NBA: New Orleans Hornets' Spurt Keyed By West

After starting the season 3-0 and averaging over 105 points per game, the New Orleans Hornets suffered a November swoon and dropped five of their next seven games to fall to 5-5.

Win or lose, Chris Paul has been consistently great during the Hornets first 16 games of the season.  He has scored at least 20 points 11 times and has had less than 10 assists only three times so far.

David West, however, has had an up and down season. 

When West is on his game, the Hornets win.  He is averaging 23.3 points per Hornets' win. 

When West is off is game, though, the Hornets tend to lose, regardless of Paul's performance.  West's scoring average dips to 16.2 points per Hornets' loss.

In a road game against the Charlotte Bobcats, one of the NBA's bottom feeders, West missed 75 percent of his shots, scored only 11 points, and fouled out.

Just five days later, the Hornets stormed back against the Lakers only to fall short in the end. 

The Hornets were down by 23 in the second half and had closed the deficit to only six points, but two costly West turnovers in the final minute allowed the Lakers to hit seven consecutive free throws to slam the door shut.

The bottom line is West has to produce for the Hornets to be successful.  Chris Paul cannot do it all alone.  When West leads the team in scoring, the Hornets are 7-2.  When is not the leader in scoring, the Hornets are 3-4. 

In one of those wins in which West did not lead the team in scoring, three other Hornets scored 20 or more points.  In another win, West was one point off the scoring lead.

Most every really good team has at least two players who can dominate games and play at an All-NBA level.  The Lakers have Kobe and Gasol and the Celtics have Garnett, Pierce, and Allen.

Not only does West take pressure off of Paul, but his mid-range jumper opens up the lane for CP3 and allows room for Tyson Chandler to work the glass down low where he scores the vast majority of his points.

If the Hornets expect to make it past the second round of the playoffs this season, they will need David West to operate at a high level.