Back to Tulane: Welcoming back the home team
On Wednesday night, New Orleans took another step toward recovery. Its NBA franchise played host to the first professional sporting event since the hurricane scattered the city's teams around the country. The Hornets came back to town to do battle against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first of three NBA tilts to be held at the New Orleans Arena this month.
I was lucky enough to acquire the three-game pack, so I can now claim to have season tickets for an NBA team for the first time in my young life.
I was excited for the return of the Hornets, as this was the first time I had a chance to see the rebuilt Hornets in person. Attendance was very low in New Orleans last year, which prompted rumors that the team might be looking for a new home, but I think the lack of interest in the team was not caused by a problem with the city's potential fan base as much as it was by the lack of wins generated by last year's squad. Western Conference doormats are just not big draws in the NBA these days. But now the team is respectable, on course to make the playoffs for the first time since moving to the conference.
The game was a sellout. Scalpers roamed the streets outside selling tickets for exorbitant prices. It looked like a city that can support a pro franchise for more than six games next season. The fans were treated to a terrific game, which was a bonus to a fan base that was happy just to have a game to go to.
It was a pretty close game all the way through, with both teams going on runs back and forth. The Hornets were led by their young and outstanding duo of Chris Paul and David West. Paul, the electric rookie point guard out of Wake Forest, went for 22 points and 10 assists while bringing the crowd to its feet with some ridiculous shots and passes. The quickly improving power forward West and his automatic midrange jumper were good for 25 points.
The Lakers rode their two stars most of the way. The underappreciated Lamar Odom showed his versatile abilities by stuffing his stat sheet with 18 points, 17 rebounds, and 6 assists. The villain Kobe Bryant managed to shoot the ball enough times to score 40 points while missing as many shots as any other player in the game even took. In all, Kobe's 33 attempts were more than any three of his teammates combined.
Point guard Smush Parker had a nice game with 16 points, 7 assists, and 5 steals, as he continues to make an effort to prove that people named Smush can be of some value to society. He had two key steals late in the fourth quarter that, coupled with the fact that some of Bryant's heaves actually started going in the basket late in the game, helped seal a Lakers victory, 113 to 107.
This was meant to be a joyous occasion for the city of New Orleans, but Kobe Bryant had to come and put razor blades in the piñata.
We welcome the Nuggets in about a week. I hope Carmelo Anthony will be more polite.
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