Well, those pesky Dallas Mavericks put an end to what was a perfect 8-0 start by the New Orleans Hornets on Monday night.
So that means whatever fans had jumped on the Beewagon are now probably off again because they forgot this isn’t football and you can’t have an undefeated season.
They had to lose at some point, but I just wish it wasn’t against Dallas.
It’s OK.
They’ve got a rematch in the Hive tonight, and the Hornets will take this one.
That loss is the one low point in what has so far been an amazing season for the Bees.
First off, the team appears to have bought into coach Monty Williams’ “beefence”-first mantra.
The Hornets have yet to give up 100 points to an opponent, ranking second in the league in points per game allowed (90.7).
It’s refreshing to see a Hornets team, or any NBA team, actually care about defense.
That defense is making up for what, if anything, is lacking on offense.
Monday night against the Mavs, the Hornets went away from what was working best, and that was when Chris Paul was moving in and out of the lane, causing havoc. Instead, they started to jack up way too many threes, and it just didn’t happen in the end.
They fell apart when the pressure was there, but as I’ve said before, that’s going to happen at times. This is a young squad, and they’re going to make mistakes.
Outside of that, the young newcomers have been great for the Hornets. Players like Willie Green, Jason Smith and Jerryd Bayless have all been awesome off the bench.
They allow players like Paul and center Emeka Okafor to have to only average 33.7 and 29.9 minutes per game, respectively. The lack of minutes early in the season will be key later this season when every minute of rest will count.
But the young’uns aren’t the only ones making an impact this season.
Veteran Peja Stojakovic, who was on the inactive list for the first few games of the season, has taken to his new bench role without a problem.
In just four games, Stojakovic is getting those three giant Peja heads running around 2.3 times per game in just 14.5 minutes per game. His player efficiency rating is 26.0, second on the team to only Paul.
It’s always great to see a healthy Stojakovic lighting it up again from 3-land like he did back in his younger days, shooting nearly 53 percent from beyond the arc. If he can keep it up, the Hornets will have one of the best benches in the league.
The best news of all is that the past three teams to be the last team to lose its first game of the season (Celtics, Lakers, Celtics, respectively) have all made it to the NBA Finals.
It’s a long shot for the Hornets to get there, even with how good they have looked so far. But it would be something to see.
Nobody picked the Hornets to make the playoffs this season, or if they did it was as the eighth seed (that’s where I put them).
Let’s face it. They were terrible last year.
Now they look like one of the best teams in the league early in the season.
Wouldn’t it be nice if they can mirror the Saints all the way to the championship?
Andy Schwehm is a 21-year-old English and psychology senior from New Orleans. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_ASchwehm.
—-
Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]