Hornets co-owner George Shinn dropped by practice to give a motivational speech, an out-of-the ordinary occurrence unlike anything P.J. Brown had seen in his 11 seasons.
"It was kind of surprising," Brown said after Tuesday's practice, which included a team meeting and lasted about two hours longer than usual.
When the season began, the Hornets were widely considered contenders for the Eastern Conference title. But with a record of 33-30 -- half the losses coming against teams with losing records -- New Orleans could finish below the top four and would have to open the playoffs on the road.
PHOTO: AFP
"We've got ourselves in a situation where there's a sense of urgency -- no doubt about that," general manager Bob Bass said. "I feel better off than those teams below us, but we haven't played well the last four or five games."
New Orleans learned this week that Jamal Mashburn, who missed the first 44 games because of right knee surgery, will m be sidelined an additional 12 games or so after experiencing swelling in the knee last weekend.
Bass has declined to get into specifics about what he thinks has gone wrong, but he made it clear he had no interest in discussing whether coach Tim Floyd is having any difficulty relating to his players.
"I don't have any comment on a question like that," Bass said. "You've got to be kidding me with a question like that."
Brown said the team meeting appeared to help produce an upbeat practice.
"Guys were into it, so I think that kind of proved that we still believe in coach Floyd and the coaching staff and what they're trying give to us," he said.
The Hornets have been talking about winning the East for the past five seasons but have yet to get past the second round of the playoffs. Last season's first-round loss prompted Shinn and co-owner Ray Wooldridge to replace Paul Silas with Floyd, who bolted to a 17-7 start. Since then, New Orleans has gone 16-23.
Sometimes the Hornets have played well, twice beating Indiana -- the best team in the East -- by double-digit margins since the All-Star break.
But they also have lost three times to Silas' new team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the latest defeat among three to losing teams in the past nine days. The Hornets also lost at Washington, one of the five worst teams in the NBA, and to Toronto, which had lost nine of 10 games before the Hornets came to town.
All-Star Baron Davis was taken out of the starting lineup Sunday at Toronto for missing a morning meeting, then was kept on the bench for the final period after shooting 3-of-12.
"That's over with. Let's move on," Davis said. "I need to step my game up, work a little harder in practice, and with Mash being out things are going to be even harder -- harder than at the beginning of the season because teams are playing playoff basketball now."
Recently, Floyd has questioned the passion his players have shown, but he also has blamed the Hornets' inconsistency on injuries that have caused Mashburn and starting guard David Wesley to miss significant time, and Davis to miss six games.
"Our basketball team has had to make more adjustments than anybody in the Eastern Conference," Floyd said. "Every time you lose a player, there's an adjustment. And every time you get a player back, there's a readjustment to that guy and the chemistry in this league."
Davis said it is not too late for the Hornets to regain their early season form.
"You can turn a season around in a matter of three or four games," Davis said. "That's the most important thing we addressed to today -- is that you have to play with passion and a sense of urgency.''
Nuggets 117, Wizards 87
Voshon Lenard scored 27 points and rookie Carmelo Anthony had 26 in his first NBA homecoming to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 117-87 rout of the Washington Wizards.
The Nuggets took control with a 16-2 run in the third quarter Tuesday night to break a three-game losing streak and win for just the second time in 10 games. Denver, clinging to the final Western Conference playoff spot, moved 1 1/2 games ahead of ninth-place Utah.
"This win just feels great. It feels like we (haven't) had a win in almost a month," said Anthony, who shot 10-for-21 from the field and matched his career high with seven assists.
Gilbert Arenas scored 23 points, and Juan Dixon had 19 to lead the Wizards, who lost their third straight and assured themselves of their sixth consecutive losing season.
``Gilbert stood out. Frankly, he played like an NBA player, and not many other people did for us,'' coach Eddie Jordan.
The 30-point margin of defeat was Washington's biggest of the season.
Pacers 94, Raptors 84, OT
In Indianapolis, Ron Artest shut down Vince Carter in the fourth quarter as Indiana beat Toronto.
Jamaal Tinsley opened the extra period with a 3-pointer, Jermaine O'Neal hit a jumper and Reggie Miller added a deep 3-pointer as the shot clock was winding down to give Indiana an 89-81 lead.
Artest led Indiana with 23 points, and O'Neal overcame a poor shooting night to finish with 20 points and 18 rebounds.
Carter led Toronto with 28 points, but managed just one point after the third quarter. He missed two chances to put the Raptors ahead in the final 30 seconds of regulation.
Celtics 87, Knicks 84
In New York, Paul Pierce scored 23 points, including a difficult jumper with 24 seconds left, to give Boston beat New York to notch a six-game winning streak -- its longest of the season.
