As Yogi Berra might have said if he'd ever dribbled a basketball through the French Quarter: It's getting late early for the New Orleans Hornets.
The brand new year has just begun and already the Hornets' season is on the brink. Even after Monday night's 91-87 win at Utah, New Orleans is just 3-13 on the road. That doesn't bode well for a team that is still facing 10 of its next 15 away from home.
"It's the hurdle that we're going to have to get over, finding a way to win road games," point guard Chris Paul said recently. "It's usually the measure of being a good team."
What the Hornets have become since coach Byron Scott was fired on Nov. 12 after a 3-6 start is a thoroughly mediocre team, treading water and getting by on a steady diet of home cooking. New Orleans has just three home losses, the same as the L.A. Lakers, Cleveland, Orlando and Denver, all considered championship contenders.
"It's about developing a toughness and a consistency and always doing the right things that we have to do late in games," Paul said.
The Hornets did all of those right things at home on Saturday night when they trailed Houston by seven with three minutes left to play and then practically ran the table to win the game. With Paul controlling the ball and game, the Hornets got good shots on seven consecutive possessions to finish the game.
Then Paul took the final minutes into the palm of his hand against the Jazz, scoring buckets, dishing a big assist to David West and sealing the win with a critical steal off a pass from Deron Williams.
"You can talk about new players getting adjusted to a new team and everybody trying to learn their roles, which might be different from before," said center Emeka Okafor, who came from Charlotte during the offseason in the trade for Tyson Chandler. "But we're more than 30 games and more than two months into the season now and that phase is over. We should be comfortable now. It's time to click."
Yet the Hornets (16-16) have continued to clunk along at a .500 pace since general manager Jeff Bower took over the coaching duties. Too often they don't play defense and most of the time they grasp vainly to find offensive support for the 1-2 punch of Paul and West. On Dec. 29 in a game at Houston, the Hornets managed to lose a game which West scored a career-high 44 points and Paul hung up a triple-double.
"We're working toward getting the results," Bower said. "At this point we've battled through some injuries and some changes and trying to become a strong group. Every year you start over. Every group has to build that energy, build that synergy between them."
Truth is, the Hornets haven't had the energy or the synergy since they won 56 games in the 2007-08 season and at home lost in Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs to San Antonio. Despite making their way back to the playoffs a year ago, the meek first-round loss to Denver -- including that embarrassing 121-63 home loss in Game 4 -- still acts as an anchor around the Hornets' identity.
"It's something that we've got to put completely in the past and I'm not sure we're there yet," said forward James Posey, who came to New Orleans as a free agent last season.
"I think a year ago, what you saw was a young team that thought you just picked up where you left off the from the previous season. A lot of guys didn't understand that you have to build everything from square one. We did eventually put ourselves into a good situation getting into the playoffs. But again, I think there was a feeling that you were just picking up with that Game 7 against San Antonio from the year before and before you knew it, Denver hit us.
"Coach Scott was a veteran player of championship teams and he was aware of those potential problems and he talked about that. But sometimes talk doesn't work. You have to live through the experience that we had last season in the playoffs. When we came back this season, in a way I think some people were still shell-shocked. Then we had changes to the roster and it was a lot to digest. So we dug ourselves a hole and now we're trying to climb out."
While Bower has been unable to settle on a consistent lineup -- often keeping Okafor on the bench for entire fourth quarters -- the team has been unable to establish a real identity and that leaves questions swirling around the franchise once again.
"I have a contract with the Hornets and I'm not looking to go anyplace else," Paul said. "This is where I want to be and this is where I plan to stay. I'm happy in New Orleans and I'll be happier when we get things going right this season."
The Hornets were forced to practically give away shooter Rasual Butler to the Clippers over the summer strictly to trim salary, but they're still dealing with a $74 million payroll that puts them well over the $69.9 million luxury tax threshold. A cost-cutting deal that would have sent Devin Brown to Minnesota last week was sunk at the last minute when Brown wouldn't re-work his contract.
If the Hornets don't make a dramatic turnaround with their road record and jump solidly into the Western Conference playoff picture -- they're currently two games out of the No. 8 spot -- there could be an inclination to deal West and his $9 million salary before the Feb. 18 trade deadline.
"I still have a lot of confidence in this team," said Paul. "I think we can get it together. But we've got to do it soon."
With 10 more road games this month and a season on the brink, you don't need a clock or Yogi to know it's getting late early in New Orleans.
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