Part Two of Interview with At The Hive

These two teams met last Saturday and the Hornets pulled out a W by rallying in the fourth quarter in impressive fashion. Prior to that game I interviewed At The Hive as part of my game preview. This time around I'm not going to run another preview. Chris Paul is awesome, the Hornets can score and New Orleans is the only team left in the NBA the Celtics have not beaten this season. Furthermore, outside of paying back Washington for back-to-back losses there is not another big game left on Boston's schedule. Seriously April's opponents are for the most part hanging below .500. Luckily I have part two of my interview with At the Hive. Enjoy.

Green Bandwagon: I was checking out the boxscore from a Hornets/Rockets game and I was blown away by Bonzi Wells' final line: 25 points (9-12 from the field, 1-1 from beyond the arc, 6-7 from the line), 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 3 blocks in just under 27 minutes of time. Wells can score on anyone and that's an efficient line as well. Yet Jeff Van Gundy sent him home last season and Bill Simmons and others routinely question his character. How has Wells played since arriving in New Orleans and are you happy with the trade? Do not feel like you need to take Tyson Chandler's feelings into account while answering.

At the Hive: Haha, I was one of the few Hornets fans to be high on this trade since the pre-trade stages. We needed somebody to bolster the post game of our bench, especially since our '06 lottery pick C Hilton Armstrong really hasn't panned out. Jannero Pargo and Bobby Jackson obviously were great shooters from the outside, but any night they were cold, we were pretty much doomed. That put a ton of pressure on the starters. All that being said, I think Bonzi's biggest addition to this team isn't his scoring, but his defense. He can guard the 3 and the 4, and in some cases the 2, and he's also a really physical defender. He gives us size in an increasingly big Western Conference. Finally, Bobby Jackson was a great ball-handler, so losing him for a non-ball handling forward could have been costly. Getting Mike James in the deal was important in that regard, and James is a serviceable insurance guy for Paul and Pargo.

Green Bandwagon: Who are your favorite and least favorite Hornets of all time?

At the Hive: First all time, it's gotta be Tyrone Muggsy Bogues. The guy was just an inspiration in anything he did, and I think Charles Barkley put it best in saying, "Any time a guy can make himself that successful at that disadvantage, you just gotta take your hat off to him." CP will obviously own all of his current Hornet records in time, but Muggsy transcended the game.

Least favorite all time, that's pretty easy too.

Green Bandwagon: Which team would you prefer to see the Hornets play in the first round of the playoffs?

At the Hive: I'm quite stunned to find that I'm a chooser, not a beggar. My first choice would definitely be Dallas; Devin Harris used to do a nice job on CP, but there is absolutely no way Jason Kidd can stay in front. Also J-Kidd is vastly overrated, and worse than Harris, but that's a whole 'nother story. I wouldn't mind playing Phoenix, given that we swept them 4-0 this year. In the Suns' case, though, Amare is a huge wildcard. He's been playing out of his mind since Shaq came over, and that might change things. This might sound surprising but I like the way we match up with San Antonio. We've beaten them by 24 and 25 this year, and meeting them in a 7 game series wouldn't be the worst thing. The one team I don't want to meet is Utah, for the aforementioned Paul-Williams matchup, and just because they've crushed us in the past.