Lack of playoff experience isn't bugging the Hornets.
After the season's finales, a loss to the Mavericks, Hornets All-Star forward David West, who is playing like an All-NBA player, said it's almost guaranteed his team will be picked to lose. "We've been put in that scenario on just about every big game we've had this year, every single situation we've been in, and we've been able to relish that role and be successful and productive," said West. "We've heard all that stuff all year."
Las Vegas oddsmakers have made the Hornets 4 1/2-point favorites in the opener on Saturday night in the Arena (6 p.m. ESPN).
The Hornets don't get a lot of respect around the league from national pressboxers, but they should because they had a winning record against seven teams that join them in the Western Conference playoffs. They came very close of landing the No. 1 seed. Yet outside the organization, everyone sits around and waits for them to fail.
The LA Lakers were the only team in the West to win more than the Hornets. They Hornets won 37 games by 10 or more points, posted the second-best road record in the West and won their last 19 home games by an average of 16.5 points.
But the Hornets do lack playoff experience. Chris Paul will make his post-season debut in the Dallas series. West and Tyson Chandler will make the first postseason starts of their careers.
Dallas? Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard have 24 playoff starts between them. Paul recognizes the gap, but as he point out, the only way to get experience is to play in the postseason. He said it was better to start this season than next season.
"Everyone in in our starting five has played in the playoffs except for me," said Paul. "So I'm the only one who doesn't know what it's like. If we've got to go into battle like that. I'm comfortable with those guys knowing what it's like and I'm the only one who doesn't. I like our chances."
Paul's good friend, Utah's Deron Williams, the other brilliant point guard from Paul's rookie class, led his Jazz to the West finals in his postseason debut.
"D-Will went out there and killed last year,: said Paul. "If I can do half that good, we'll be all right.
"We understand we've got the No. 2 seed and the series starts in New Orleans."
The Mavericks plan to go with a full-court press to keep the ball out of Paul's hands and force someone else to beat them. That was the Dallas game plan in the season's finale.
Former LSU and Hornets player Brandon Bass is a reserve for the Mavericks and is fired up about playing against his former teammates. Brandon rode the Bees' bench for two seasons.
"The Hornets are like family," said Bass, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds in Wednesday's win over the Hornets. "But when that ball goes up, we gotta compete. That's all I want to do."
Bass was especially close to Paul, insists that he's not motivated to prove the Hornets wrong for letting him go, but believes coach Byron Scot made a mistake by not giving him more minutes.
"The things I do now I could have done last season with the Hornets," said Bass.
If the Mavericks bow out of the playoffs in the first round, it won't be because they were distracted by New Orleans nightlife. The Mavs will fly home between Games 1 and 2. It's only a short plane ride and there are two full days between Saturday and Tuesday games.
The Mavs had a recent history of enjoying themselves too much in destination cities during the playoffs, at least in Mavs coach Avery Johnson's opinion. The Mavs changed hotels in the middle of the finals because Johnson thought his players had a "vacation mentality" in Miami's SouthBeach.
Hornets.com, the team's Web site, sees the Hornets winning in the first round and taking on the winner of the Spurs-Suns series in the second round. Winner of the first game in the opening series has gone on to win the series 78.5 per cent of the time.
