NEW ORLEANS – It’s a little bit of a cliché to say one team’s attention immediately turns to its next opponent as soon as one game is over.
Yet, clichés, at their base level, are truths.
And for the Hornets, the truth is, as soon as the buzzer sounded on a 95-87 come-from-behind win over Detroit, New Orleans’ attention was no longer on the skid-busting win.
Not with Friday night’s NBA schedule having New Orleans host Denver.
Yep, that same franchise that pasted the Hornets by 21 the last time they played and by an NBA-record tying 58 points the last time they played at the New Orleans Arena.
“Big game against Denver –everyone around here knows what happened in the playoffs,” All-Star point guard Chris Paul said. “It’s our first crack at them.”
But there’s one fact getting in the way of what could be called redemption.
The Hornets are a different team, emotionally and mentally.
Gone is Tyson Chandler. Gone is Antonio Daniels. Gone is Rasual Butler.
And most importantly, gone is Byron Scott, ousted in an early season coaching change.
Instead of payback, New Orleans will be looking for just another win, another step closer to getting to .500.
“This is another opportunity for us to go out and get a win at home,” New Orleans forward David West said. “That’s really the only focus we can have. We can’t worry about all that other stuff, last year in the playoffs. We’re a different team. They’re a different team.”
Denver, though, still is good. The Nuggets went into Wednesday’s game with Houston 19-7, good enough for the second-best record in the Western Conference.
Carmelo Anthony is the league’s leading scorer at 30.4 points per game. Chauncey Billups is guiding the league’s second-highest scoring team to 108.2 points per game. And Chris “Birdman” Andersen is 15th in the NBA in blocked shots per game (1.79 bpg).
The players who are left in New Orleans from last season’s playoff embarrassment certainly are going to remember that series and the final home game of the 2008-09 season.
And they’ll likely use it to get them pumped for the game.
But more than anything, it’s about this season, not last. It’s about continuing to improve from a devastatingly tough early season. It’s about getting back on track for a playoff push.
“It’s a statement game for us,” Hornets guard Devin Brown said. “They’re going to come in here thinking they can push us over and do whatever they want. We’re going to have to stand up to the challenge.
“At this point in the season, they’re at where we’re trying to be and that’s a top team.”
