Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 4:57 AM     Updated: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 6:40 AM

By

Peter Finney, Times-Picayune

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For Gil McGregor, watching crunch time unfold Monday, it was almost like watching the same movie, over and over.

The New Orleans Hornets were on their way to winning their fifth game in a row, and McGregor sat there at courtside, shaking his head in admiration.

Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-PicayuneChris Paul and Jerrett Jack tie up the ball with DeMar DeRozan in the forth quarter as the New Orleans Hornets defeated the Toronto Raptors 85-81 on Monday.

“You got to love this team,” said McGregor, the Hornets’ analyst for CST who is into his 23rd season with the franchise. “They don’t owe their winning record to blowing their opponents away, winning games when all shots are going in, when all things are working. With these guys, it usually comes down to a play here, a decision there.”

That’s how it was Monday in wiping out an eight-point, fourth-quarter lead by the Toronto Raptors, coming up with two free throws and David West blocking a layup in the final 16 seconds to win 85-81.

The Hornets were winning with one field goal by Chris Paul.

“I don’t know if that’s ever happened,” McGregor said. “But that gives you an idea of what this team is all about.”

The winning streak the Hornets (26-16) take into the New Orleans Arena tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies began Jan. 9 in Denver, when Paul had 20 points and West 19, this while the defense was limiting Nuggets all-world forward Carmelo Anthony to eight points, 16 points under his average, in a 96-87 victory.

This was followed by a 92-89 overtime win over the Orlando Magic in which Marcus Thornton came off the bench to score a team-high 22 points, including seven of his team’s 11 in overtime.

Then came another overtime win, this one over the Rockets in Houston, 110-105, a game in which West exploded for 29 points, and the visitors overcame a 16-point deficit by limiting the Rockets to 14 in the final period of regulation.

It was four in a row after beating the Bobcats in Charlotte, 88-81, behind West’s 26, Paul’s 19, Emeka Okafor’s 10 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocked shots, also, significantly, by holding the enemy to 14 points in the final 12 minutes.

“This is a team that deserves every one of their 26 victories,” McGregor said. “And the credit goes right to the men in charge, Dell Demps and Monty Williams.”

McGregor looks at the general manager and the head coach as “two men without ego who took over at a delicate time, a time there was all kinds of speculation about your top player considering going somewhere else. You consider this, along with a franchise whose ownership was in question, and you have to say the way Dell Demps and Monty Williams handled their jobs was outstanding. And I feel it all goes back to the kind of people Dell and Monty are. To them, ego is not having the jobs they have. To them, ego is doing the job. And you do that by winning the confidence, winning the respect of the people that matter.”

To McGregor, who has been around the block a few times, the job Monty Williams did in winning the confidence of Chris Paul and David West was crucial.

“A rookie head coach, Monty won the respect of Chris and David because the special dedication Monty had to his job sold two players with the same kind of dedication (that) they had to their jobs,” McGregor said. “Monty loved being around a point guard like Chris who looked at basketball as a game played on a checker board, only Chris was playing chess, not checkers. Monty looked on Chris as a maestro out there, always looking to make the moves that had to be done. It became a special relationship.”

As for West, McGregor feels he “became as much of a leader as Chris” because Williams found a way to turn loose the talent he had.

“When David’s name came up as one of the top players at his position,” McGregor said, “you always heard, ‘he’s good, BUT.’ There was always a BUT. Not anymore. He’s playing the game now with off-the-wall confidence. There are no more buts regarding David West.”

So what else has Gil McGregor seen from courtside?

Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza: “I’m happy for Emeka. On defense, he used to get all kinds of traffic inside because of the perimeter defense. Trevor’s defense has helped in slowing down the traffic. Emeka has become a factor inside, on offense and defense. His offensive rebounding was crucial in the win over Toronto.”

Marcus Thornton: “You have to enjoy his story. He’s known in the region. It’s folklore. He’s worked his way into the rotation. Looks like he has a promising future.”

Willie Green: “He’s a solid guy, better than OK. He oozes confidence. He welcomes the role of a role player.”

Jarrett Jack: “The other day, I saw him drive to the basket. He looked like he’s beginning to play at being himself. He looks confident shooting the pull-up jumper. He could be the best backup point guard to Chris the Hornets have had.”

Marco Belinelli: “He has lots of skills. He’s got to maintain confidence. Right now, Marco has to prove what many have to do – fight through an injury.”

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Peter Finney can be reached at 504.826.3405.

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We talked much about chess, more than John Warth had planned. He had told me how he teaches it, why he enjoys it, that he builds chess boards and reads chess books.

More than one such volume is strictly about the game’s opening move, by the way.

Warth wanted especially to tout the bookplates he makes. He felt he must point out the features of his exquisite library, which has more than 4,000 books. Warth volunteered how he’s helped children learn German, his fascination with photography, woodworking and drawing. He also mentioned that he reads The New York Times every day — one of three newspapers to which he subscribes — but clips articles to re-read.

Warth, 52, of New Albany, says a lot because he does a lot. He’s full of curiosity and adventure. “The whole idea is to be active, to pay attention,” he said.

“There’s so much to life. Life is so rich.”

If Warth stands out, shame on us, not him. Warth challenges himself and appreciates all he can about all there is. “He’s a good-hearted person who is a lifelong learner,” said Joe Sauer, friend and former chess student.

