<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">OKLAHOMA CITY -- A year ago, Hornets coach Byron Scott was searching for answers, for victories, for healthy bodies, for a finisher. Had Scott found any of those, it's likely the Hornets wouldn't have ended the season with an 18-64 record and a spot in the NBA Lottery. Then again, it's also likely the team wouldn't have ended up with the one individual who might be a solution for everything that was missing -- point guard Chris Paul. Granted, that could be an oversimplification, given the season is just three games old, but the Hornets find themselves 2-1 heading into tonight's game against the Orlando Magic, one Scott concedes he has told his team "is very winnable." In the decisive moments of Saturday night's stirring road victory at Southwest Division-rival Houston, Paul took over. "He really has taken control," Scott said. "And he's so coachable, it's almost scary. Talking to him on the court, he'll do whatever you ask him to do. He's not one of those guys who has questions about everything, 'Why are we doing this?' or 'Why are we doing that?' "He's extremely intelligent on the floor. If he sees something he doesn't like, he'll come over and say, 'Coach, can we run that again, because I saw something else.' And I'm like, 'Chris, you just run it. Whatever you want. You run it.' It's great as a coach to have that much confidence in a rookie point guard. But it's also great to have a rookie point guard who accepts that type of challenge." Left unsaid was that it was great to have a point guard who blends into the team concept, who is willing to involve his teammates first, but unafraid to confront the consequences of failure when the game is on the line. Not long after throwing up an air-ball 3-point attempt when the Hornets trailed by eight points with 4:22 to play against the Rockets, Paul was putting up two floating jump shots to extend a one-point lead and seal a come-from-behind road victory. "He's got confidence," said third-year forward David West. "And we've got confidence in him as a team, regardless of his age and his experience in this league. We've got confidence in him. He's our point guard. "That's what we need. We need guys who are willing to take the tough shot and not worry about the negative side or whether it's a positive play." </div> Source
