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Without any doubts, the Hornets experienced a rather frustrating series of unpleasant events to start the season. Yet, despite being without franchise centerpiece Chris Paul and fired coach Terry Porter, New Orleans will have to get their act together in order to avoid falling further behind in the Western Conference. Thus, David West and the Hornets will make their way to Minnesota where they will face the Timberwolves on Thursday at 1 a.m. GMT.

Just like most experts anticipated, the rebuilding Wolves did not get off to a particularly great start and are right at the bottom of the Western Conference with a fairly disappointing 2-17 record. Albeit Minnesota Timberwolves is rebuilding from scratch, slightly more success would certainly have been desirable in the first month of play. Most importantly, the Timberwolves’ offense has not found its rhythm yet and also suffered from Al Jefferson’s limited output after coming back from a lengthy knee injury. In contrast, rookie guard Jonny Flynn looked like a great fit thus far and put up 13.8 points, 3.8 assists and 2.5 rebounds in 29 minutes per game. Unfortunately, Minnesota did not only score inconsistently but also failed to compete at the other end of the floor. Allowing 104 points per game, the Wolves simply let their opponents score too easily and will have to improve significantly to win some games.

Unlike Minnesota, New Orleans Hornets was hoping to establish themselves in the upper echelon of the Western Conference and compete for home-court advantage in this year’s NBA campaign. Yet, the Hornets got off to a slow start and are disturbingly close to the bottom of the Conference with a mediocre 8-11 record. To make things even worse, Chris Paul missed three weeks with an ankle injury and might be a game-decision on Thursday night. That said, rookie Darren Collison stepped up during Paul’s absence and put up 10.9 points, 4.2 assists and 2.3 rebounds in just 22 minutes per game. One issue thus far has been New Orleans’ inability to defend opposing wing players as Mo Peterson and Peja Stojakovic turned out to be too slow and soft to prevent penetration from the perimeter. Nonetheless, David West and the Hornets will enter their matchup with the Timberwolves as everyone’s favorites to clinch a win on the road. Albeit New Orleans might have struggled thus far, there is no doubt that the team is superior to the rebuilding Wolves as far as individual talent goes.

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