April 6, 2008

Hornets.com chatted with ABC play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico prior to Sunday’s nationally-televised game against the Golden State Warriors. Tirico also is the voice of “Monday Night Football” for ESPN:

Hornets.com: You are one of the voters for the MVP and Coach of the Year awards. What is your assessment of Chris Paul’s chances in the MVP race?
Tirico: I think four guys are frontrunners, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett. LeBron has been extraordinary this year, but (Cleveland’s) team performance puts them in a different light than Kobe and Chris.

I think Kevin Garnett has meant more than just stats to Boston. He’s created a culture change there. They’re clearly the best team in the league, and have made the most impressive turnaround in the history of the league. I think I’ve been leaning there for the last few months, but as Chris has done it on a regular basis, you can’t help but keep your eyes open to (his candidacy). He’s made everyone around him better, and he’s made a couple guys play at All-Star levels. I think there is also an intangible factor with this franchise. This has been kind of a saving-of-the-franchise moment.

One thing I also did was look at Steve Nash’s second MVP season and compared the stats (with Paul’s 2007-08). The shooting is better (by Nash), but Chris has outperformed Steve in almost every other area. If you voted for Steve Nash for MVP those two years – as I did – it gives you a very strong belief in Chris now. But I’m going to keep an open mind until the last week of the regular season. I always send my ballot in at about 10 or 11 p.m. on the (last day of the regular season), usually after I’ve just done a game.

Hornets.com: What about Byron Scott for Coach of the Year?
Tirico: Well, I’m completely partial, because between his jobs with the Nets and Hornets, he worked with us at ABC. He was one of our studio analysts that year. And, we also worked with Doc Rivers (on ABC). [laughs] So I’m partial to both.

Byron is a great choice, because there were very few pieces added to the team (this season). They’ve done a great job handling everything that’s happened the last couple years. That’s where I would be leaning right now.

Hornets.com: Obviously it’s not a done deal, but the Hornets are closing in on a No. 1 seed right now. It is possible that they would be the least feared top seed in the NBA playoffs in many years, based on their lack of household names and track record in the postseason?
Tirico: I think no matter who is 1 (seed) and who is 8, there is not going to be what you could call an upset in the West playoffs this year. A couple coaches have said that, and I totally agree. The significance of the No. 1 seed is that you have homecourt advantage, but that’s about it. For the Hornets specifically, getting the No. 1 seed becomes important because they’ve won 10 straight games in this building and I believe there have been 10 sellouts in the past 15 games here. If they can continue to build this real homecourt edge – as I’ve seen in a lot of their games lately, the Lakers game in particular comes to mind – and this becomes a real tough place to play, that’s going to be a big benefit of being a 1 seed.

Hornets.com: From talking to the Hornets as well as other teams in the West, what do you think is the best argument to make for why New Orleans can go deep in the playoffs?
Tirico: It’s that they’ve done it as a team all season and have a lot of guys who’ve performed at a high level. The thing is, every team has a question. The question for New Orleans is playoff experience: How are the guys here going to deal with it? Utah has not been good on the road. Dallas, is the whole (Jason) Kidd-(Dirk) Nowitzki thing is going to find the right style of play? San Antonio, the question is age, but their experience is unbelievable. Houston, how much are they going to miss Yao Ming? For Phoenix, will they be able to switch up their style of play? I think that’s why, 1 through 8, there is no favorite.

But I love the fact that Chris (Paul) has been around LeBron and playoff games. He understands the atmosphere of it. He’s going to be so important. And Peja Stojakovic has been around it. So has Bonzi (Wells).

Hornets.com: What’s the best argument for why the Hornets could be knocked out early?
Tirico: It’s playoff experience. You have to go through to understand how the games change. For Chris (Paul), other teams are going to try to find a combination of matchups that will make it as difficult as possible on him (to succeed), and make him a little bit less effective, over a six- or seven-game series. In the playoffs, all it takes is to be a little bit less effective (to lose). There is no better microscope to examine a player than the NBA playoffs. I think there a lot of great defensive players and teams in the West, so that could be something that impacts the Hornets.