There was a day or two when the New Orleans Hornets‘ return to the playoffs was in doubt, with David West being lost for the season and the Houston Rockets making a post-break charge at one of the final spots in the Western Conference.
But the Hornets picked up some big wins down the stretch and are in the playoffs for the third time in Chris Paul‘s six seasons. With four games left, including tonight’s home game against Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns (8 p.m. ET, NBA TV), their seed and first-round opponent is still up in the air.
The Hornets were fortunate in that they traded for a decent West replacement in Carl Landry back at the trade deadline. And Landry has done his part to keep his new team from sinking in the wake of West’s injury.
Landry had never played with the Hornets’ other four starters before West’s injury, but their new starting lineup is already the Hornets’ third most-used lineup this season, logging 100 minutes together over the last six games.
Six games is not much of a sample size, but thus far, the Hornets’ new lineup has been better than its old one…
Hornets efficiency
| Lineup | GP | Min. | Pace | Off. Eff. | Def. Eff. | Diff. |
| Paul, Belinelli, Ariza, West, Okafor | 52 | 882 | 90.7 | 106.3 | 102.9 | +3.4 |
| Paul, Belinelli, Ariza, Landry, Okafor | 6 | 100 | 84.2 | 112.2 | 105.3 | +6.9 |
Pace = Possessions per 48 minutes
Off. Eff. = Points scored per 100 possessions
Def. Eff. = Points allowed per 100 possessions
What’s interesting is that, after the Landry trade and before his injury, the Hornets were much better (on both ends) with West on the bench than they were with him on the floor.
Hornets efficiency, between Landry trade and West injury
| West On/Off Floor | Min. | Pace | Off. Eff. | Def. Eff. | Diff. |
| West on floor | 410 | 91.2 | 100.7 | 106.6 | -5.9 |
| West off floor | 218 | 90.6 | 113.3 | 99.8 | +13.6 |
Even before West’s injury, the Landry trade turned out to be critical for the Hornets’ success. West had a negative plus-minus in four of the Hornets’ seven wins in that time, and didn’t play in a fifth. But now, without West, New Orleans has to worry about its depth. And clearly, there’s been a drop-off when the Hornets have gone to their bench.
Hornets efficiency,since West injury
| Landry On/Off Floor | Min. | Pace | Off. Eff. | Def. Eff. | Diff. |
| Landry on floor | 211 | 88.1 | 109.4 | 105.0 | +4.3 |
| Landry off floor | 76 | 90.0 | 106.7 | 116.0 | -9.2 |
Overall, the Hornets’ offense has been stronger (108.7 points scored per 100 possessions) since West’s injury, and that trend should continue with them playing the Suns tonight. Of course, their worst offensive game since the injury came in a loss to the Lakers, who may very well be their first-round opponent.
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John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. Send him an e-mail or follow him on twitter.
Hornets R taking it all BABY!! Watch out!
hornets win there first game in the playoffs then lose’s all four :/
I don’t care, the Kings got the better side of the trade. Landry is too soft and he is not a go-to guy like Marcus Thornton is becoming. Yes!!!
hornets arent making it past the first round if there in the #7 seed everyone knows the lakers are going to win it all
Bulls going all the way!! hornets aint going no where
They need to overhaul this team after this season, Paul is great but he needs a go to guy,west is not enough and if they cant put the right guy for Paul then maybe its a good bye for the hornet, too bad they have a great role playes…
Another team that will lose their star player and soon be forgotten. Houston or Phoenix in the playoffs are bigger 1st round threats so meh to them if they make it.
Lakers 4 losing streak!!!???all came from the western team….what happened to the defending champ!? wheres the venom of black mamba!!??
already EXPIRED!!!
Jackson said that they just don’t feel like playing right now. Plus they can’t get the first seed. Still it would be wise for them to at least stay secured in the 2nd seed.
They’re fine, who knows what the real reason is. They look flat footed no bounce in their step… The Thunder game will be more important than the Spurs game imo… Hopefully they bring their A game. Reason being is that OKC all of a sudden gained some games in the standings. Not discrediting the Spurs, that will be a good game to get us back into rhythm but we lost our chances at the 1st seed.
I think all the past few games should have meant something to LA. Now they will have to put out alot of energy to beat
Oklahoma and try to stay in the number two spot, when they could have just beat up on the Jazz and Golden State. Anyway it will be a good match tomorrow and we know that LA is going to bring their A game because the Thunder are still looking for revenge from last year.
If the Hornets face LA in the 1st round… Ehhh it won’t be good.
they might face LA or SA in the first round… and for sure they will not make it to the 2nd
If hornets get dallas they could make the second round. Other than that there is no way they can beat lakers. I think hornets are leading Dallas at the moment and they have done well against <0.500 teams this season.
I think Hornets will end up 8th and play the Spurs. I feel sorry for Dallas or LA trying to stay clear of the Blazers right now.
Portland in the 1st round will be a really difficult prospect. Lakers shouldn’t have let slip against such a bunch of poor teams. A loss to OKC and then another Tuesday against Spurs and they are possibly looking at 4th seed in West with Bulls, Heat and Celtics higher in East. Dallas has been slumping too so a bet on the Blazers in the 1st round is a good outside bet
chris paul have to score more for the hornets to be effective and do something in the playoff.
lets go hornets!!!!
chris paul need to score more for the hornets to do something in the playoff and stop being so unselfish.
lets go hornets!!!!