The Hornets held tight through three quarters Wednesday night, before letting Chris Paul and the Clippers pull away in the final frame. Careless execution and rookie mistakes were our undoing, as a fatigued Clippers team held the Bees to 14 points in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles’ 105-91 win ends New Orleans’ three-game winning streak against playoff teams and drops us to 25-47, as we remain in a dead heat for lottery position with eight other teams.

by Kerem Ozkan

In the most entertaining game of the Hornets’ young season, the boys pulled off a clutch victory against the Los Angeles Clippers, 105-98. New Orleans thus ended a seven-game losing streak on the final stop of a tough four-game road trip. They are now 4-9 for the season.

It still won't have more skin than MOMS, but NOLA benevolent-celebrity-in-chief Brad Pitt is getting together a mile-long guest list for a late winter party at the CBD's Hyatt Regency. The March 10 charity gala will benefit the screen actor's Make it Right Foundation, which continues to build those funky, energy efficient houses in the Lower 9, and yada-yada. But, really, about those celebs. The Y-chrosomed half of Brangelina appears to be digging outside the usual Cage-Bullock-Kid Rock axis when sending out invitations.

CP3 wanted to go to L.A. so bad that he threatened to sue the leauge if they wouldn't let him leave the nest. But from the comfort of his new Clipper digs, the former Hornets point guard offered some final words for New Orleans. Saying he would continue to help the community here in La., Paul said he already missed the kids in his after school program, CP3 Zone.  As for the long and sordid trade tale, the NBA All-Star kept repeating that the experience was "humbling." That's one way of putting it. Watch his complete remarks on NOLA after the jump.

Chris Paul apparently prefers L.A. to La., but the NBA has other plans. Less than a week after nixing a deal that would've sent the Hornets' franchise player to the Lakers and brought Khloe Khardashian (and Lamar Odom) to New Orleans, a second deal that would made Paul a Clipper fell through today. The league, which owns the Hornets, wanted too many good players and draft picks for the all-star point guard, the Clippers said. We only have one question: Has anyone called Morris Bart yet? ESPN has coverage, Hornets 24-7 has analysis and Swarm and Sting tracks all the Twitterings.

Angry about the millionaire NBA players who can't come to terms with their gagillionaire owners? Well, let four of the highest paid players in the leauge ease your pain. An all-star tour featuring the Hornets' Chris Paul, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade is making a four-city jaunt to the hoop heroes' towns, and N.O. is one of the stops. The high-flying foursome will be at the N.O. Arena Saturday, Dec. 4. As Wade told ESPN, "This will be very neat."

This week, the first anniversary of the Big Oozy was marked with a hoax, lawsuits and payouts, ground was broken for a giant state hospital that a group of consultants said was too giant and, as ever, Bill Murray was kind of an asshole - but a funny one! Developments were confusing, but a look at the numbers inside the news can provide the elixir of order. 

On one hand, this year's NBA free agency bonanza is a bunch of tall guys with a lot of money looking to get their already-stratospheric egos stroked, and then ask for even more money! But on the other hand, there have been moments when they stick it to pro basketball's other self-adoring, overpaid contingent -- team executives. And that feels a lot better!

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