Morris Peterson became a huge fan favorite over his seven seasons with Toronto, prior to becoming New Orleans’ biggest free-agent acquisition during the 2007 offseason. The personable 6-foot-7 shooting guard is providing blog updates on Hornets.com throughout his first playoffs with the Hornets.

May 7, 2008

FAN UP NEW ORLEANS
When you look around the arena and see 18,000 fans wearing gold T-shirts like they were during Game 1 against the Spurs, I think that’s the biggest example I’ve seen of Fan Up. It was like everyone came together as one. The fans are very important to us in trying to win our home games in this series and take it to another level.

I’ve heard a few people say that the “Wooo!” chant for Chris has gotten really popular in the city, and that you might even hear someone do it on the street in New Orleans at a random time. You know, I found myself doing it a couple times. It’s real catchy. Especially with it being CP’s thing, and that they do it every time he scores, it’s being said a lot!

When I score, they play the Lil’ Wayne song “Go DJ.” When they asked me before the season what I wanted them to play, I told them to just put some Lil’ Wayne on there for me. Really, anything by him was fine by me. He’s a New Orleans native, and I like his music. I’ve met him a couple times. He’s a great guy, good dude. And he’s a real big fan of the team.

I like hearing “Go DJ,” but I might have to see if they can switch it up to one of his current songs.

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
The thing about the playoffs is that there aren’t that many teams still playing basketball compared to the regular season, so everyone is watching. It’s the same thing with March Madness in college basketball. Everything you do is magnified and seems more important.

I’m just real thankful that we’re still playing. In terms of how I’ve been doing in the playoffs, I’ve been working hard and my will to win is strong right now. Whatever happened in the regular season, all of that is great. But the only thing people are going to remember is what you did in the playoffs.

CP3
The thing that I noticed about Chris Paul is that he has a little baby face, he looks young and all innocent when he smiles, but when he walks onto the court, he’s like a pit bull, a bulldog. The thing the impressed me more is that off the court he is one of the best guys you could be around. He comes from a great family and is a good dude. He’s the kind of a guy you enjoy being around and joking with him.

People talk about him being an MVP candidate on the court, but I think he’s even a better person than he is a player. That sets him apart from other guys. He’s very humble. And he’s the type of guy who will give you the shirt off his back.

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May 2, 2008

PEJA-HEAD MANIA
I think the Peja heads are hilarious. When I first saw the team’s staff running around the arena with those, I just started laughing. Those are great, especially because of the expression on Peja’s face. It’s such a funny picture. They’re giving them away to everyone who comes to Game 1, so I guess you’re going to see 18,000 Pejas in the stands. That’s going to be a lot of fun to see.

You know, I’m not sure if Peja likes the picture. He just laughed about it when I mentioned it to him a couple times after I first saw it. The way Peja’s personality is, though, the fans feel like they almost know Peja. The Peja heads are a lot of fun for them.

By the way, I think I should have one. When are they going to come out with a Mo Pete head? I think we need to see that.

DEFENSIVE FOCUS
Manu Ginobili is such a crafty player. He’s a streaky player. If he gets going, it could be a long night for you. When you’re his defender, you want to try to get to him early, take away a few things from him and get him out of his rhythm. From the games I’ve played against him, that’s always my gameplan. You want to force him into taking some tough shots.

The other guy I will be matched up against is Michael Finley. He’s such a good shooter and can spot up. A lot of times he takes the pressure off Tim Duncan and Manu, by moving well without the ball. He made some big shots in the Phoenix series and has been playing well.

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April 28, 2008

BIG WIN IN BIG D
I thought after the first quarter, we played our brand of basketball. But even when things weren’t going well in the first quarter, we were still aggressive and playing hard. This is the playoffs. We don’t worry about a 14-game losing streak in Dallas or whatever it was. Like we’ve been saying, this is a different team than what the Hornets have had in the past. What happened before doesn’t matter.

I’m just trying to be aggressive in this series. I’ve been able to get going early in the game, especially in Game 4, and give us a spark. With the minutes that I earn, I’m going out there and leaving it all out on the floor.

Toward the end of the game last night, I heard our fans chanting MVP for Chris, which was great. We had a lot of fans there in Dallas. It was great to have their support. It was big and really helped us a lot throughout the game. That’s a rarity in this league, to be on the road and still have good fan support.

