"Nunsensations!" (Westwego)
March 2, 2010
Woman found dead, TPSO awaiting cause
March 4, 2010The NBA announced on Monday that New Orleans Hornets point guard Darren Collison was named the T-Mobile Western Conference Rookie of the Month for February.
The last Hornet to win the Rookie of the Month honor is the player Collison is filling in for; guard Chris Paul, who is still recovering from a knee injury.
“It’s a huge honor for me to win this award,” Collison said. “I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates, especially Chris Paul, who is always there with advice and help for me, and the coaching staff for believing in me.”
Collison was a major factor for the team in February and averaged 21 points and eight assists per game in the month, while averaging 42 minutes per game.
Collison led all rookies in scoring, assists, steals and minutes in the month.
His success in the month made him one of just two rookies in the past 25 years to average that many points and assists in the same moth. The last to achieve that feat was Allen Iverson, who averaged 33.6 points and eight assists per game in April 1997.
The former UCLA guard also recorded his first-ever triple-double in the month on Feb. 19, when he scored 18 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out 12 assists in the team’s 102-93 win against the Indiana Pacers.
As of press time, the Hornets were in ninth place in the Western Conference and were just three games out of playoff contention. March figures to be a critical month for the team as they have games scheduled against the Spurs, Nuggets, Thunder, Mavericks, Blazers, Cavaliers and Lakers – all of whom have greater records than New Orleans.