Pierce's shot from the left corner gave Boston an 85-82 lead, and Tim Thomas' drive brought the Knicks within one. Pierce gave Boston a two-point lead when he made one of two free throws with 17 seconds left.
On the ensuing possession, the Knicks ran the clock down before Stephon Marbury launched a long straightaway 3-pointer that hit the front of the rim. Ricky Davis grabbed the rebound with 0.5 seconds left.
Allan Houston scored 23 and Thomas had 17 for the Knicks, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Heat 100, Magic 89
In Miami, reserve Rasual Butler scored 19 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, and Eddie Jones also scored 19 as Miami beat Orlando for third straight win.
Miami never trailed after Rafer Alston's 3-pointer with 2:31 left in the first quarter put the Heat ahead, 24-22. Orlando tied it twice in the third quarter.
Butler's 3-pointer with 58.2 seconds remaining put Miami ahead 95-84, securing the victory.
Orlando's Tracy McGrady led all scorers with 26 points. Juwan Howard added 24.
Grizzlies 94, Spurs 88
In Memphis, Tennessee, Pau Gasol scored 27 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, as Memphis beat San Antonio for its 40th win of the season.
Gasol's two free throws with 8.4 seconds remaining provided the winning margin in the Grizzlies' sixth consecutive win. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for San Antonio, which hadn't been beaten since March 1 -- also against Memphis.
Tony Parker, who led a third-quarter comeback, led the Spurs with 24 points and seven assists.
76ers 89, Bulls 81
In Chicago, Kenny Thomas had 22 points and 13 rebounds, and Aaron McKie put down 21 points as Philadelphia overcame the absence of Allen Iverson to beat Chicago.
Philadelphia, playing its second straight game without Iverson (right knee injury), won its third straight game -- matching a season-high -- and snapped a four-game road losing streak.
Philadelphia pulled away midway through the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run to break a 65-65 tie. Thomas scored five points in the span, hitting a long jumper and converting a three-point play.
Kirk Hinrich pulled the Bulls to 78-75 on a driving layup with 2:21 left, but Philadelphia answered with six straight points.
Rockets 90, Clippers 85
In Houston, Steve Francis had 24 points and Yao Ming scored eight of his 19 points in a fourth-quarter rally as Houston beat the Los Sngeles Clippers.
The Rockets got their third straight victory and their fifth in succession over the Clippers, but it took a final-period spurt to get the victory.
Trailing 73-71 in the fourth quarter, Houston got the ball on a turnover by Bobby Simmons and Yao's basket tied it with 8:20 to play. A bad pass by Eddie House gave the Rockets their chance to go ahead, and Yao slammed a basket home for a 75-73 lead.
Timberwolves 105, SuperSonics 92
In Seattle, Latrell Sprewell emerged from a shooting slump to score 31 points as Minnesota beat Seattle to end a two-game losing streak.
Kevin Garnett had 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who pulled away in the fourth quarter after taking a four-point lead into the final period. Garnett had 11 of his points in the fourth quarter. Sprewell shot 11-for-23, including 2-for-8 from 3-point range, after averaging 10.2 points and shooting 34 percent in his previous 10 games.
The Sonics, who lost their fifth successive game, got 37 points from Ray Allen, who missed Sunday night's loss to Detroit because of the flu.
Kings 96, Warriors 92
In Sacramento, Doug Christie scored 23 points, Mike Bibby added 21 and Peja Stojakovic had 20 as Sacramento beat Golden State.
Christie also had six assists and five rebounds, and Bibby scored four of his points in a key 40-second span with just under three minutes remaining.
With the Kings ahead 83-82, Bibby hit a jump shot, then scored on a right-handed scoop layup while driving left. Nearly a minute later, Bibby missed on another drive attempt, but his shot was tipped in by Vlade Divac for a 89-82 lead with 1:23 to go.
Erick Dampier had 26 points and 18 rebounds for Golden State, which had two good opportunities to take the lead just prior to Bibby's late spurt. But both Cliff Robinson (15 points) and Jason Richardson (18 points, seven rebounds) missed drives in traffic on consecutive possessions.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
In-form teenager Mirra Andreeva on Thursday crashed out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, after going down in straight sets to fellow Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the last 16. World No. 7 Andreeva, who already has two titles under her belt this season, lost 6-3, 6-2 against the 22nd-ranked Alexandrova in just over an hour. The 17-year-old Andreeva had defeated her elder sister Erika in the previous round on Wednesday, but Alexandrova quickly took control as she claimed her fourth win over a top-10 player this season. The 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in February became the youngest winner of a WTA
RSS