Buzz Kill: How Injuries Could Temporarily Derail The New Orleans Hornets Season

OK, so we’re probably not talking about anything drastic like missing the playoffs or putting together a Cleveland Cavaliers-type losing streak. But the injury bug has bitten the surging New Orleans Hornets, and bitten them hard.

Losing two starters is never easy, especially when they happen to be the two best defenders on the league’s best defensive club. No disrespect to Chris Paul and the steals he gets, but center Emeka Okafor has been a premiere low-post shot-blocker this year, small forward Trevor Ariza has become the new Ron Artest of one-on-one defense, and New Orleans is now without both.

Okafor went down with a strained right oblique msucle in last Sunday’s game against the Phoenix Suns, and Ariza fell prey to a medial right ankle sprain against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. The Hornets (32-19) lost both games, derailing momentum garnered from a ten-game winning streak.

Although each starter’s timetable for recovery is only two or three weeks, that’s an eternity for this streaky New Orleans team. Here’s why.

The Hornets have been undersized all year, and only through Okafor’s improved play have they managed to have any sort of interior offense.  Jason Smith has done well filling that void and with his ball handling and mid-range shooting abilities, he may have a more complete offensive game than Okafor, but he’s slow defensively and lacks ’Mek’s shot-blocking instincts.

An undersized team losing its starting center has profound implications, but in this case, the loss of Ariza may be more devastating. Without question, he is the bedrock of this league-leading defense and has been all season, mainly because he can guard the superstars.  While his numbers have been modest this year—11 points and five rebounds per game—he’s invaluable to this team from an offensive standpoint as well.

Watch film of close games this season, and you’ll see Trevor Ariza hitting clutch shots late in the game. Part of being a premiere individual defender is having stone-cold nerves and ice water in your veins and Ariza has consistently displayed poise in pressure situations.  Whether the triggerman, the screener, or the shooter, his mobility and latent three-point shooting (about .300 this year) make him instrumental to late-game success.

Despite the fact that New Orleans is a young team, transition offense has been moderate this year. When they do run the floor, its Paul and Ariza every time. Without Okafor and his interior offense, the Hornets will have to rely on their wing shooters and Chris Paul’s playmaking abilities in the open floor to score points and those equations simply don’t balance without the Ariza factor.

The Hornets have lost three of four since Okafor’s injury, nullifying the brief momentum surge and dropping to fifth in the Conference. During that stretch, CP3 has hit the floor numerous times and come within inches of another knee injury. So while these losses are big and could derail the team temporarily, the situation could be a lot graver.

Tonight they face the stumbling Los Angeles Lakers, with nobody to guard Kobe Bryant and nobody that matches up well on Pau Gasol.  If there’s going to be a domino effect from the combination of Okafor’s and Ariza’s injuries, it will undoubtedly start tonight against the defending champs.

There’s no shortage of talented big men on the docket—Kevin Love, Brooke Lopez, and Dwight Howard in the next three games respectively. The All Star break can’t come soon enough.

This writer has stated repeatedly that the Hornets need to make moves to take their postseason ambitions to the next level. Signing forward Sasha Pavlovic from the Dallas Mavericks to a ten-day deal isn’t sufficient, especially when he’s splitting time with rookie Quincy Pondexter.

Only five and a half games separate New Orleans from the ninth spot in the West, which coincides with the time frame for each starter’s return.  Will the bench come through, or will it break like the levees after Katrina and leave New Orleans vulnerable to a storm surge of losses?  Only time will tell, but tonight’s game should be a good indicator.