From ESPN.com


OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Rookie Chris Paul scored 25 points, including five late free throws, and the New Orleans Hornets held off Atlanta's fourth-quarter rally to beat the winless Hawks 95-92 on Friday night.

Salim Stoudamire, who scored 30 points to lead Atlanta, missed a desperation 3-pointer from near half court that would have sent the game to overtime. Atlanta dropped to 0-9, the worst start in franchise history.

Paul, who hit five free throws in the final 22.7 seconds, added a career-high 12 assists, and Chris Andersen had 10 points and 18 rebounds for the Hornets, who were playing without two starters and their top reserve.

The Hornets led 76-50 after Brandon Bass' two-handed, fast-break dunk early in the fourth quarter before Stoudamire took over. The former Arizona standout scored 21 of the Hawks' next 31 points to cut the deficit to eight, and Joe Johnson added two 3-pointers and a layup to get Atlanta to 90-89.

Paul, the Hornets' first-round draft pick, hit one of two free throws with 22.7 seconds left, and Johnson and Zaza Pachulia each missed baskets that could have tied the game for the Hawks.

Paul hit two more free throws to stretch New Orleans' lead to 93-89, and Stoudamire made his fourth 3-pointer of the quarter to pull Atlanta within one again. Paul then sealed the game with two free throws with 3 seconds left.

Johnson scored 21 points, Harrington had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Pachulia added 10 points and 14 rebounds.

The Hornets played without starting guard J.R. Smith (ankle) and starting center P.J. Brown, who was attending his mother-in-law's funeral. Reserve guard Speedy Claxton (ankle), the team's second-leading scorer, also didn't play.

Still, the Hornets (3-6) snapped a four-game losing streak and ensured they wouldn't duplicate last season's 2-29 start. New Orleans didn't pick up its third win until a 121-117 victory against Sacramento on Jan. 8 ended its second losing streak of 10 or more games.

Game notes
Two of the Hawks' three preseason wins came against New Orleans. The other was against Charlotte. ... Atlanta faced nine straight Western Conference opponents to start the season. Its first Eastern Conference game is Sunday against Boston. ... The attendance was 17,554, the Hornets' lowest in five games in Oklahoma City. ... A night after going 0-for-13 from 3-point range, the Hornets were 8-for-16 from behind the arc.

Well here is a team that if we don't get to keep the Hornets might very well be interested in coming to OKC.

Did anyone take any pics? I'd love to see them, since I didn't go (but did see the 1st half at Buffalo Wild Wings). I'm surprised that the attendance wasn't better, since the game was on a Friday ... the Wednesday game had better attendance. Maybe it was becaue OSU was playing at the same time?

Doug I was able to go - my friend gave me two tickets - I tried to find Scotplum as we were in Section 111 also.. row DD ( right in front of the guys in the teal suits).

Yeah, I have a lot of pictures.. I'll post them. What a great game!

http://www.okctalk.com/ihost/images/Karried/hornetshawks2005036.jpgMy husband was in Honey Heaven! He took a few shots but this is the best one..

Once again my CRAPPY camera stinks.. I'm taking it back today and getting a Sony... that is what I had before and I couldn't take a bad pic ( well maybe a few) This Vivitar is a train wreck - it's too hard to keep it stable ( maybe that's the Budwieser?) Not really though, every pic is a challenge - not fun!

http://www.okctalk.com/ihost/images/Karried/hornetshawks2005030.jpg

The camera is a 5.0 Mega Pixel - 3x optical zoom - the problem is it can't take pics far away and still retain any clarity. Plus the auto flash doesn't do the trick - I have to lighten these and they look grainy and horrible. Any ideas?

http://www.okctalk.com/ihost/images/Karried/hornetshawks2005029.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/ihost/images/Karried/hornetshawks2005020.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/ihost/images/Karried/hornetshawks2005023.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/ihost/images/Karried/hornetshawks2005026.jpghttp://www.okctalk.com/ihost/images/Karried/hornetshawks2005025.jpg

Thanks, Karrie! I would LOVED to see Air Hugo perform ... the only time I've seen him was at the 1st preseason game.

