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Paul Millsap, who played collegiately at Louisiana Tech, knocked down 11 of his 13 shots to finish with 24 points on the night. It was Millsap’s second straight 20 point plus night, both above his average of 11 a game.

Collison and Stojakovic each had 24 points on the night and were easily the most productive players on the court offensively for the Hornets. Forward David West had one of those “lost” games where he was never in sync. West struggled thanks to early foul trouble and didn’t get his first points of the game until the second half, finishing with five points and five fouls in just 26 minutes of action.

Morris Peterson started at shooting guard and was ineffective shooting one of six from the field, oh for two from three point land to finish with three points in 21 minutes of action. Marcus Thornton had 14 on the night but missed ten of his 16 shots.

Jazz point guard Deron Williams was held to 16 points and teammate forward Carlos Boozer also finished with 16.

The game was one on in which the Hornets were in, and had a chance to win, but failed to execute late. Hornets forward James Posey tied things up at 85 a piece with a three-pointer with just over three minutes to play. Boozer then scored six points in the final minutes as the Hornets defense failed to get a stop.

The Hornets fall to 28-26 on the season, while Utah improves to 34-19. Next up for the Hornets, the Indiana Pacers at the Hive at 7pm on Friday night.

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Frankly, I find it hard to do any work between recovering from my “reporting” after the game, reliving the Hartley field goal via fan videos on You Tube, and wonderful messages online.

Ah yes, Monday has been a day to enjoy and live in the moment. A moment that had adults crying, releasing 43 years of frustration for many, for others it was just the culmination of being a part of something magical.

When you look at the stats, the Vikings were the better team, outgaining the Saints by 218 yards, and picked up 31 first downs to the Saints 31 to 15. In all honesty, the Saints 31-28 win was destiny. Minnesota turning the ball over five times when they had done so just 18 times all season. A game that had to be decided in overtime by a kick heard around the bayou.

It’s still surreal to say it, hear it, much less type it. The Saints are going to the Super Bowl.

A day after the historic win, the Saints were excited, yet were quick to say that there was still work to be done. “We know that we have a huge challenge up for us, with Peyton Manning and those guys. They’ve been doing a great job with comeback victories, and putting games away. So we know we have a huge challenge up for us,” said Saints cornerback Tracey Porter a day after his game changing interception.

The game in two weeks indeed will be analyzed, talked about, and hyped in the coming days, in the time being it was about putting into words what happened on Sunday.

“I think having been in this game before and coached in this game, I think this is the goal.  We set it yesterday.  We were excited about the win yesterday.  What it did was it gives us an opportunity to play in this next game, which when you get into coaching or playing, your goal is to someday win a Super Bowl championship, said Saints head coach Sean Payton Monday. “I think the challenge is winning a championship, and understanding that we’re playing a great Indianapolis team.  It’s been a long time since you look at the Super Bowl and here sit the two No. 1 seeds.  The two teams that were unbeaten for 90% of the season until the end, here they are with an opportunity to play for the championship, so that’s exciting.”

The Saints earned their ticket to Super Bowl 44 in Miami by being resilient and never giving up, despite the many times where it seemed as if the Vikings couldn’t be stop. The difference however was taking care of the football.

“It was a game that went back and forth with momentum swings.  It had a lot of effort by both teams.  You tip your hat to Minnesota.  They played lights out with a lot of heart.  The turnovers ended up being a big stat in this game.  Without that swing in turnovers, we probably don’t come up on the winning end of this game.  The turnover at the second quarter right before halftime was significant.  Certainly the turnover at the end of the game prior to overtime was significant.  And then we made enough plays in overtime to win the game.  Pierre Thomas’ kick return was big, for him to jump in that role, which is normally been where Courtney’s played, and get us good field position.  And we make just enough plays to give our kicker a chance to win the game and he does.  All of that ended up being pretty special.”

So after 43 seasons, the Saints are finally in the big game. In their way, a native New Orleanian who’s being talked about as the greatest to ever play his position, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. Go figure. A local who captured his first championship four season ago down in Miami, will either be apart of a game that gives the Saints their long awaited championship, or keeps his home town team from winning one.

