Hornets begin tough stretch
Team faces big test, playing four talented opponents this week

The Hornets start this week with a 7-3 record. But they easily could be staring at 7-7 by Saturday night if they aren't careful.

Starting Tuesday against the defending NBA champion Miami Heat, the Hornets play four games in five nights that will show us just how good they are.

On Wednesday, the Hornets face the Phoenix Suns on the road before ending the week with a back-to-back games against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks.

The stretch will be the stiffest test yet for the Hornets, for those four teams went a combined 199-129 last season. On paper, the only tougher week of the season comes Dec. 11-18, when the Hornets play the Mavericks, Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs, a foursome with a combined 225-103 record a year ago.

"They're just tough teams," Hornets coach Byron Scott said of this week's opponents. "It's indicative of our whole November and December schedule. Like we always say, ‘You've got to play them all anyway, so we can't run from anybody.'"

Last year, the Hornets went just 4-9 against this week's opponents. Two of those wins came against the Timberwolves, who are the worst of the bunch after finishing 16 games under .500 last season.

Although Shaquille O'Neal, the Heat's All-Star center, will miss Tuesday's game with an injured left knee, and Suns guard Steve Nash and Mavs forward Josh Howard are both probable with injuries, this week's upper-echelon level of competition still should provide answers to questions about the Hornets.

Are the Hornets as good as they appear to be defensively?

The Hornets rank fourth in opponent scoring at 94.6 points per game and fifth in opponent field goal percentage at 44 percent.

Although Minnesota and Miami rank 29th and 30th, respectively, in scoring, Phoenix is the league's second-highest scoring team. Dallas ranks 12th.

The Suns and Mavs also rank fifth and sixth in field-goal percentage.

Do the Hornets have enough firepower offensively?

The Hornets' big three of Chris Paul, David West and Peja Stojakovic combine to average 54.6 of the team's 96 points per game, meaning there isn't much offense after them. The Heat, Suns, Wolves and Mavs all have a multitude of offensive weapons, in the starting lineup and on the bench.

How much of a factor will the Hornets' youth and inexperience be?

The Heat and Mavs were in the NBA Finals last season, and the Suns were in the Western Conference Finals in 2005-06.

The core players on those teams seemingly should have more poise in crunch time than many of the Hornets. Stojakovic, guard Bobby Jackson and center Tyson Chandler are the only Hornets who have played a key role on previous playoff teams.