New Orleans Hornets Week 4 Review

"I told our guys, they are full of themselves if they step on the court and think teams are scared of them." ~ Coach Byron Scott

Two victories over the last place Thunder couldn't mask the obvious. Hornets coach Byron Scott put the entire team on notice: you've gotten soft. My week 2 worries have been brought to fruition following the Hornets Wednesday night loss to the Kings. A home loss to a Sacramento team minus Kevin Martin is inexcusable for a team whose ultimate goal is to become an NBA champion. In addition to the earlier loss in the season at Charlotte and Byron Scott said it best: these teams don't fear the Hornets. Nor should they. The Hornets don't play with that "us against the world" mentality that they had last season. Last season they were wild and aggressive and played an inspiring brand of ball. This season they're trying to copy that, and it looks forced. This team still lacks its identity but Chris Paul and David West have to continue to keep this team afloat until everyone else remembers that the Hornets are supposed to be a great team.

What's wrong with Tyson Chandler? This week Chandler averaged 6.7 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Normally those are solid numbers but Tyson Chandler is above that average style of play. Those are his Chicago Bulls numbers. I don't know if his ankle is still bothering him or if he's just trying to do too much after lifted expectations this season, but he needs to get back to playing strong defense, running the floor and blocking shots. Hilton Armstrong stole a majority of Chandler's minutes in the teams two victories over Oklahoma City and played strong: taking all of his shots around the basket and showing an aggressive drive for the ball near the hoop. That's very encouraging for a team that's playing Julian Wright at the 4 a lot the past couple of weeks. But I'm not sure if Wright will continue to play the 4 since Melvin Ely returned at Oklahoma City on Friday night.

Speaking of injuries: it's tough to watch Devin Brown go down Saturday night against the Thunder. He's taken over as the second scoring option off of the bench (after James Posey) and played a majority of his minutes at the point guard position. It's necessary for him to play or else Mike James will get a lot of minutes, and I'm sure Byron Scott is not playing him for a reason. Further on the injury report, Morris Peterson was a late scratch for the Wednesday night game against the Kings but missed both of the Oklahoma City games as well. Rasual Butler has stepped in admirably for the Hornets and has now started four games this season but the team misses Peterson's defense: most notably when John Salmons went off for 29 points Wednesday night. They can't get by without him but he does help the team more than what pepole notice.

The Hornets return to Oklahoma City Friday night was a lot of fun to watch. I miss the days when the Hornets played in OKC and anyone who has been on the boards long enough knows that I actually wanted the Hornets to stay in Oklahoma City. The return to New Orleans has been nice, but the fans will turn on the team when they start losing again. Oklahoma City fans cheered rabidly for the team in two losing seasons. Even though the Thunder didn't add any excitement during the game (Friday night's blowout was embarassing) the fans warm reception to the Hornets players and to Byron Scott was nice to see. I wish those fans nothing but the best, even though their team doesn't leave much hope.

For the past three weeks the Hornets have played Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday night games. They've played 9 games in 21 days and they will again play only three games this week. They hit the road for games at the Clippers, at Denver and at Portland. It's essential that the Hornets win at least two of these games for their own confidence, but they still posses the talent to steal all three.

Written By GoHornets21
CBS Spoortsline community member