New Orleans Hornets

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New Orleans Hornets Information:

The New Orleans Hornets (temporarily the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets) are a professional basketball team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team has temporarily relocated to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for 2005-06 and part of 2006-07 seasons due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

October 30, 2002: The New Orleans Hornets opened their inaugural season in New Orleans against the Utah Jazz, who were originally in New Orleans and called the New Orleans Jazz; "Pistol" Pete Maravich had his number retired during halftime. It was the first regular season NBA game played in New Orleans in 23 years (there were a few exhibition games played through the years including the then Charlotte Hornets in New Orleans Arena in 2000). They qualified for the playoffs for the fourth straight year in 2002-03, but were beaten by Philadelphia again. Jamal Mashburn also missed most of these playoffs.

After the season, the team decided to move in a different direction and allowed the contract of head coach Paul Silas to expire. He was replaced by Tim Floyd, and the Hornets got off to a 17-7 start, but the team reverted to form and finished 41-41, narrowly missing out on home court advantage in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. They played the Miami Heat in the playoffs, but Dwyane Wade's last second shot sunk the Hornets in Game One of the series. The teams ended up winning all their respective home games after that, but Wade's shot was the difference, even though the series went to seven games, the Heat winning 4-3.