Given the fact that the New Orleans Hornets dropped for out of six to start the season, it is no surprise that the pressure on Byron Scott and the Hornets is constantly rising. Thus, Chris Paul and David West will do their best to avoid another loss when they face the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on Tuesday at 2:30 a.m. GMT.

Much like the Hornets, the Clippers did not get off to a particularly good start either. However, Chris Kaman and company bounced back with three consecutive wins versus the Warriors, Timberwolves and Grizzlies after dropping four straight. Unfortunately, the Clippers are still without number one overall pick Blake Griffin who will be sidelined for a few weeks due to a stress fracture in his right knee. Nonetheless, Mike Dunleavy squad looked much better than they did in 2008-09, yet they failed to close out games too often. One bright spot has been the return of Chris Kaman who put up 22.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per contest in the first two weeks of play.

The New Orleans Hornets on the other hand experienced an unsuccessful pre-season followed by a mediocre start into this year’s NBA campaign. Although the franchise from Louisiana was hoping that the acquisition of Emeka Okafor and Mo Peterson would help the team to make it to the upper echelon of the Western Conference, things turned out differently. Especially the recent losses versus the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors raised many questions around Byron Scott’s team. So far, it looked like the Hornets’ wing players were far too weak in terms of perimeter defense and keeping opposing 2s and 3s out of the paint. Likewise, New Orleans interior defense looked very disorganized whenever Okafor was on the bench. Most importantly, franchise cornerstone Chris Paul appears to be a bit disgruntled due to bringing a tremendous effort to the court night in and night out, but still failing to secure a win more often than not. So far, Chris “CP3” Paul had an excellent run, averaging 28.5 points, 9.8 assists and 3.8 rebounds. That said, it looks like the encounter between the Hornets and Clippers could still be anyone’s game. After all, Los Angeles improved significantly over the summer and has a very deep roster, even without Blake Griffin. Although Chris Paul will most likely take advantage of the aging Baron Davis at the point guard position, the Clippers’ front-court could very well be able to contain David West.

You can watch all games of the New Orleans Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of NBA live streaming.