Why I've admittedly jumped on a bandwagon

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chris Paul has been everything the young Hornets have needed in a floor general.

I hate to admit it, but I've jumped on a bandwagon. The Hornets bandwagon, that is. People who know me remember that I used to love the New York Knicks back when they had Patrick Ewing (who had a cameo as the Angel of Death in Exorcist III) manning the pivot. I remember the '94 Finals run, the incredible team of '99 with him, Marcus Camby (now a Nugget), Alan Houston (overpaid and out of the NBA), Latrell "Foreclosed Yacht" Sprewell (ditto, the man who said that a three-year, $21 million deal would not feed his family) and of course Larry Johnson (retired with back issues) with his infamous self-congratulatory "LJ" hand gesture.

But the Knicks started to descend into loserland after trading Ewing away for peanuts, actually, Glen Rice, who was already on the downslope of his career. The salary cap continued to engorge like my waistband and the team had the highest payroll, yet one of the worst records. Then they thought it'd be a bright idea to hire Isiah "I Killed The CBA and all I got was this worthless t-shirt" Thomas, a man so boorish he lost a sexual harassment lawsuit, to save the franchise. James Dolan, owner of the Knicks, is responsible for this mess.

And I tuned away. Soon the NBA, which had become must-watch sporting TV for me, was no longer attractive at all. The loud music in the arenas. The gang-banger posturing. The acres of miserably drawn tats. The crime associated with these players, like in Las Vegas during last year's All-Star Weekend, where posses of "g's" shot up the place.

Now the Hornets have given me a reason to watch again. Chris Paul is now this amazing talent who the whole country knows. He's a floor general with his face painted in a perpetual scow of concentration and menace. He always makes the right decision and his assist to turnover ratio is mindblowingly good.

David Lee is a solid rebounder who sets great picks and who gets everything out of his game, especially a sweet stroke from 18 feet.

Tyson Chandler is a rebounding, shot-blocking alley-hoop machine who has made several highlight reel dunks of CP3 lobs.

Peja Stokajovic has a sweet stroke from downtown, even though the Spurs have contained him in the last two games.

The rest of the team is really solid, with a good balance of shooters (like Jannero Pargo) and other role players.

Tonight, they blew out the Spurs 101-79 and now lead the series 3-2. One more win and they're going to their first ever Western Conference Finals. They've got two games to get it done.