The task is daunting. Manning led Indianapolis to a 30-17 win over the New York jets with a typical performance. 26 of 39 for 377 yards and three touchdowns to go with zero interceptions.

“Peyton does such a good job at the line of scrimmage, really taking advantage of the whole time allotted and putting his offense into a variety of different plays.  He does a great job with the snap count.  He’s got a great grasp of the offense,” said Payton of Manning’s ability to dissect defenses.  “You see the improvement throughout the course of the year that they’ve grown with young players at the receiver position,  obviously, a veteran offensive line, a veteran player in Dallas Clarke, and guys like Reggie Wayne.  He’s got a great grasp as to what he’s seen.  And I think throughout the course of the game that becomes in itself a challenge. As to his ability to really in his experience to direct traffic and put them in the best place possible, I think he does that better than anyone. ”

 WHERE’S BELL?

Have you wondered where is Saints running back Mike Bell lately? Bell hasn’t been listed on the injury report this post season, but in the team’s two games he has a total of six runs. Bell had zero touches against Minnesota, and had just six carries for 11 yards. What’s the deal?

“Just the way these games unfolded.  Certainly that wouldn’t ‑‑ I don’t know that I’d read anything into that other than just the way we were in a lot more nickel two weeks ago against Arizona with the injury to (Dominique-Rodgers) Cromartie and what we were wanting to do.  They were banged up in the secondary.  But he’ll have his touches and his opportunities certainly this week in practice and in the game next week,” Saints head coach Sean Payton said on Monday, adding that he contemplated on using Bell on the key 4^th and 1 in overtime, but felt it wasn’t smart to make that play Bell’s carry of the day.

WORK WEEK

The Saints, who spent the day lifting and running, will enjoy Tuesday and Wednesday off. Thursday the Black and Gold return to practice, and will do so through Saturday. On Monday the team will depart for Miami to meet up with those Saints that will leave Sunday morning to be introduced at Sunday’s Pro Bowl game.

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Garret Hartely split the uprights on a 40-yard field goal to win the game 31-28, sending the Saints into the Super Bowl. Minnesota 

Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre threw a crucial interception at the end of rugulation deep in Saints territory. The Vikings would have had about a 55 yard field goal if they hadn’t gained a yard but the turnover killed any chances at a shot for a win.

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The Saints season ending three game losing streak is in the rear view mirror thanks to their 45-14 win over Arizona in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs. Standing in the way however of the team’s first ever trip to the big game, you might of heard of him, Brett Favre and his Minnesota Vikings.

A team with a good offense that can pass and run the football. “They’re probably going to try and establish the run against us early. Open it up with a couple play action passes, try to go deep on us,” says Saints defensive end Will Smith. “Ultimately the things that we need to do is, stop the run early and get after Favre.”

It’s also a team that has a solid defense, just ask Dallas. Last week the Vikings forced three turnover, had six sacks, and created 13 negative yardage plays. “These guys have one the best defensive fronts if not the best in the league. They have some elite pass rushers. They’ve really been able to get after the quarterback,” says Saints quarterback Drew Brees. “They’ve been very disruptive in the run game as well. I mean just all around it really starts up front. They fly around. They make a lot of tackles.”

Sunday will also be a bit of a reunion for one Saints player. Safety Darren Sharper wore the Purple and Gold for four season in Minnesota. “Facing your old foes is just like going in the backyard, you playing against someone that you know or are familiar with, it’s always going to be a little extra motivation because you want to beat him because you know the guy lives right across from you,” says Sharper. “That will be the extra motivation right there.”

BUMPS AND BRUISES

Friday’s injury report for the New Orleans Saints listed six players.

Tight end Jeremy Shockey did not practice once again, making it a full week of practices missed. Shockey has been sidelines this week due to a knee injury sustained against Arizona last week. Cornerback Malcolm Jenkins also was held out as he continues to rehab a hamstring injury. Both players are listed as questionable for Sunday’s NFC Championship game.

