For a while there, during that recent stretch in which they won nine of 10 games, the Jazz were in a real zone.

Now, they can't even play against one.
     
The New Orleans Hornets zoned the Jazz into submission Thursday night, outscoring Utah 9-4 in the final one minute and 42 seconds of a 93-88 victory at the Delta Center.
     
"They went to a zone," said Jazz forward Matt Harpring, whose 21 points were a team-high, "and it kind of flustered us a little bit."

The Hornets were getting badly beaten on give-and-go plays. They were getting out-hustled and repeatedly missing shots.

But this Hornets team knows what to do to shake off a disastrous first half. The Hornets have David Wesley, who was virtually unstoppable from behind the 3-point lane after missing his first three shots. They have Baron Davis, who makes big shots when the outcome is in doubt.

The Hornets used every strength they had to rally from a 14-point deficit and hold off the surging Utah Jazz to get a 93-88 victory Thursday night at the Delta Center.

History-making? You might say so.

After all these years, a New Orleans NBA team visits the Utah Jazz.

Which reminded me of a guy named Steven Brown, who won the contest for naming the NBA expansion franchise in 1974, who said he settled on "Jazz" because "it was the music Jelly Roll Morton invented in New Orleans."

Five years later, when the Jazz headed west, Brown was left with bittersweet feelings.

"At least they're going to keep the name I gave ?em," he mused. "I'm sure the Mormon Tabernacle Choir enjoys a good time as well as the rest of us. But naming a team the Utah Jazz is like naming a team from Miami the Zeppelins."

Thursday's game at the Delta Center was a good start to the toughest -- and perhaps most crucial -- stretch of the season for the New Orleans Hornets.

Playing the first of seven road games in 12 days, the Hornets set out on the longest Western trip of the season for any Eastern Conference team, and things will get a lot harder before they get easier.

The Hornets play Shaquille O'Neal and the Lakers tonight in Los Angeles, and the undefeated-at-home Sacramento Kings on Sunday. Then it's back-to-back games at Portland and Golden State, followed by a game at Seattle before closing out the trip at San Antonio.

Just as pitching trumps hitting, just as a powerful rushing attack beats the finesse of a passing offense, conventional wisdom says a basketball team that bullies its way to layup after layup will overcome a corps of long-range shooters.
   
Well, unless the shooters don't miss.
   
The Jazz ruthlessly dominated the Delta Center paint Thursday night, producing 26 layups. But New Orleans countered with a dazzling display of three-point accuracy, riding their rainbows to a 93-88 victory over Utah and a sweep of the season series.
   
On paper, the Hornets, who shot just 40.8 percent (but 55 from three-point range), had plenty of problems. P.J. Brown was no factor, Courtney Alexander didn't score, and Baron Davis was silent for nearly three quarters.