Tyson Chandler's Huge Return Helps Hornets Win

It's been a strange past week for Tyson Chandler.

On Tuesday, he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. By Wednesday evening, he was back on the Hornets' roster because he failed a physical. On Friday and Saturday he was back on the Hornets' bench in street clothes, watching his former and current team lose heart-breaking games.

And on Monday, he was finally back on the court, doing what he does best: controlling the paint and the glass. Without his efforts in these areas, the Hornets likely would have dropped another heart-breaker, and a game they should have won.

In what became patented in last season's exciting playoff run, Chandler and Chris Paul executed numerous pick-and-roll alley-oops on the night. That has become the New Orleans Hornets' signature play, and yet they were willing to let that element of the game go just a week ago.

For now, all has been forgiven. Chandler is back in the lineup and will give the Hornets the final piece to the puzzle that they've been missing for awhile: a big guy who can rebound, defend, and score when necessary. Chris Paul and David West are great players, but they need some help.

All three brought their A-games on Monday night, as Paul led the way with 27 points and 13 assists. West just missed a double-double with 24 points and nine rebounds, and Chandler, in his return, went five of six from the field and five of seven from the charity stripe for a total of 15 points, while also reeling in 10 rebounds.

Another interesting aspect of the game though was that Hilton Armstrong, a part-time starter while Chandler was out with his injury, was a coach's decision benching.

In fact, this was a game where Coach Byron Scott only played nine players and actually only seven received more than ten minutes of game action, yet all but one of those seven scored in double figures.

Peja Stojakovic scored 18 points in front of his former home crowd and Rasual Butler poured in the first five points of the game before finishing with 12 on the night. James Posey came off the bench for a very Posey-like 13 points.

For the hometown Kings, it was pretty much the Kevin Martin show, as he dropped a game-high 32 for the worst team in the league. Francisco Garcia was the next high man with 17.

This was one of the higher scoring games in general that the Hornets have played all year. But when you score 112 points, as they are very capable of, you should win.

And they did.

Hopefully they can build on this and Chandler can prove he should stay in New Orleans for the duration of his contract.