Four players were listed as probable for the game, receiver Robert Meachem (ankle), safety Darren Sharper (knee), center Jonathan Goodwin (knee), and defensive end Bobby McCray (back). Meachem and Sharper both did not practice on Wednesday but worked on a limited basis Thursday and Friday.

The Saints unquestionably are a more dangerous team if Meachem and Shockey can play Sunday, but if not others will have to step up. “If we have all the guys out there it definitely helps this offense click and if there’s somebody that can’t go, there’s somebody that can step in and make those plays too,” says receiver Lance Moore. “I think that coach Payton does a great job of putting people in the right place at the right time.”

HOW I SEE IT

It’s a heck of a matchup. The Saints and Vikings have battled all season to have the best record in the NFC. Both teams have playmakers on both sides of the ball, and quarterbacks that are In the elite category of the NFL.

This game will come down to execution. Minnesota won’t want Drew Brees and the Saints offense to touch the football anymore then they have to, they’ve also likely seen plenty of video of opposing running backs running through the Saints run defense. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson had 32 yards last year against the Saints and this week he spoke about the disappointment he felt afterwards. You can bet he’ll look to have a better performance this week. Stopping him will be key.

“Even if he gets stuffed ten times, just waiting for that one big run out of him, and he has the ability to do that,” says Saints defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis. “I think we definitely have to be technique sound, the whole game, the whole sixty minutes because you get that guy any kind of room and he’ll bust a big one on you.”

Offensively, the Saints need to run the football, establish something on the ground to attack a banged up defensive line that plays very aggressive. The Saints passing attack is deadly, and with a running game aiding the effort, the passing game becomes lethal.

“I think we’re going to be able to mix it up. That’s what you have to do against a defensive front that has the kind of players that they have,” says Saints receiver Marques Colston. “I think it’s just going to be trying to keep them off balance off balance and get them running.”

I think a key factor will be the Who Dats. Fans can, and I believe will make a difference in the game Sunday. “Momentum plays a huge factor, but that’s only if we play well,” says tight end Jeremy Shockey. “They expect big things from this team and we expect big things from those guys in the dome. Make as much noise as possible, getting as loud and as hostile, fist fights, bring everything it doesn’t matter do it all. We need it all this week because we’re treating this game like the Super Bowl.”

I think the game is a close one and not as high scoring as many may think. I see it 24-20 Saints in the most historic win in franchise History.

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Want to get yourself pumped up for the playoff games this weekend?  Maybe you should watch a movie . . . a FOOTBALL movie.  A ton of them exist, and everyone thinks their favorite is the absolute best.  The real debate shouldn’t be about which one is best, but rather which one will put you in the right frame of mind for your game.  Which one speaks to YOUR inner fan and will help you to be that 12^th Man for your team?  Any movie will leave you with an emotion, a feeling that can be carried into your festivities on Sunday.  So what do you want to feel?

Let’s say you just want to be in a good mood.  Being happy and relaxed can help you weather whatever downturns your team might take.  You can laugh off some of the disappointments and stay positive.  A pure mindless comedy would work best for this, and the best football comedy is The Waterboy.  Without any “social skills,” as his mama says, Adam Sandler’s exaggerated Cajun Bobby Boucher is the waterboy for a small, unsuccessful university team in Louisiana.  His only concern is keeping the water clean and cold for the players to maintain their proper hydration during practices and games.  When one of the players spits into the water, Bobby runs him down and throws him to the ground.  The Fonz, Henry Winkler, appears as Coach Klein, who gives Bobby the chance to be part of the football team and go to college.  Bobby never loses his bungling socially clumsy self, but he does become a college football star and helps his team win. 

As one of his teammates says Bobby is “an inspiration, to all of us who . . . who weren’t born handsome and charming and cool.”  Even those that are laughed at can succeed.  Who can’t help but stay smiling supporting a guy as helpless as Bobby, who manages to laugh off that criticism and carry his team to victory?

