Who ever doubted Darren Collison would make it in the NBA? DC continues his winning ways as he led the New Orleans Hornets over the visiting Boston Celtics last night, 93-85. DC finishes with 25 pts (led all scorers), 9 assists (but 10 to's), 3 rbds and 4 steals. If he had another assist, would that have been a triple-double?
Recap
Collison leads the way as Hornets turn away Celtics
By Larry Holder, for NBA.com
Posted Wednesday February 10, 2010 11:47PM
NEW ORLEANS (NBA.com exclusive) -- Injured Hornets point guard Chris Paul heckled his replacement Darren Collison as Paul hobbled out the locker room on crutches.
Paul harassed Collison because the rookie guard committed 10 turnovers Wednesday night against Boston, which is a single-game franchise record.
Collison came through when it counted, though, as his game-high 25 points and nine assists made up for the slew of turnovers as the Hornets toppled the Celtics 93-85 at the New Orleans Arena.
Collison dialed down the turnovers in the fourth quarter and cranked up the point production as he scored 13 of his 25 points in the final 12 minutes and committed only two turnovers. So the ribbing from Paul was more playful than anything else considering the Hornets beat on the NBA powers.
"That's CP being CP," Collison said. "You can't really tune him out. ... I have one job out there as the point guard and that's manage the team. The only thing I can take for this is all the turnovers."
Collison injured his right ankle at the end of the first half and limped badly as he and the rest of his teammates hit the locker room for halftime. He came back early in the third quarter and played well regardless. Collison said his ankle felt fine after the game despite having an ice pack wrapped around the ankle.
With Paul being out the lineup until about mid-March, Collison will be the go-to guy at the point. When Paul missed eight games earlier this season with an ankle injury, Collison began to blossom during his short stint.
The Hornets will need the same type of production from Collison once again to stick in the playoff hunt, and Paul feels like Collison is the player to keep the ship afloat.
"The more games he gets under his belt, the more comfortable he's going to get and the more comfortable the guys are going to get with him," Paul said. "He has just been playing great."
Paul added: "I think, me being out, this may be a blessing in disguise. Some people may say what in the world does that mean. But I think it gives other guys a lot of confidence right now. Hopefully when I come back, I don't mess anything up. We can make a push at this playoff run."
This was Paul's first game back on the bench with the team since having surgery on his left knee.
Paul said the procedure simply cut away the injured part of his knee rather than any sort of reconstructive procedure. He walked around for much of pregame with one crutch, but said he's not at the point where he can rely on just one crutch.
"I'm on two crutches right now," Paul said. "I'm just being hard-headed right now I guess but 'm hoping at least by All-Star Sunday maybe I'm down to one crutch or no crutches. It depends on how the rehab goes. ... I don't want to come back until I'm 100 percent. This isn't my first time. They won't let me play unless I can and I won't do that to myself."
With Marcus Thornton being eased back into the lineup off the bench after missing the last three games with a back injury, Morris Peterson had one of his better games in a couple of years, scoring 16 points and pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds.
The last time Peterson tallied a double-double was on April 17, 2007 against Detroit.
Peja Stojakovic scored 20 points, while David West added 15 and Darius Songaila had 12.
"I thought we played well enough in Orlando to get the win," Collison said. "I feel like it carried over. We all knew Vince Carter [who scored 48 points vs. New Orleans on Monday] had it going in Orlando. He had a magical night. This game, we were playing the same defense as we did last game. The difference is we got the win."
Collison added: "We've got to carry this over. The second half of the season is the most important part of the season. Teams are going to be looking to play really hard in the second half. We've got to make sure we don't forget about these Orlando or Boston efforts."
Ray Allen missed the game for the Celtics with back spasms. It hurt Boston down the stretch as its primary 3-point threat wasn't available. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 15 points. Marquis Daniels had 14 points, while Tony Allen and Rasheed Wallace each added 13.
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