The Hornets should be very afraid. With Chris Paul leading the way (he had 12 assists by halftime!), they had the Trail Blazers on the ropes on Monday night, leading by as many as 20 points in the third quarter. But when Paul left the game with an injured groin late in the third quarter, the Hornets completely fell to pieces, not only losing the game 97-89 but also destroying whatever confidence they may have had that they can win without their best player.
By the time the carnage was over, Portland outscored New Orleans 38-15 in the final quarter, thanks in part to rookie Jerryd Bayless, who scored 11 of his 19 points after Paul left the game. It's not the way he wanted it to happen, but this might have been Paul's most compelling argument for the league's MVP award yet. From John DeShazier of the Times-Picayune:
"Chris goes out the game, and our guys get some confidence and we score buckets and defensively, we rattled them a little bit," Portland Coach Nate McMillan said.Talk about the understatement of the year. I don't have the numbers to back this up, but I'd venture a guess that you could count on one hand the number of teams this year that have given up a 20-point lead in the third quarter to lose by as many as New Orleans did.
In any case, Paul is expected to undergo an MRI on Tuesday, the results of which should give the Hornets an idea how many games (if any) he's expected to miss. The Bulls come to town on Wednesday followed by the Raptors on Friday. With Paul in the lineup, those should be easy wins; without him, it's anyone's guess.
