"Like I told my guys, this is going to be the toughest game in the series. The toughest game in the world is the close out. The good thing about it is it is going to be at home. We have to come out aggressive and hopefully take their life away."
---Byron Scott, Hornets and NBA Coach of the Year
The Hornets can close out the best of 7 series with the lost Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night in the Arena with a win and advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs against the winner of the Suns-Spurs series. Tipoff for Game 5 is 6 o'clock.
Bryon Scott was named NBA Coach of the Year on Tuesday morning and will be honored before the game. The Bees lead the series 3-1 and the Mavs must win in the Arena, where Chris Paul rules, to stay alive. Dallas must win three more games or face failure in the first round. That's not likely to happen. The Hornets averaged 115.5 points at home in the first two wins of the series.
Avery Johnson, Mavs coach, decided the Mavs didn't need a practice on Monday after the loss to the Hornets.Only the Mavs didn't take him up on the offer. They held a players-only practice in Dallas and, by all accounts, enjoyed the arrangement. By skipping an official practice -- and the media confab afterward -- the Mavs avoided another round of embarrassing questions. Example: Do you believe in your coach?
When fans think of the best power forward in the Western Conference, he may not be among the first few names to come to mind. But the Hornets' David West has put together anther fabulous season, averaging 22 points and 7.5 rebounds. Paul calls him "the 17-foot assassin." In Game 4 in Sunday, he dominated at times with 25 points and 9 boards.
Peja Stojakovic, the maker of bad-looking shots until they fall in, continues to rank among the leaders by hitting 15-of-24 3-pointers so far in the series.
Meanwhile, he Mavs are looking for anybody with a hot hand. Only one of their starters made more than 50 per cent of his shots in Game 4 and that was Erick Dampier, who made two of three shots. The Mavs are just under 40 per cent shooting from the floor for the series.
"West dominated us," said Johnson, who is trying to keep his coaching career alive. "We went back to old habits of not being persistent penetrators and we paid he price."
With Hornets interest at an all-time high, here is an easy trivia quiz for you to answer before the game:
1. What was the original nickname of the Hornets?
0 Cougars 0 Fire 0 Hornets 0 Spirit
2. Chris Paul was selected in the 2005 NBA draft with what pick?
0 Third 0 Fourth 0 Seventh 0 Ninth
3. Who was the Hornets' head coach before Scott?
0 Allen Bristow 0 Dave Cowens 0 Tim Floyd 0 Paul Silas
4. The previous team record for wins in a season was 54. What season did that happen?
0 1992-03 0 1993-94 0 1994-95 0 1998-97
5. Which player listed below was NOT a first-round pick of the Hornets?
0 Ray Allen 0 Kobe Bryant 0 Baron Davis 0 Alonzo Manning
6. Who is the all-time career scoring leader in Hornets history?
0 Dell Curry 0 Larry Johnson 0 Glen Rice 0 David Wesley
7. What is the farthest the Hornets have advanced in the playoffs?
0 First round 0 Conference semifinals 0 Conference finals 0 NBA finals
8. Which team did the Hornets beat in their first playoff series?
0 Boston Celtics 0 Chicago Bulls 0 Indiana Pacers 0 New York Knicks
Correct answers:
1. When the NBA first awarded the franchise, it was briefly known as the Charlotte Spirit.
2. Chris Paul was the fourth pick of the NBA draft, behind Andrew Bogut, Marvin Williams and Deron Williams.
3. Tim Floyd (now at USC) for one season 2003-04
4. The Hornets finished the 1996-97 season with a 54-26 record.
5. Ray Allen was never a draft pick of the Hornets.
6. Del Curry is the all-time career scorer with 9,839 points over 10 seasons.
7. The Hornets have reached the conference semifinals four times: 1993, 1998, 2001 and 2002.
8. The Hornets beat the Celtics in the first round of the 1993 NBA playoffs.
MILES LIKES TV SHOOTS
Off the typewriter...
LSU coach Les Miles was busy on Tuesday as he spent three hours staking part in a commercial shoot at ESPN for the network's newest line of "This is SportsCenter" commercials. ESPN is expected to roll out its newest SportsCenter commercials this summer. Miles, who was in Bristol, Va., to tape the commercial, was invited to play a role in the shoot shortly after the Tigers beat OhioState to claim the national championship. While on the ESPN campus, Miles will also tape a segment with the hosts for College Football Live as well as taking part in the "Host List", which will be featured on SportsCenter and ESPNews on Tuesday evening...
Larry Eustachy, the former IowaState basketball coach now at Southern Mississippi, is speaking to elementary school children on the evils of drinking. The coach has been dry for five years and said he was better off at USM than at IowaState where he earned $1.2 million a year as a coach...Chris Paul; has been so unstoppable against the Mavs that editor's headlines for newspapers and Web sites covering the series are memorable:
"PAUL-VERIZED" -- The Times-Picayune
"Dallas Mavericks are Paul-mauled again" -- Fort Worth Star Telegram
"All Paul Again -- Dallas Morning News
"CP3 Fever" -- The Times-Picayune
"Time for Kidd. Mavericks to Panic" -- Yahoo Sports
"Paul blows up, Mavs implode in second half" -- Forth Worth Star Telegram
One of my favorites lines on the draft: The draft often results in a slap on the risk.