Joined by Sauer, Warth and I visited in that library, which he built a few years ago in memory of his parents, Frank and Henrietta Warth. It was Warth’s only off-day of the week from Schmitt Furniture. His wife Peggy was at work and their only child, Kevin, was at school. Jazz playing quietly, Warth asked if I’d like some Nicaraguan cappuccino and if I was in a hurry. I said yes, and no.

The library replaced a porch at the rear of a house that was built around 1900. The stained glass, the chandeliers, the high ceiling, the 123 shelves double-stacked, there cannot be any place like it anywhere around here. Warth had insisted it be dignified. Mission accomplished.

“This room is totally a sanctuary,” Warth said. It is a man cave, all right, Warth-style, home for his chess lessons along with books, books and more books, mostly nonfiction, many bought used, only chapters of which he’s typically finished.

“I read literally dozens of books at the same time,” he said. “That’s the way I’ve always read.”

The stealth announcement to the markets that the British and Russian Energy giants, BP and Rosneft, are officially getting into bed together by way of a share swap has much more to do with tectonic shifts in geopolitics than with oil. This is a game of political chess. While analysts and investors will pour over the numbers trying to decide if the stocks are a buy, sell or hold, or if their fund is overweight or underweight, for BP and/or Rosneft, the political ramifications of this deal are enormous. This deal has been blessed by both the Russian and British governments, and riled by U.S. lawmakers.

Sam Barden

The special relationship between the United States and Britain is special no more. After the $20 billion plus shakedown of BP by the U.S. administration last year over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP and the British government were left in no uncertain terms as to where they stood when it came to dealing with the Americans. BP was left staring into the abyss, with the real possibility of the company going under or being bought out. It should be remembered that BP is one of the most financial of all the oil companies, which means it acts as a kind of bank to the oil industry. BP partners receive favorable credit terms for doing business with the oil giant and, in some cases, BP actually loans them the money itself. Therefore, the heightened pressure on BP’s share price put a strain on the company’s credit rating and if BP had failed last year, it would have caused a mini financial crisis in the oil industry, as the knock on effects of a BP failure would have been significant.

U.S. oil giant Exon Mobil was interested in helping solve the situation by buying BP. This of course did not happen. It should also be remembered that Exon also thought it was going to buy a majority stake in Yukos Sibneft from Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Some believe Khodorkovsky was jailed because he agreed to sell a majority of the merged Yukos Sibneft to Exon, without informing the Kremlin. The irony of course is that most of Yukos’s assets went to Rosneft, and now BP and Rosneft are partners.

The Rosneft-BP deal is a geopolitical paradigm shift. It is not necessarily about what BP and Rosneft can do together inside Russia, but what they can do together outside Russia. The BP-Rosneft partnership is about political and economic interdependence, and taking this new paradigm to regions that need it, like the Middle East and Africa. Russian oil companies are eager to spread their wings and integrate into the global oil market, especially Iraq, Iran (for gas), and of course North Africa. The BP-Rosneft deal marks the beginning of a multilateral trade ethos, rather than a unilateral one. Remember, China will like this deal, as a good portion of Rosneft production goes to China. Rosneft will gain access to BP’s technology, which it needs, and BP and the British will benefit from Russia’s political good will in the Middle East and Africa, especially Iran. As Russia is now the world’s biggest oil producer, and has the world’s largest reserves of gas, followed by Iran and Qatar, the Middle East and oil producing nations will integrate and co-operate more with Russia going forward, not less.

As a measure of how politically important and strategic this share swap deal is, BP has decided that the rewards far outweigh the risks. Those risks are not insubstantial. The most obvious is Yukos. Rosneft acquired most of Yukos’s assets, and there remains a risk that Yukos will pursue Rosneft in the future. Secondly, BP North America provides large quantities of hydrocarbons to the United States, and most notably to the U.S. military, and already some U.S. lawmakers are trying to play the old “cold war” card, calling BP “Bolshevik Petroleum” and invoking “national security” ideals against it. There is potential for BP to run into trouble with U.S. agencies and law makers. But, in case they missed it, they should remember that the cold war is over.

The United States will clearly have its nose out of joint over the BP-Rosneft share swap, not least because it is not involved. That is not to say, however, that they cannot get involved in the future. The likelihood that we see more partnerships of this nature in the energy sector is high, and the United States is not going to want to miss out again. The game has changed, and it seems to be much more about mutual interests than mutual exclusions. It seems that, despite all the risks of a BP-Rosneft deal, the benefits of political and economic interdependence will in the long run certainly pay dividends for producers and consumers alike.

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Global Markets are anything but integrated. What if we had a paradigm shift in the way we think, the way we actually do business with each other, between nations. Balanced global trade can only occur if we have transparent, accessible, efficient markets, with standardized contracts and on a standardized platform of global exchange. We are on the cusp of achieving this, although most people cannot see it. Sam’s Exchange aims to give its readers a clearer view and a platform for discussion. Markets, trade and economics are in fact nothing more than the result of our thoughts and actions expressed in numbers, not the reverse.

Sam Barden is CEO of SBI Markets General Trading LLC, a Dubai-registered trading and advisory company. Barden, 39, has worked in the global financial markets for more than 17 years in Europe, Russia and the Middle East. He has advised and executed strategic transactions for both the government and private sector, in particular in energy and commodity markets, advising various energy producing nations on their strategic market developments and interaction. He holds a degree in economics and finance from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.