I'm not so sure about that. New Orleans is a young team. It wouldn't surprise me if the demolition job by the Rockets took away a lot of New Orlean's confidence.
No, I think that's more of a sign of how young they are then it is that they're not that good. You don't get to 20 games over .500 by not being that great. And you don't have their record at this point in the season if you're not a very good team. What happened is that New Orleans has run into a tough schedule. And, being a young team, got caught after back-to-back emotional losses. The East may not be that great, but Washington is still a veteran team. Combine that with one of their players just going off and you had a recipe for disaster.
This time of the year that the anual NO post allstar break starts. I called it two weeks ago, when they were still on top of the world. I wonder it has to do with Byron's coaching style. That guy can be real pain in the rear in practice, as shown on NBATV.
People are going to have to wait and see about the NO "collapse". People were calling Boston's collapse a few days ago. New Orleans last 3 losses: to a team that has won 12 straight games, on the road against the defending world champions, and against a team that is currently seeded #6 in the East and has been the playoffs the last few years, and is a veteran team. I wouldn't call that a collapse yet. It's not like they lost three straight games to crappy teams.
The difference betwen great players and good players can be a difference in talent. NBA players are all very talented though. So a lot of times, the difference between the caliber of players is that great players play great every night and average players play great occasionally (Stevenson). I go back to my argument that anybody can beat anybody on any given night. The difference between great teams and average teams is consistency. However, average teams can beat great teams on a given night.
Honestly the Hornets are not a great team. They are kind of like the Nuggets, they got talent but they just dont know what they are really doing. Dont be surprised if Nuggets and Hornets are battling for the 8th spot. I called it here first.
I'm not going to predict the Hornets will crash and burn, but their remaining schedule isn't easy. They have several losable home games and finish the season with 10 of their last 14 games on the road. If they don't pull it together and get back on the right track, it could be nasty. I'll go out on a limb and say they will not finish in the top 4 in the Western Conference.
The Wizards are a very bad road team, Gilbert was out, Butler was out, Jamison was pretty bad last night and the Hornets STILL LOST. Who cares if the Wizards are seeded 6th in the East? They have a losing record in that sorry conference. You can't sugarcoat that. You also can't sugarcoat getting demolished by 20 points at home against the Rockets. Those are two very bad losses (collapses) no matter how you slice it. bigballerj, heh heh, what I meant was nobody will be calling the Hornets a Finals favorite by the end of the season. They are missing some things. Their hot streak in January will end up being their highlight for the regular season because it gets harder now. By the time the season ends, the Western Conference will break out into topdogs and underdogs. It won't stay bunched up like this.
