The Western conference competition isn’t getting any easy, even the Eastern conference has gotten tougher this season with the Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers playing like legitimate championship contenders, so if the New Orleans Hornets still want to be able to contend down the stretch they have to be on their game the whole way through.
Even though the Hornets are on top of the Southwest division with only 9 losses and 19 wins, the division is about as tough as they come with three other teams just waiting for the Hornets to slip up and give away the division lead.
Just as everyone says, every season, the San Antonio Spurs are getting older and could be just one season or one bad string of losses from being a mediocre team, but one thing about that Spurs that is amazing to me is their resolve and knack for always overcoming adversity. With that being said you can never count them out in the Southwest.
The Houston Rockets on the other hand came into this season with NBA championship aspirations after they got their hands on defensive specialist Ron Artest. The Rockets have always been one of the better defensive teams in the league, but with the addition of Artest they can be suffocating on defense. The biggest problem with the Rockets is their injury problems to their superstars which seems to happen every season guaranteed. Whether it is Tracy McGrady’s back problems or Yao Ming struggling to stay healthy, their always seems to be someone out of the lineup every night. When they are healthy though, they are as tough as they come and can compete with anyone.
The Dallas Mavericks are the dark horse in this division in my opinion, either they are playing as good as anyone in the league or they are as beatable as some of the worst teams in the NBA. I think they are flawed and are missing a piece to the puzzle in order to be a serious threat in the West.
As for the Hornets, they struggled in the beginning and have lost some forgettable games lately like the loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic on Christmas, but I am sure they will rebound and get back to playing basketball at a high level.
They will need to play at a high level over the four games because there will be no easy wins going up against their next four opponents away from New Orleans.
First off the Hornets will go into one of the hardest places to win in the NBA, the Rose Garden in Portland. The Blazers are playing some very impressive and inspired basketball lately, especially after taking down the defending champion Boston Celtics.
After the Blazers Chris Paul and company will go to Denver to take on Chauncey Billups, Carmelo Anthony and company. The Nuggets have been nothing but successful after making the blockbuster trade sending Allen Iverson to Detroit in exchange for point guard Chauncey Billups.
The biggest test of this road trip will be against arguably the best team in the league, the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are flying high after beating the Celtics on Christmas day and will be ready for the Hornets especially the pounding they gave them recently.
Finally, the Hornets will take on Deron Williams and the Utah Jazz. Although the Jazz have had injury problems this season, they have still played at a high level even without Carlos Boozer.
If Chris Paul can lead his boys to at least two wins on this road trip it will be a success in my eyes.
At first glance most New Orleans Hornets fans might think this is a mistake, but if you hadn’t noticed last season, Tyson Chandler was on his way out one way or the other and this trade gives the Hornets much more in return than what the Oklahoma City Thunder were offering last season when they tried to make a trade using Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox.