I think with us coming back to New Orleans this year, people have been watching us to see how we were going to respond to returning to the city. Our motto is Fan Up. I like it, because in order for us to get to where we want to be, it’s important for our fans to come out and support us, which they’ve been doing. Hopefully we can take it to another level. Hopefully on Tuesday for Game 5 they’ll have to take the roof off the Arena because it’s going to be so loud. Hopefully you’ll be able to hear the cheering all the way to Tchoupitoulas Street.

HAPPY FOR JANNERO
Jannero Pargo is playing so well for us. Game 3 he was great offensively, but in Game 4 he did a lot of other things that didn’t show up on the stat sheet. He rebounded very well. He played great defense. He knocked down big shots for us. A lot of guys are happy for him, because people didn’t expect him to be where he is. He’s really shown a lot of people what he can do in the league when he’s been given the opportunity.

I don’t think the foul Jason Kidd put on Jannero was dirty. It was aggressive and a hard foul, but you come to expect hard fouls in the playoffs. You have to adjust to it and you have to understand that in the playoffs, you’re going to get fouled hard when you go to the basket. If you realize that, it makes it easier to deal with and not lose your composure. We knew Dallas was going to be more aggressive. They’re fighting hard and they’re not going to give up.

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April 21, 2008

PREPARING FOR GAME 2
We have to play the whole game like we did in the second half of Game 1. If we do that, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win. We held Dallas to 40 points in the second half, and that’s how you win games in the playoffs. Our offense will come around, because we know we have a lot of guys who can score. Defensively, if we dictate the tone early, it could be a good game for us.

Offense won some games for us this season, but defense is going to be what determines how far we can go. If we win a championship, defense will be what takes us there.

CP’S POSTSEASON DEBUT
I remember being asked a couple weeks ago about how some guys on the team don’t have any playoff experience, but I was never worried about CP. Chris is unbelievable. I knew he was going to be ready to play. He’s our leader for our team. All year teams have been trying to slow down Chris, but they haven’t been able to keep him from penetrating.

The other new guys to the playoffs gave us some good minutes. I thought Ju Ju gave us some good intensity. Hilton made a couple nice plays and had some good rebounds. They did a good job. I just told them to build off that first game, and do what you’ve been doing all year.

It was a lot of guys’ first playoff games. In the first half, I don’t think we played our brand of basketball. But the good thing is, we got the first-game jitters out of us.

PLAYOFF VIEWING
As a basketball fan, I do watch the other series. On Sunday I watched some of the Toronto game. Orlando came out aggressive and played very well. I caught some of that game, but right now I’m concentrating on us and what we have to do to win this series.

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April 18, 2008

A FORMIDABLE FOE
We know Dallas is a very good basketball team. They were very good last year too, but in that first-round series, Golden State just played exceptionally well. The way the Warriors played, a lot of teams would’ve lost to them.

Dallas is a legitimate contender in this league and they’ve been doing it for years. So you never want to count them out. I think what happened in the playoffs last year lit a fire under them. I’m pretty sure that’s fresh in their minds.

People have mentioned how long it’s been since the Hornets won in Dallas, but we’ve got a different team than the team they had last year and all the other times they played in Dallas. It’s tough to play in Dallas, and we know the Mavericks play very well at home. They do a good job taking care of their home court.

SOMETHING TO PROVE
People have been doubting us all year. People have been saying we couldn’t stay where we were in the West (standings) all season. We’re used to it by now, so it’s not something we’re going to worry about. We’re just going to do what we do and let our games speak for themselves.

We’ve got to come out aggressive, with the mindset of playing hard for 48 minutes. We know it’s going to be intense. The big thing is to take care of our home court. I expect it to be electric in the arena for the first game Saturday. It’s going to be exciting. I know our fans have been waiting for this for awhile. They’ve been great all season.

DEFENSIVE FOCUS
Coach Scott has been concerned about our defense over the last 10 or 15 games of the regular season. He’s been telling us we need to play better there. We’re trying to make a conscious effort to help each other and trust each other more on the defensive end. I think sometimes when you’re winning games like we had been – and winning even when you’re not playing your best – your defense can start to slip. Then, when your shots aren’t falling as much as they were before, you start losing more. We’re trying to stay on top of it. We know it’s a big key to how we do in the playoffs.