Behind Paul, Hornets are season's surprise success story

Byron Scott had a number in his head, a victory total he thought his New Orleans Hornets team could reach this season. He didn't share it with anyone but his coaching staff, which seemed like a wise move at the time, considering how far-fetched it sounded.

"I felt we could win 55 games," Scott said. "I don't know why that number popped into my mind."

Never mind that the Hornets won 39 games last season, only 18 games three years ago and had not been to the playoffs since 2004. Or that they reside in the Western Conference, where 50 victories barely qualifies for the postseason.

None of that mattered to Scott, who saw the potential for something special from a team that had already survived an unsettled existence after Hurricane Katrina forced it to set up temporary shop in Oklahoma City.

"I had a good feeling about the group of guys we had," he said.

Even so, few could have predicted the Hornets would become the surprise team of the NBA this season. Winner of a franchise-record 56 games, New Orleans won the Southwest Division title and secured the No. 2 seed while hovering near the top of the Western Conference all season.

Led by MVP candidate Chris Paul, the Hornets will face the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. Despite their surprising season, the Hornets are not considered favorites to win the championship, or even reach the conference finals, for that matter. Has a team this good ever flown this far under the radar?

"I think they surprised people by being in this position the entire year," Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman said. "We all look back at January and people say, 'Ah, they won't last.' But here they are in mid-April."

The reasons behind their success are numerous, but none more important than the play of Paul, who has become arguably the league's best point guard with a cool nickname (CP3) and MVP-worthy résumé: 21.1 points, 11.6 assists, 4.0 rebounds per game.

A deeper look at his contributions is telling:

• Paul collected at least 20 points and 15 assists in 11 games this season. The rest of the NBA combined had eight such performances.

• He made or assisted on 49 percent of his team's baskets, the highest percentage since John Stockton's 52 percent in 1990-91.

• He had six games in which he finished with 15-plus assists with no more than one turnover. That's the most such games in a season since the NBA began officially recording turnovers in 1977.

Drafted No. 4 overall in 2005, Paul simply has become a maestro with the ball, a guy who makes everyone around him better.

"He's the truth, man," Toronto Raptors coach Sam Mitchell told reporters. "You take him off that team, and you don't even know what you have."

Perhaps, but his supporting cast isn't a collection of stiffs, either. Forward David West averaged 20.6 points and almost nine rebounds and made the All-Star team this season. Veteran Peja Stojakovic remains one of the most dangerous outside shooters in the league (44 percent from three-point range). Tyson Chandler gives them size (7-1) and length inside (fourth in the league in rebounds at 11.7 per game). And Bonzi Wells, acquired in a trade in February, is a proven scorer off the bench.

"Really, I think it's just a matter of coming together with our chemistry and that has carried us through," West said.

Scott points to the preseason when, at Paul's request, the team returned to New Orleans several weeks before training camp so that players could begin informal workouts together.

"It let me know how serious [Paul] was and how serious the guys were about coming into the season," Scott said.

Said Paul: "We came in, got a lot of work in and I think it's paying dividends."

Scott deserves credit, too, and is the odds-on favorite to win coach of the year for meshing all the parts, nurturing Paul's rise to stardom and making the Hornets a tougher defensive team, although they're far from a finished product in that area.

Scott laughed recently when asked what sustained him during those dark days of 18 victories. A lack of sleep, he said.

"You knew it had to get better," Scott said. "You have to have some type of foresight. You've got to believe that your vision of how the game should be played will come true if you stick to your guns. We had to take two steps back before we could take a step forward."

Who knew it would be more like a giant leap?