Do you need more out of your comedy?  Brett Favre fans might want to see the success of an old guy who had been counted out of football.  Here, you’ve got two choices, Necessary Roughness or The Replacements.  Both movies have coaches scrambling to field teams in unusual situations.  Necessary Roughness is about hodgepodge college team without scholarship players, and The Replacements are scabs for a professional team during a players’ strike.  Down-and-out quarterbacks lead both teams.  Played by Scott Bakula, a now thirty-something former high school football star who never played in college is the QB for the Fightin’ Armadillos of Texas State University.  Having choked in a college bowl game and never truly succeeded in the pros, Keanu Reeves is tapped to lead the walk-ons for the Washington Sentinels. 

On and off the field challenges confront the players, but age and natural ability enable these QBs to rise as leaders for their beleaguered teams.  Setting examples, they believe in themselves enough to prove that they are just as good, if not better in their hearts and love for the game, than those previously anointed as football stars.  Or, Favre fans could just watch Something About Mary, which isn’t about football, but has a cameo by Favre as a love interest for Cameron Diaz’s Mary.

Enough with the light-hearted fare, do you want to just let the violence of the game motivate you into running onto the field to pummel the other team yourself?  One of the most vicious football movies is Any Given Sunday directed by Oliver Stone.  Always the conspiracy theorist, Stone shows the gritty underbelly of professional football through the fictional Miami Sharks, coached by Tony D’Amato (Al Pacino), and fielded by replacement quarterback Willie Beaman (Jamie Foxx), and featuring actual professional football players Lawrence Taylor and Jim Brown.  From the owner to the team doctor to the wife of the veteran injured quarterback, all the characters have ulterior motives, and we are hard pressed to find a “good guy.”  The audience sees what goes on in every aspect of the team and its management, and the plot represents the conflict between an “old school” vision of football and its future. 

But, it’s not the plot that will get you pumped.  It’s the action.  In his December 1999 review of the film for the New York Times, Stephen Holder calls the film Oliver Stone’s “viscerally charged, razzle-dazzle ode to professional football as blood sport” and the “home-grown equivalent of a Roman gladiatorial circus.”  Any Given Sunday has some of the best football footage in any film and is sure to get even the meekest fan energized for a game.

If you care less about the violence in football and appreciate the sport for its more sentimental spirit of achievement, then you might enjoy a tear-jerker drama.  Your team may be the underdog going into the game.  Your team may be being dismissed by the national media or, on paper, they don’t have the goods to compete.  Then, you need a film to motivate you to believe in the impossible.  Rudy, starring Sean Astin as a young man determined to play on the University of Notre Dame football team, is that inspirational film.  Rudy doesn’t have the grades, money, size, or athletic ability to play for Notre Dame, but he never relents in achieving his dream.  No surprises here as Rudy makes the team through dogged persistence, hard work, and heart.  His belief in himself inspires others, including his teammates, to believe in him.  His desire drives him, but his confidence sustains him.  Many might call the underdog deluded or foolish, but you can’t help but root for him when he works so hard for his goal.

All of these films are about having a dream and the confidence and diligence to achieve that dream.  That’s what football is – believing and working – regardless of the ridicule, negativity, or challenges.  So tonight, Friday night, Saturday, or Sunday before the game, instead of watching the “talking heads” on sports networks tell you who they think should win, watch one of these films or any other you might find inspirational to fortify your fandom for your team.

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Tight end Jeremy Shockey did not practice once again, making it a full week of practices missed. Shockey has been sidelines this week due to a knee injury sustained against Arizona last week. Cornerback Malcolm Jenkins also was held out as he continues to rehab a hamstring injury. Both players are listed as questionable for Sunday’s NFC Championship game.

Four players were listed as probable for the game, receiver Robert Meachem (ankle), safety Darren Sharper (knee), center Jonathan Goodwin (knee), and Bobby McCray (back). Meachem and Sharper both did not practice on Wednesday but worked on a limited basis Thursday and Friday.

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With the Conference trophy present in a made for the post season media room, head coach Sean Payton spoke about his team’s readiness for the big matchup.

