FanHouse Peja Stojakovic

Chris Paul was dazzling on Wednesday against Dallas, in what really was a must-win for the Hornets if they were going to have any sort of confidence in their ability to play with the top teams as the season goes on. Paul dragged his team to a win with 39 points, on 14-for-23 shooting, including three of four from three-point land.

But as great as Paul was and as below average as Dallas was (Dirk Nowitzki was held to just 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting), if we're going to be honest, his Hornets were fairly fortunate to be able to pull this one out.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Time at the peak isn't supposed to be this short.

The Hornets jolted the West in 2008, nearly taking the first seed in the conference one season after missing the postseason entirely. After waxing Dallas in what would become Avery Johnson's final playoff series there, the Hornets went all the way to Game 7 against the defending champion Spurs. The Hornets lost, and didn't get close in 2008-09.

You can believe one of three things. The Hornets' short triumph could be over, more flash in the sky than formation of a new star. The Hornets could have experienced just a brief setback, a defeat at the hands of a bad match-up and an injury-riddled season. Or, the Hornets could have just ran into some structural problems in need of fixing, which they possibly have this summer.

Who doesn't like a list, especially on a Monday morning when that's about all you can handle? From now till the regular season starts, we're going to throw our own Top Fives at you.

Since this is the first one, and it's the middle of the offseason, how about five players who look a lot better in August than they do in December, a lot better in the summertime than in winter? Here are five players who have had better offseasons than regular seasons in their NBA careers.

Overrated might be too strong a word here -- but it's time for these guys to start earning earning their money.

Less than eight minutes into Saturday's Game 3, the Hornets were down 16 points to the Denver Nuggets. But thanks to a big-time effort by point guard Chris Paul, the Hornets overcame that deficit and ended up hanging on for a two-point win.

Conventional wisdom suggests the Hornets are right back in the series, now down just two games to one. But they've still got a lot of work to do and many obstacles and challenges to overcome.

In fact, the Nuggets still have plenty of reasons to be optimistic, while the Hornets' margin for error remains small. In short, the Hornets still have some problems ... and here are five of them:

The Hornets will have Peja Stojakovic back for Friday's game against the Golden State Warriors as New Orleans tries to put the finishing touches on a 3-0 West Coast road trip.

Stojakovic has missed the past 15 games because of back spasms and hasn't played since a March 2 game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Hornets coach Byron Scott said he would bring Stojakovic off the bench for the time being.

Part of FanHouse's coverage of the NBA's All-Star weekend, coming to you live from Phoenix.

PHOENIX -- The All-Star festivities will be a little different this weekend, with the addition of the GEICO/HORSE Game on Saturday. If you've ever touched a basketball for longer than about six seconds, you have played a version of HORSE, so getting to see the big boys toss up crazy shots will be interesting.

During the media time on Friday, some of the bigger names talked about the game and who they thought might be the toughest to face in the NBA. The answers might surprise you.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

Now that the Birdman (Ka-kaw) is back, the Hornets are really only one or two pieces away from contending for a championship that they could have won last year anyway. Which makes this pick tough -- New Orleans certainly has needs, but whether or not those can be immediately answered at 27 will determine whether they actually end up pulling the trigger on any first rounders.

Picks: #27

Needs: A scorer from the two. They need some frontcourt depth too, but they can acquire that without having to use a draft pick. Not to mention an immediate offensive impact shooting guard takes the pressure off of Peja and Chris Paul (vis a vis Jannero Pargo seeing more minutes at the point).

Best case scenario: Chris Douglas-Roberts or Courtney Lee somehow drops to the Hornets in the first ... which a lot of mocks actually have happening. I think they gets pulled on before then but, oh, the three letter nicknames we'd see. Give me a second, I'll figure something out for Lee.

Chris Paul is Jordanesque, Chris Paul is a great human being, blah blah blah. Tony Parker put up a very similar stat line to everyone's favorite point guard last night, his Spurs got the win, and all I can hear is praise for CP3. Can we please give it a rest people, at least for one day?

For a single night, in the Spurs' Game 3 victory over the Hornets, I believe this to be true: that Tony Parker was at least just as good -- and possibly better --than Chris Paul. Statistically, they were virtually identical: Paul scored 35 points on 15-25 shooting, with two rebounds, nine assists, and just one turnover, while Parker had 31 on 12-24, four rebounds, 11 assists, and three turnovers. And as a reminder (because it's hard to hear over everyone's extremely loud praise-singing of Paul), the Spurs actually won the game.

As a team, the Spurs had assists on 13 more of their buckets than the Hornets did, and that's in large part to Parker creating and then his teammates making one more pass to get a wide open shot. This is a big reason why the Spurs were 11-25 from three-point land, while the Hornets were just 2-11. With Bruce Bowen all over Peja Stojakovic, and most of Paul's passes going towards the rim or to David West for a jump shot, the Hornets weren't able to get the open looks from behind the arc that the Spurs got, and that was largely due to Parker's playmaking.

There's no doubt that Chris Paul has had an incredible season, and an even more incredible playoffs. And he may end up being the greatest ever. But after a game in which Tony Parker played just as well and lead his team to the win, I think it's okay to not praise Chris Paul for a day. I'm sure he'll get over it.

FanHouse's Round Two previews will give you the critical points of every series, so you can talk to your friends like you've been following every team in the Association all season long. Or know what the hell an Udoka is.

Biggest Reason You Should Watch: Because Chris Paul v. Tony Parker is just like Chris Paul v. Jason Kidd, except this time CP3's opponent can shoot and play defense. Oh, and if you really ever wanted a "new - old" rivalry that you could wax all philosophical about by the water cooler, this is it. The Spurs have championships galore. The Hornets won the first divisional championship in the history of New Orleans this year. Plus, we're all a little sick of Manu at his point, no?

New Orleans Can Win If: Well, they can't, if you listen to most of the hating. Paul is going to be otherworldly. Peja Stojakovic has to do what he did last round, which is shoot lights out. It will be tougher this time against Bruce Bowen, who cheats plays hard nosed defense, but CP3 is so good at manipulating defenses that it's entirely possible. Tyson Chandler needs to come up with a little more offense (7.2 against Dallas) to take some of Tim Duncan's heat off of David West too.

San Antonio Can Win If: Tim Duncan can stop the X-man. West averaged 22 plus against Dallas and while Paul makes this team go, if they can't score in the post, it becomes a heck of a lot harder to hit from the perimeter. Duncan's defense is actually still pretty underrated, but then again so is West. Or is he overrated now? I can never remember. Whatever. This is the Spurs. They can't ever not win.

Video Clip to Get You Pumped: Well, I was going to use French disc jockey DJ Hornet (get it?) but I wasn't sure if it was safe for work, and well, frankly it sucked. Instead, a quite possibly irrelevant South Park clip about distinct styles. If Randy Marsh's wail at the end doesn't get you stoked, I don't know what will.

Tough week for poor Josh Howard. J-Ho "made" "news" when he "broke" the "story" to ESPN "radio host" Michael Irvin that he really liked to burn trees, to borrow some slang from the kids, during the offseason.

Now, his team is one game shy of elimination in the NBA playoffs. Oh yes, and he's found himself on the good end of a couple of, to borry some more slang, nutshots. Good because he didn't get hit, but you're not making any friends this way. First, while guarding Peja Stojakovic on the perimeter.



And now, on Tyson Chandler in the post. With the foot. </cringe> After the jump.