On February 27, the Cleveland Cavaliers played their final game of the month, visiting the New Orleans Hornets.
Ever since Peja Stojakovic, their sharpshooter who averaged 17.8 points per game, was ruled out for the season, the New Orleans Hornets' record had plummeted.
They had fallen all the way from sixth in the Western Conference to eleventh.
With just 27 wins and 29 losses, they still had a theoretical chance of making the playoffs.
But that chance was tiny, especially since they were in the West.
If they were in the East, they might have had a shot.
After all, the eighth seed in the East often made the playoffs with a winning percentage below .500.
Take the 2003–04 season, when the Boston Celtics made the playoffs with a 36–46 record and a 43.9% winning percentage.
That showed just how much less competitive the East was than the West.
Any good player could lead a team into the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Still, even with the New Orleans Hornets in such a state, the Cleveland Cavaliers didn't dare underestimate them.
After all, their core was still intact: Chris Paul and David West, a guard-and-big-man duo.
Before the game, Mike Brown prepared thoroughly to deal with them.
He planned to have Eric Snow and Larry Hughes take turns hounding Chris Paul.
Mike Brown wasn't expecting Eric Snow and Larry Hughes to shut Chris Paul down. After all, Paul's athleticism spoke for itself.
His first step was lightning-quick, and with his excellent physicality and powerful ankles that let him stop on a dime, he could survive in the NBA despite standing just 183 centimeters tall with a 193-centimeter wingspan—and even become the Hornets' floor general.
Instead, Snow and Hughes would disrupt Paul's rhythm and sever his connection with his teammates.
Chris Paul's playmaking