First up was the injuries. Four Saints did not participate in the workout on Wednesday. Tight End Jeremy Shockey (knee), receiver Robert Meachem (ankle), safety Darren Sharper (knee), and cornerback Malcolm Jenkins (hamstring). The team officially said that Sharper did not do the team portions of the practice. Throughout the season, Payton has sat Sharper a day out of the work week at times to rest lingering knee soreness.

The team signed receiver Adrian Arrington from the practice squad to the active roster, following Deuce McAllister being moved to the reserved injured / retired list. Former LSU DT Marlon Favorite replaced Arrington on the practice squad roster.

“He was feeling better today.  He was out there for walk through, and we’ll see where he is as the week progresses,” Payton said of Meachem’s injury and chances of playing Sunday. “But I don’t think it’s real significant.  But then again, it’s something that he’ll get treatment on and we’ll continue to rehab throughout the week.”

As for Shockey, who caught a touchdown pass against the Cardinals last week? “I think today was the day we didn’t practice him.  I think it’s good.  We’ll continue to update you like we normally do with injuries.  We really don’t get into predicting what guys are going to be like toward the end of the week.  So with the nature of the injury, the news is good.”

“It’s something I’ve been working hard for all year, just feels good to have the opportunity to be able to maybe contribute. I don’t know if I’ll be able to play or dress this game, but just the possibility of dressing feels good,” said Arrington Wednesday at the chance of maybe seeing action this week.

A TOUGH BATTLE AHEAD

While there were numerous questions about the team’s relationship with the city, the fan base and importance of being a part of the Katrina rebuilding process, there were also football questions. After all, come Sunday evening, that will be the only thing that matters.

Minnesota was in neck and neck with the Saints for a reason most of the season. They are a well balanced team. ““I think just from a defensive standpoint this is a team that has an outstanding front.  They’re physical, they have great speed.  They play with confidence,” Payton said on Wednesday after practice. “When you look really at the game last week and how they played against Dallas, a team that everyone saw how good the Cowboys were playing, and to see them win in that fashion was very impressive.  “Defensively against their offense there are a number of weapons.  Sidney Rice is someone who has progressed and is having a great season.  Starting with the running back Adrian Peterson and Brett and Percy Harvin.  I think there are going to be plays made and you have to eliminate the big plays or try to as best you can.  But they do a great job and that is the reason they’re playing in a game like this.”

The Vikings defense produced six sacks, three turnovers and 13 negative yardage plays against hot Dallas Cowboys offense. “These guys have one of the best defensive fronts if not the best in the league.  They have some elite pass rushers.  They’ve been able to get after the quarterback.  Been very disruptive in the run game as well, just all around,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said Wednesday. “ It really starts up front, and the rest of the guys, the linebackers and DB’s compliment them very well.  They fly around.  They make a lot of tackles.  They’ve been able to get a lot of balls out, fumbles, balls on the ground.  They just do a good job.  You can tell they’re well coached.”

On the offensive side of things, the addition of Brett Favre at quarterback, took a Vikings team that made the playoffs last season, to a team competing for a Super Bowl Championship. Add the already known force that is running back Adrian Peterson and the Vikings have a serious one-two punch.

“He kind of is the heart and soul of the offense, but I don’t think you can overlook Peterson at all. He’s the workhorse,” says Saints defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis. “I think they have two very different roles in the offense, but I think that they are equally as important in the offense, and they allow each other to be good.”

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Last Friday the Saints resigned the back to be an honorary captain and lead the team onto the field.

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Minnesota dispatched the Cowboys in impressive fashion Sunday afternoon 34-3. The Vikings defense punished Dallas quarterback Tony Romo all afternoon, sacking him six times.  Minnesota forced three Cowboys turnovers and the defense produced 13 negative yardage plays against the Dallas offense.

Brett Favre on the other hand had a good game. The Vikings quarterback threw four touchdown passes on the day, three of them to Sidney Rice. Favre connected with Rice on scoring tosses of 47, 16, and 45 yards.

Minnesota fined the season as the NFC’s second seed.

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