OPINION
NEW ORLEANS – You hear the phrase the time is now quite often in the sporting world.
Well, for the New Orleans Hornets, the time was then.
Then, as in, Sunday night and Monday night, when the Hornets lost to San Antonio 106-92.
Each time the Hornets were in what is amounting to must-win situations.
Each time the Hornets can’t overcome a large third-quarter deficit and end up losing games they easily could win.
First it was against Dallas. The latest came at home against the Spurs.
Both times, the Hornets fell behind big and pulled to within at least five points before eventually running out of steam.
In the most expected answer of the night, Morris Peterson said the team doesn’t have an answer as to why it’s happening.
“If I had the answer then we wouldn’t have those third quarters,” Peterson said.
But here’s where that theory of not knowing goes flying straight out of the “Hive.”
It’s effort.
Yes, it’s that simple.
Before the Hornets mount those grand comebacks, they look discombobulated, lost and sleepy.
There’s little help-side defense being played.
The lane is always wide open.
And rarely do you see hands go up in faces to block shots.
“We’ve got to find a way to get it done,” Peterson said. “We’re not going to point any fingers or put any blame. Everybody is going to have to look in the mirror and look at themselves and see what they can do to help us be more prepared.”
Oh, and don’t dare blame it on fatigue.
The two players playing the best over the past month are two rookies who are used to playing only 32 or so games in a season. The Hornets played No. 61 Monday night.
“We don’t think so,” rookie point guard Darren Collison said about fatigue. “Fatigue right now is mental for us. We’ve got to push through it if it is fatigue. It’s the second half of the season and we can’t really worry about that.”
The Hornets have 21 games left in the season. They’re four games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
No, the Hornets don’t have time to worry about fatigue.
They just have time to figure out what’s wrong and fix it.
That starts Wednesday night against Memphis.
