The Hornets won 11 of their first 12 games, a rate of success that coach Monty Williams didn't expect the team to sustain.

After their hot start, New Orleans dropped nine of 12 to fall back down to earth.

"Fair? It was reality," Williams said when asked if it was fair to say that the team was playing over its head.

"Playing over your head, I don't have an issue with that. I have an issue with not giving that over-your-head effort every night. We've played over our heads and we've played under our butts the last 2? weeks."

Williams noticed that the Hornets seemed to get cocky after their hot start and teams adapted by trying to force David West and Chris Paul to do everything.

"I was upset at myself because I didn't harp on the basics and fundamentals through the streak," Williams said. "I waited on game seven or eight to get back to, 'Hey, look, these are the things we need to get back to. We're winning games, but we are not doing, X, Y and Z.' And it bit us."

Paul agreed.

"We are not the most talented team. We're not the Boston Celtics or the Lakers. We got to play hard and we got to play smart. Some teams if they play hard, they're going to win. We can play hard and play smart and we still might lose."