I dunno what to say about your camera ... I'm not thrilled with mine but I bought "cheap" (around $250 couple of years ago). I'd call it "adequate" but not that great for far away shots. It's an Olympus 3.2 MP with a 10X zoom ... but I've no clue about the lack of brightness and grainy quality in your images. I've generally been pleased with the quality of the product, though, and I'd certainly buy another Olympus, but just a better model.

And, to be sure, I am VERY impressed by the 1st pic your husband took ... I mean, he was right there standing by those babes, wasn't he! Ooh la la! :bow: :boff:

And, judging by the angle, it looks like you guys were right on the floor when the pics were taken ... is that so? And, if so, how did you manage that?

I think it's interesting that on the New Orleans site they're already beginning to say that support is lacking in OKC because we had ONLY 17,554 at the game Friday night. Heck, that pretty much tops the attendance highs they had. And we're a much smaller market...or we were before the hurrican.

I think the folks from New Orleans need to realize that their city can't support a team right now, so they need to quit whining. I'd be surprised if their population tops 200,000 by next year. From what I've heard, many people are buying up houses in other states now, and won't be returning to NO.

Patrick, if you spend any time on any of those boards you will find a lot of very bitter people- downright abusive at times.. I read a lot of stuff and then ignore most of it.


It reminds me of this (and I read something similar about it) - a marriage ends - the dad and mom go on - meet new people and soon, a new dad is in the picture- what do you think the old dad feels like when he hears his children call the stepfather - Dad?

(or a mom? Personally, I would kill the *itch but that's just me. LOL )

But you see my point. It must be incredibly hard for people who have lost everything, to now lose a team and yes they are sad and bitter and are lashing out. I've tried to tell a few people in different posts that we in OK are compassionate about their situation and do feel sad that they are going through this - some are responsive and some are jerks. But I hope we can remain dignified and not gloat about how horrible N.O. is etc. I know we can be bigger and better people than that.

What they don't understand is that even if their were games in New Orleans right now, they wouldn't be well attended. Heck, they were having problems attracting 14,000 folks to a game before the aftermath. Now their city has shrunk considerably. And they think they can support the team?

I felt sorry for most of them to begin with. Then I started reading threads on their site.....makes me hope they never get their team back.

A "much smaller market"?

Nielsen DMA ranking for 2005-06:
New Orleans: #43, 672,150 households
Oklahoma City: #45, 655,400 households

Figure a hundred thousand households not returning to the Big Easy, and they drop into the middle 50s next year.

Friday's lower attendance can be attributed to the Blazers playing across the street and high school football playoffs. I also believe that some of the Sooner football fans that normally attend Hornet games were probably in Lubbock for the OU-Texas Tech game. The Blazers had an attendance of over 7,800. So, if you put the two games together, there were over 25,000 in attendance altogether. In fact, they had to delay the faceoff for the Blazers because people were showing up late due to traffic and parking problems. I would say that the Hornets attendance will be slightly affected if there is a hockey game on the same night. As for the N.O. people getting giddy over OKC's slight drop in attendance for ONE game, don't get used to it. There will be a few of those this season, but OKC should still be in the top 10 in attendance by seasons end. In fact, the Oklahoman does a comparison of each home game from last year to this year and I believe that N.O. only had around 11,200 for the game last year. If you put OKC's attendance for every single game into New Orleans Arena, which has a capacity of 17,200, there would've been a sellout for every game so far with not enough seats to give the rest of the ticket holders. When you put things into perspective, those people shouldn't be patting themselves on the back.

Still in 8th place despite the small drop; I don't see the Hornets climbing above 5th or so, but I doubt they'll drop much from where they are now. (They're closer to 5th - the Lakers - than they are to 9th - Washington.)

Last year in New Orleans: 14,221 average. 30th then, and it would be 30th now.

(Or, from another angle: It takes 19,163 to sell out the Ford. Attendance of 17,554, the lowest of the season so far, is 91.6 percent of capacity. If the New Orleans Arena holds 17,200, they averaged 82.7 percent full for 41 games last year. They'd have to have sold 15,755 - 1534 extra seats - every game, to match the worst performance in Oklahoma City.)