Hornets set to face top teams in West

• By LES EAST
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Mar 12, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:15 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — The Hornets’ standing in the Southwest Division and the Western Conference is subject to change on a daily basis.

That’s especially true during the next three days as New Orleans plays host to two of the three teams ahead of it in the conference standings. The Hornets (42-20) play the Southwest-leading San Antonio Spurs (44-19) at 7 p.m. today in the New Orleans Arena.

On Friday, the Pacific-leading Los Angeles Lakers, who were tied with the Spurs for the conference’s best record going into their home game against Toronto on Wednesday, come to town.

“This is the craziest I’ve ever seen it,” Hornets coach Byron Scott said of the playoff race. “There’s no rest in the Western Conference. We have to play some of our best basketball against some of the best teams in the league.”

The Hornets haven’t been playing their best basketball against their biggest division rivals of late. After losing at Houston on Saturday and seeing the Rockets extend their winning streak to 19 by beating New Jersey on Monday, New Orleans is in third place in the division, a half-game (in the win column) behind Houston and 1‰ behind San Antonio.

New Orleans had the best record in the conference at the All-Star break, but since then has dropped three straight to the Rockets and Spurs. In addition to the game last Saturday, Houston beat the Hornets, 100-80, on Feb. 22 in the New Orleans Arena. One night later, the Spurs beat the Hornets, 98-89, in San Antonio.

The Spurs had been the hottest team other than the Rockets, winning 11 consecutive games until they lost Friday at Denver, 109-96. They lost at Phoenix, 94-87, on Sunday before rebounding with a 107-103 victory at home against the Nuggets on Monday.

The Hornets have the fourth-best record in the conference, but they’re only 1‰ games behind the best mark. On the flip side, they’re only three games ahead of eighth-place Golden State (39-23), which holds the final playoff spot.

New Orleans has 20 games left and the schedule-maker hasn’t done them any favors down the stretch.

After this two-game stretch, the Hornets play 11 of their last 18 games on the road. That includes a six-game road trip in nine days, beginning in two weeks.

Thirteen of the remaining 20 games are against teams that are currently in playoff positions. Besides the Spurs and Lakers this week, New Orleans plays at Central-leading Detroit, at Atlantic-leading Boston (which has the best record in the NBA), at Southeast-leading Orlando, at the Lakers, and has home games against the Rockets, Celtics, Warriors and Jazz.

In addition, the Hornets have six more sets of back-to-back games, including two during the final six days of the season.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Scott said. “Having a tougher schedule at this time of the season means we had it easier earlier in the season. Everybody plays the same schedule. It all works out.”