Pictures From The Celtics @ Hornets And Some Optimism

That was a rough one to sit through. The Hive was LOUD. Unfortunately, there was far too much Celtic green and cheering. I will freely admit I hate Boston. My family is from Los Angeles and are all huge Laker fans. Red Sox fans annoy me, and whenever I’ve been in Boston it’s around -15 degrees. I’ve lived in Los Angeles and New Orleans all my life, the cold doesn’t work for me.

I went down early with my friends to check out the pre-game Buzz Fest. Buzz Fest happens outside the arena before every game barring rain. There is $1 beer, a live band and lots of games for kids to play. It’s a very family friendly event and was especially packed today given the weather was perfect.

The first thing we noticed was that there were a TON of Celtics fans coming to the game. Two of my friends were also clad in Boston gear, so I will admit I was part of the problem tonight. I’m sorry everyone.

If you look in the bottom right of this picture you can see two of the Bee-Zanies: Super Hornet and the Purple Hornet. I didn’t get a picture of them inside the Hive, but this is what the Bee-Zanies are. They stand and are loud for the entire game. It’s awesome.

Want to see more pictures of Buzz Fest? Of the inside of the Hive? An awesome mullet? More after the jump. Let’s do this…

This is the Season Ticket Holder Beer Garden. Before every home game this is where you can find me. As far as I’m aware the Hornets are the only team in the league which gives free beer to every season ticket holder. You walk up, have your ticket scanned and are given a wristband. Each wristband has two beer tickets attached to it. But people who don’t use them are very willing to give them away. I have a stockpile of tickets. There is also iced tea, popcorn and this tasty cajun chex-mix.

Optimistic Note #1: Ray Allen and Paul Pierce had me terrified. I know the Celtics are in the bottom of the NBA when it comes to three-pointers made and attempted but with the Hornets struggles recently I was worried. In the beginning Marco Belinelli was all over Allen and I was encouraged to see the the Celtics only go 3-10 from deep.

I saw this from a distance and just had to share it with all of you. The photo doesn’t even do it justice. He has a striking resemblance to Danny McBride. I think this man was working as security for the arena. His hair at the bottom was so curly and flowing that he had to keep combing his hands through it to make sure it was perfect. Don’t worry, man, a hairstyle like that is always perfect.

Here is a view from my seats. I sit up in the balcony but eventually will be moving down to the lower bowl. The Hornets had a promotion where two ladies were introduced like they were part of the team and had their names announced and put on the big screen. I know I would love to do that. There is also a lot of pyrotechnics and fog machines. Chris Paul receives the loudest ovation from the crowd. Marcus Thornton, when he was still with the team, used to get a similar reaction when he would come into the game off the bench.

Optimistic Note #2: Emeka Okafor was a monster on defense in this game. He had two blocks but was a brick wall if anyone tried to post him up in the paint. I wish we could find out the amount of shots he altered throughout the game. The Hornets outscored the Celtics in the paint 34-28 tonight. Very encouraging as we head towards the playoffs.

Three empty seats directly in front of us were filled with a 8 year-old boy wearing a Kevin Garnett shirt and his mom and dad both dressed in green. Two of my friends were excited as that pretty much made my section full of Celtics fans (disgusting). My girlfriend and I had made it a point to be very loud. While Belinelli went off in the first quarter I was screaming as loud as I could. The whole time the Celtic mom in front of us kept giving me dirty looks with her dagger eyes. I was keeping everything PG for her son but even screaming DEFENSE! would elicit an I’m-going-to-kill-you look. Even telling my traitorous friends that the Celtics offensive movement looked good got the mom to turn around and try and eye-melt me down. About midway through the second quarter a guy and his ladyfriend came over to the Celtics family and told them they were in his seats. Turns out the family who kept judging me for being loud were stealing seats. The guy and his lady were decked out in Hornets gear. The Celtics family slunk away. What a great reversal. JUSTICE.

Optimistic Note #3: Rohan over on atthehive.com pointed out this great stat in their postgame thread. The Hornets had an offensive rating of 108 tonight. The Celtics have a defensive rating of 100 for the entire season, good for 2nd in the league. The final result may not have shown it, but the Hornets played well on offense tonight and have been playing well offensively in their last couple of games. And don’t forget that Paul went 0-9 from the field tonight.

If you haven’t yet, head over to At The Hive and check out Andrew’s awesome ideas on how to improve the Hornets.

42 from hornets247.com has a very insightful post about Monty Williams’ postgame press conference from last night.

I will be attending the Hornets Taste of New Orleans event Tuesday night at Harrah’s casino. Supposedly everyone there will “be served and entertained by the Hornets players and coaches.” If you’re attending let me know! I’d love to meet everyone. Check back here Wednesday night to see how it went.

Follow me on twitter @nolajake.

Finally, I am going to leave you with the Hornets intro video they play before introducing the players.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FK0j20RfAg