In a time of year when so many college teams become Cinderellas, the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, the Cinderella story of this NBA season, are watching their carriage turn into a pumpkin.
After surprising everyone in the league by racing out to a 31-25 record, the Hornets had dropped six in a row heading into Tuesday night's tough road match-up against the San Antonio Spurs.
With the losing streak, the Hornets have fallen to .500 and behind the Sacramento Kings for the last spot in the Western Conference playoffs. The Kings are starting to play well, so the Hornets cannot afford to keep losing with 20 games left in the season.
The skid started on Feb. 28, when the Hornets could not complete a fourth quarter comeback, dropping a 114-104 road game against the Seattle SuperSonics. It continued with another road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, followed by four straight home losses.
The low point came on Mar. 1 against the Clippers. A day after losing to the Sonics, the Hornets got off to a nice start, taking a 51-47 lead over the Clippers at the half. The Hornets, however, never really left the locker room to play the second 30 minutes. In the second half, the Hornets scored eight points in each quarter en route to an embarrassing 89-67 loss.
The 16 second-half points marked a post-shot clock era NBA record low for points in a half. After taking a 59-49 lead in the game, the Hornets went 12:41 seconds without scoring, allowing the Clippers, the previous holder of the record, to go on a 25-0 run. The Hornets missed 21 shots during that run.
Rough stretches on offense have been a pattern for the Hornets as of late. On Friday, during the team's 92-90 loss to the Indiana Pacers, the team held a 90-89 lead before going the final two and a half minutes without a point.
The losing streak has come as a shock to a team that surprised the league by holding down the sixth seed in the West through February.
After an 18-54 season last year, little was expected from these Hornets. The team also had the built-in excuse of having to play its games in another city as New Orleans dealt with Hurricane Katrina. Yet, after a slow 12-17 start, the team turned heads by making a playoff run.
The Hornets have been fueled largely by the emergence of Rookie of the Year lock Chris Paul, as well as by David West. Paul, who went fourth in the draft behind fellow point guard Deron Williams, has been sensational for the Hornets. Coming into Tuesday's game, the Wake Forest product was averaging 16.3 points, 8 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 2.24 steals per game.
Paul's play was bolstered by West, who has come out of nowhere to average 17 points and 7.4 rebounds in his third season. West has also hit a few clutch shots to lead the Hornets to victory.
Also leading the Hornets has been Sixth Man of the Year candidate Speedy Claxton, one of the players acquired in the Baron Davis trade. Playing just over 28 minutes a game, Claxton has averaged 12.7 points and 4.6 assists per game off the bench.
Yet with the Kings' recent surge, these three players may not be enough for a team that would have been an improbable playoff story.
The team could receive an emotional boost by returning to New Orleans to play its next two games against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday and the Clippers on Tuesday.
