the 1st half. Such things are NOT why God made major league basketball!

But, as Ron Hitley said at http://www.hornets247.com/ , “So I'm just shrugging off last night's meltdown. **** happens and we move on.”

Hopefully, Chris will have healed up a bit and Speedy is finally expected to play again (thank you, Jesus!). And maybe the starters will combine with the potentially great bench players to put together a good entire game, once again at in the Ford Center, presumably before a boisterous sellout crowd – though when I checked at 8:50 am on Ticketmaster, at least some single seat tickets are still available, but no pairs or better.

The Hornets are 18-8 at the Ford Center, 32-27 overall. Phoenix is 40-17 (one of only 4 NBA teams to have that many wins), and, since 2/1, they are 11-1 having won 9 in a row. That may change before the day is over – Dallas hosts Phoenix this afternoon in an ABC television game that would be well worth watching. This is the Hornets 2nd meeting with Phoenix, having lost 88-101 on at Baton Rogue 12/16 in a game that Coach Scott said thought could have been won if played in Oklahoma City. Going into that game, though, the Suns were only (!) 0.619 compared to their present 0.702. As of this morning, Phoenix is 16-9 on the road.

Here’s the Phoenix schedule since January 1:

http://www.dougloudenback.com/hornets/phoenixschedule.gif

In their last game, Orlando (20-39) played the Suns close at Phoenix, only losing by 5 after leading 96-92 at the end of the 3rd period. In that game, the Phoenix starters were Shawn Marion (#31, 6-7, UNLV; 22.1 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 1.8 apg – 24 points, 9 rebounds); Steve Nash (#13, 6-3, Santa Clara; 19.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 10.9 apg – 18 points, 13 assists – he leads the league in assists per game, total assists and free-throw percentage but he also leads the league in total turnovers); Raja Bell (#19, 6-5, Florida International; 14.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.6 apg – 11 points – he ranks 4th in the NBA in 3-point field goals (132 of 313 attempts) but missed all 5 in this game); Boris Diaw (#3, 6-8, France; 12.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 5.9 apg – 18 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists – he ranks 4th in the NBA for triple doubles with 1 and almost got #2 with this game); and James Jones (#22, 6-8, Miami Fla 10.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.7 apg – 8 points, played only 19 minutes). Great bench support came from Tim Thomas (#2, 6-10, Villanova; 8.3 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.5 apg – 20 points) and Lendro Barbosa (#10, 6-3, Brazil; 12.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.7 apg – 17 points).

http://www.nba.com/media/suns/marion_140_050724.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/suns/nash_140_050724.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/act_raja_bell.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/act_boris_diaw.jpg http://www.nba.com/media/act_james_jones.jpg

Phoenix plays at home in the America West Arena, averaging 17,636 per game (12th in NBA) in the 18,422 capacity arena:

http://www.dougloudenback.com/hornets/Phoenix.AmericaWest1.jpg
http://www.dougloudenback.com/hornets/Phoenix.AmericaWest2.jpg

After tomorrow night’s game, the long-heralded return of the Hornets to New Orleans occurs on Wednesday as the L.A. Lakers visit New Orleans. See Laker’s Coach Phil Jackson’s comments about that at http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-2/1141545545113820.xml . The Hornets return to the Ford Center on Friday to host Indiana, and New Jersey on Sunday. We surely need something good to come from this mix of tough games. It ain’t gonna be easy, but, hey, who’s to say?

GO HORNETS!

Hey Doug...Keith and I will be there. We'll be in Section 325, Row N, Seats 14 and 15. Where you at?

Well, I WAS going to be in Section 322 ... I was going to host my son and grandson to another game which I'd prepurchased tickets for when remaining games became available ... but NO ... my son says that he wants to take his girlfriend, too, which means that only 3 of the 4 of us could go.

I magnanamously said to my boy, "Not a problem, you can have all 3 tickets" (for son, his sweetie, my grandson). So, at that point today, Doug's not going!

But, believing firmly in the principle that genosity should be rewarded, I went down to the Ford Center at 2 pm today and found that single tickets were still available ... and I got me one in Section 108, Row M!

Ahhh ... it's not always like Pee Wee Herman said, "Well, I didn't get anything, but I didn't GET anything!" Today was different, at least, for me! Tomorrow night, I'll be in Section 108, Row M, Seat 19!

Hoo-ahh!

Oh man...all I have to say is it was a heartbreaking loss. We didn't show up in the 4th Quarter. And the crowd just didn't seem to be into it. Strange, considering attendance was 19,200!