Chris Townsend

    Earlier tonight, the Denver Nuggets played a playoff basketball game. Strangely, they were the only NBA team on the court.

    I'm not usually one to kick a team while they're down (Editor's Note: That is a blatant lie) but I can't honestly make any sense of what happened tonight in New Orleans. If you haven't yet heard, the Nuggets spanked the Hornets so hard tonight (121-63, to be exact) that it had to make anyone watching consider the merits of an NBA slaughter rule... Maybe something to the effect of "If TEAM A is doubling the score of TEAM B at any time after the third quarter, TEAM A is declared the winner." That way you at least spare CP3 & Co. the embarrassment of having to play out the remainder of a clearly-lost, must-win game in front of a home crowd whose disappointment I can't pretend to understand.

    Fact of the matter - if you're a professional, this should never happen. If your team is good enough to make it to the playoffs, you should be good enough to stay within 40. I can't believe I just wrote that sentence, but it highlights how disturbing this loss is. To be losing by 22 at halftime is embarrassing enough - to then not even show up for the third quarter is sickening.

    Shame on Byron Scott, the head coach of a team that underachieved all year and rolled over on Monday night. Shame on Chris Paul for not finding a way to motivate his team to at least compete despite a potentially insurmountable deficit. Shame on James Posey - who was added last offseason to bring veteran leadership and playoff savvy - and other veterans like Peja Stojakovic and David West who are supposed to be major players for this squad.

    And it's all the more depressing and embarrassing that this happens in the City of New Orleans. Citizens there are hit even harder by our tough economic times than much of the rest of the country, and people are shelling out hard-earned cash to see this garbage? It's one thing to lose the game and essentially seal your playoff fate, but to roll over like a bunch of dogs? That is simply unacceptable.

    The worst part about this is that there is another game - but how can you bounce back from such a whooping? I don't think you can. If you're the kind of team that mentally and emotionally departs from a must-win Game 4 at halftime (I don't care how much you're losing by) you probably don't have the resiliency or determination to respond after what has to be the most embarrassing loss of every Hornet player's career.

    Simply put, the Hornets are as good as finished for the year - and good riddance. If you don't care enough to compete, I don't want you anywhere near my NBA playoffs.