Byron Scott Fired - Chris Paul Injures Ankle- Jeff Bower's Disastrous Debut

Will the Hornets' point guard Chris Paul be superstitious after the home game against Portland on Friday the 13th?

All the turmoil following Friday's game, seems to be the perfect plot for a drama similar to Jim Carrey's "Number 23".

The perfect stage for this encounter was set by the release of former Lakers point guard and 2007 coach of the year Byron Scott as head coach of the Hornets , who was replaced by former General Manager Jeff Bower.

The coincidences commence with the fact that before the start of the season Jeff Bower spent exactly 13 seasons serving the Hornets mainly as the director of the scouting department and as GM.

Bower marked his debut as head coach of an NBA team on 13th of November , a date which proved to be unlucky as his team fell 78-86 to the visiting Portland Trail Blazers and at the same time he lost his All Star point guard Chris Paul due to an ankle injury.

The myth of the magic number 13 goes on, as following this defeat the Hornets dropped to 3-7 for the season which means that they currently lie in 13th position of the Western Conference. Only the Memphis Grizzlies and the Minnesota Timberwolves have worse records in the West.

Despite the defeat the Hornets suffered an even more serious setback as they lost their leader on the floor Chris Paul due to an ankle injury after he landed awkwardly on Joel Przybilla's ( 13 letters ! ) foot.

Another coincidence worth mentioning is the fact that Paul suffered the same injury last year, against the same opponent and about at the same time of the match as he went out in both encounters late in the third period.

The gold medal winner from last summer's Olympics in Beijing was shooting over 60% prior to Friday's game. Before being forced out by the injury he took 8 shots and only converted one...if you do the math, that's about 13%.

To go even further according to the NBA's official stats, New Orleans' most efficient player of the night David West, took a total of 13 shots against the Blazers and all of the home team's five starters successfully made a combined 13 shots themselves, as Chris Paul was 1-8 , West 7-13,Emeka Okafor 2-7, Peja Stojakovic 1-7 and Devin Brown converted 2 of his 7 shot attempts.

Considering all this coincidences shouldn't the League at least for one day, Friday the 13th, change their slogan to : NBA- Where superstitions happen?

''Western Conference Standings'' , NBA

'' Regular Season Stats'' , New Orleans Hornets