I’m no entomologist, so I’m just asking. Do Hornets even have necks to put your foot on?

If not for our Atlanta Hawks, the 4-13 Charlotte Hornets (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth in ATL, Fox Sports South in Carolinas), tonight’s opponents, could have been 3-14, including 1-11 over their past 12 games. Atlanta allowed the lead to slip away from them several times in regulation and briefly in overtime up in the Queen City on November 7, setting up the human embodiment of “Why Not?,” Lance Stephenson, to loft up a 33-foot bank shot that beat the buzzer in the second overtime. The buzz from that momentary high is now long gone for fans of the Hornets, losers of eight straight games.

The Hawks get a chance to be the next NBA team to zap the Hornets, this time at The Highlight Factory. There’s more in it for the Hawks today than mere revenge for that 2-OT defeat, or just keeping Charlotte from regaining confidence while they’re submerged in the dregs of the standings. If the Pelicans, the team the Hawks vanquished on Friday night, can be kind enough to upend the Wizards tonight in D.C., then a win tonight for the Hawks would have Atlanta fans waking up on Sunday morning to find their basketball and football teams in first place of the Southeast and “NFC Soft” Divisions, respectively.

Since the last time, the story has been the same for Stephenson, who has been benched thrice in the fourth quarter of recent games. Even with the Miracle Shot to fell the Hawks, Stephenson (36.9 FG%, 20.0 3FG%, 64.3 FT%) has been a liability in the clutch, shooting just 23.1 FG% in 4th quarters or overtimes when his team has just five minutes left and neither team leads by more than 5 points. Despite a 26.2 assist percentage that rivals lead guard Kemba Walker, and despite leading the team in defensive rebounds (6.8 per game), his shot decision-making and defensive positioning at critical junctures of games has left Hornets coach Steve Clifford less than pleased with the free agent arrival.

Clifford has been expounding on Lance (team-high 17.9% turnover percentage) that he needs to see more stellar play, but the space between Stephenson’s ears has to often seemed interstellar. "I've been fortunate. I've been around Kobe [bryant] and [Tracy] McGrady. They were superstars. I was also around Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell. They were two-, three-year All-Stars,” Clifford said recently. “[stephenson has] got a lot of work to get to that level. Everybody proclaimed him as this guy, and if you remember the first time we got him, I said he's got to develop into that."

While there’s much gnashing of teeth up in teal-‘n-purple country, a most glaring reason for the Hornets’ spiral has to do with their schedule. Charlotte has played ten of their 17 contests against the daunting Western Conference, three more than anyone else in the East. They sport a 1-9 record versus the West, which includes getting overrun by the Warriors last night as Stephen Curry triumphantly returned to his hometown.

Curry probably has next week’s Western Conference Player of the Week award on lock by now, scoring 26 points in his Carolina homecoming despite hitting just one of his ten three-point attempts last night. On the Eastern side, the inside track for that honor has to belong to the Hawks’ Jeff Teague, whose 26.0 PPG over his past three games ranks third in the NBA behind Curry and Chicago’s Jimmy Butler. During the biggest five-game offensive stretch of his NBA career, Teague is averaging 25.8 PPG (2^nd in NBA, behind James Harden), 6.2 APG and 1.4 SPG while shooting 53.8 FG%, 50.0 3FG%, and 95.1 FT% (highest among NBA players averaging at least 5.0 FT attempts/game). Kemba Walker proved to be little resistance for Jeff (22 points, season-high 15 assists) in their last meeting, and his lack of defensive intensity and awareness is, like Stephenson's play, beginning to grate on coach Clifford’s nerves.

The other problem for Clifford’s squad is the difficulty they’ve had convening a full roster. Marvin Williams strained the area around his left wing, joining forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and guard Gary Neal (23 points vs. Atlanta on Nov. 7) on the bench against Golden State. Jeff Taylor went Swedish Rice on his girlfriend in September and is suspended for awhile. Lotto rookie Noah Vonleh has recovered from a sports hernia, but has appeared sparingly since Clifford is less than convinced he’s ready to play significant minutes after missing the preseason and training camp.

The missing-in-action players have pressed guys like Brian Roberts (team-high 20 points off the bench last night), rookie P.J. Hairston, Cody Zeller (15 points and 14 rebounds against Golden State) and veteran castaway Jason Maxiell into heavy rotation. Maxiell has been virtually useless when he’s not rebounding, but sophomore Zeller has brought forward enough spunk to perhaps keep a spot among the starters for the time being. Roberts will threaten both Stephenson and Walker as a starter for as long as the losing string continues.

Rebounding issues are huge to Clifford, who noted his team’s failings at keeping Marreese Speights, Draymond Green, and the W’s (16 O-Rebs) away from the glass, before marching out of last night’s press conference without taking any questions. He must have been elated three weeks ago when the Hornets out-rebounded the Hawks 51-38 in double overtime. The task for Al Jefferson (season-high 34 points on 15-for-24 FGs and 9 rebounds vs. Atlanta Nov. 7) and the Hornets will be more arduous without MKG or Marvin around.

Al Horford (10 rebounds) and Paul Millsap (9 rebounds) held serve against the Pelicans' Anthony Davis and Omer Asik (11 boards each) on Friday, and only Ryan Anderson’s tip shots kept New Orleans within shouting distance of Atlanta's lead. DeMarre Carroll will be needed more tonight to secure rebounds for the Hawks than to help defend a subpar perimeter shooting team (Charlotte 32.6 3FG%, 27^th in NBA).

The NBA’s league-leader in steals? Chris Paul? John Wall? Curry? How about Paul Millsap? The 6-foot-8 forward took the ball away four times against New Orleans to tie Wall with 32 steals over his first 14 games. Sap’s 3.2 steals per 100 possessions ranks second in the East behind ex-Hawk Lou Williams. Aside from Stephenson, the Hornets don’t turn the ball over much (10.9 TOs/game). But Atlanta will want to use Millsap, Carroll, and Kyle Korver’s active hands to disrupt post passes into Jefferson, and use Teague and the Hawk point guards to force the action in transition.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3