PHILADELPHIA VS. INDIANA MILWAUKEE VS. ORLANDO MIAMI VS. CHARLOTTE NEW YORK VS. TORONTO SAN ANTONIO VS. MINNESOTA L.A. LAKERS VS. PORTLAND SACRAMENTO VS. PHOENIX UTAH VS. DALLAS

Wednesday, May 30 Davis leads Hornets into Game 3 Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Despite the improvement Baron Davis has shown in his first season as Charlotte's starting point guard, coach Paul Silas still wasn't sure he was ready for the playoffs. "I wanted to prove him wrong," Davis said. "He was confident in me, but he still had some doubts if I could do it in the postseason." So far, Davis has done it. In two games, he has a combined 40 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds while helping the Hornets to a 2-0 lead over the Miami Heat in the best-of-five series. The second-year guard will try to help Charlotte close out the series in Game 3 on Friday night. His only regret is that Tim Hardaway, one of his boyhood heroes, won't be playing against him. Hardaway played through the first two games despite a foot injury, but was ineffective, with just five points, nine assists and eight turnovers in the two games. He also got beat up and down the floor by the 22-year-old Davis, who is 12 years his junior and grew up emulating Hardaway. Hardaway has decided to sit out the rest of the series to heal his foot, and Davis is disappointed "I know he's hurt, but it would be nice to play against him for the rest of the series," Davis said. "It's a joy to face him. All your life, you imitate them and make your game like theirs, and when you finally get an opportunity to play against them, it's just a dream come true." Davis instead will have to contend with Anthony Carter and rookie Eddie House, both of whom have taken notice of how valuable Davis is to the Hornets. "He's playing with great confidence, and the coaches are giving him the green light to go out and just play basketball," House said. "That's the ultimate compliment." It's taken a season full of learning for Davis to earn that freedom from Silas. He left UCLA after his sophomore year, and Charlotte made him the third overall pick in 1999, but the Hornets weren't sure how long it would take Davis to develop into a starting point guard. He spent his rookie season as a reserve, but went into training camp this year determined to be a starter. "I was ready to come in and make this my team," he said. But the Hornets belonged to David Wesley, the point guard who started every game for four seasons. To accommodate them both, Silas switched Wesley to shooting guard and gave Davis the point. "Coach said he was going to take his bumps and bruises with me, and he did," Davis said. One of Davis' early problems was learning to be a leader. It took several talks with Silas and votes of confidence from Wesley before Davis was truly able to take over that role. "David always told me he had confidence in me," Davis said. "He came to me early in the season and said `This is your team, this is your show, you have to step up and run it.' It took that for me to realize he was passing the baton." Davis and Wesley worked so well together that Charlotte has the only backcourt in the NBA that started every game together this season. At this stage, Miami would love to have that kind of stability. With Hardaway out, coach Pat Riley knows it will be difficult to rally. "The whole thing about putting this team together, it was crucial ... to have Hardaway back to help run the offense," Riley said. "That's the break. I didn't have a crystal ball for that." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

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