There’s an amazing story brewing on the bayou. The New Orleans Hornets, a team ignored by both the national press and its own fan base — they’re 29th in attendance at a pathetic 12,221 a game — have inexplicably begun playing championship caliber basketball.

That fact was cemented on Saturday when they went on the road and beat the living bejeezus out of the reigning world champion Spurs, 102–78. The win gave the Hornets the best record in the Western Conference, not to mention their eighth straight win — seven of them coming by double digits and four by 24 points or more.

You might recognize the coach, Byron Scott — he’s easy to pick out because one of Jason Kidd’s kitchen knives is stuck in his back. The former Nets coach moved on to New Orleans and kept the team overachieving the past two years despite the hurricane, the temporary relocation to Oklahoma City, and a savage rash of injuries a year ago.

You might not recognize the others, but get to know them. Point guard Chris Paul is the Western Conference MVP right now, power forward David West might be the league’s most underrated forward, and center Tyson Chandler has provided a defensive anchor in the Marcus Camby mold.

The result is, potentially, one of the great surprise seasons in league annals. Nothing was expected from this team and nobody much cared about them. Yet here they are, on top of the power rankings. As we hit the midseason point, nobody is playing better.

1. NEW ORLEANS HORNETS (31–12) (LW:4): As if the Hornets need more good news, Chris “Birdman” Andersen applied for reinstatement after a two-year drug suspension. He’ll be Hornets’ property if they’re interested in keeping him.

2. BOSTON CELTICS (34–8) (1): The Celtics should tread very carefully with Kevin Garnett’s abdominal strain — this injury often keeps players out for far longer than initially expected, especially if they try to come back too soon.

3. PHOENIX SUNS (32–13) (3): They’ve only played 19 home games — tied for the fewest in the league — yet have the second-best record in the West. Only big concern now is Grant Hill’s back — the injury-prone forward had been playing some of his best ball before an appendectomy and the back issue set him back.

4. DETROIT PISTONS (31–13) (5): Detroit took care of business against Philly and Orlando after a rare three-game losing streak, which looks like nothing more than a midseason blip by a veteran team getting bored with the regular season grind.

5. DALLAS MAVERICKS (30–13) (6): Sunday’s win over Denver came at a price, as lightning quick guard Devin Harris went out with a bad-looking ankle injury. Here’s the local impact: Does this raise their incentive to trade for Jason Kidd?

6. UTAH JAZZ (26–18) (7): The Knicks will get a great test when they face Utah and the Lakers in back-to-back games later this week. The Jazz have won four straight and eight of nine, and six of those wins were by doubledigits. 7. LOS ANGELES LAKERS (27–15) (3): There’s no rodeo involved, but the Lakers start a ninegame road trip of their own later this week — the slate is littered with lightweights, which is good because their play has slipped with Andrew Bynum out.

8. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (24–19) (12): They’re playing their ball of the season, crushing Washington and outlasting the Lakers, but they have to be concerned about the ankle sprain suffered by mop-topped center Anderson Varejao.

9. TORONTO RAPTORS (24–19) (15): The Raps put on one of the best shooting displays I’ve ever seen in their 114–113 win at Boston, including making all 19 free throws and shooting 15-of-21 on 3-pointers.

10. SAN ANTONIO SPURS (28–14) (9): As if they needed reminding that their play isn’t championship caliber right now, the getaway game for their nine-game “Rodeo Road Trip” was a 24-point pasting by the Hornets.

11. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (26–18) (8): The overlooked impact of long road trips is that teams often lay an egg in the first game or two back home. That happened to Portland, losing to Houston after returning from a seven-game trip and sleepwalking for much of the Atlanta game on Sunday.

12. ORLANDO MAGIC (28–18) (14): I think we can officially pronounce the Magic’s slump over after Hedo Turkoglu’s buzzer-beater against Boston capped a week that also included a win over Detroit and a 27-point rout of the Grizzlies.

13. HOUSTON ROCKETS (24–20) (13): Their win at Portland Friday could end up being huge — it gives Houston a 2–0 edge in the season series, which could become key in a tiebreaker for the final Western playoff spot.

14. DENVER NUGGETS (26–17) (11): The hits just keep on coming — now they lost Carmelo Anthony to an ankle sprain. The good news is that Nene should be back before end of regular season after having a cancerous testicle removed.

15. WASHINGTON WIZARDS (23–19) (10): They’ve hit a bit of a rough patch, losing by 36 to Cleveland and getting beat by Milwaukee. Eddie Jordan’s crew will get a nice playoff-caliber test with a back-to-back pair against Toronto starting tonight.

16. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (27–18) (16): Word on the street is that Chris Webber will bury the hatchet and rejoin Don Nelson by the Bay this week. It’s a great story, but I’m not sure it’s one with much impact … unless it somehow shakes the team’s recent lethargy.

17. SACRAMENTO KINGS (19–24) (19): You have to wonder about their oft-stated plans to offload Mike Bibby and Ron Artest given how good they’ve looked since they got all their players back. The Kings suddenly find themselves owners of the league’s deepest backcourt.

18. ATLANTA HAWKS (18–22) (17): They’re 1–6 in their past seven games … and have only solidified their hold on the no. 7 position in the East. Friendly conference. But the slump probably cost Josh Smith any shot at the All-Star team.

19. INDIANA PACERS (19–26) (18): You know the Super Bowl is just around the corner when the Pacers have been decimated by injuries to Jermaine O’Neal and Jamaal Tinsley. Maybe this year they’ll finally trade one of them.

20. CHICAGO BULLS (17–26) (21): The Bulls looked like they were just starting to get their act together, and then Luol Deng and Ben Gordon went on the shelf and the offense went kaput. If those two come back fairly soon, I still like their odds of grabbing the last playoff spot.

21. CHARLOTTE BOBCATS (17–27) (20): They’re still in the playoff race for now, but they play 21 of the next 29 on the road. Yikes. On the other hand, they could go 5–24 in that stretch and only lose a game or two to the other “contenders” for the East’s no. 8 spot.

22. NEW YORK KNICKS (14–29) (25): Not only are they 5–3 since Starbury left, but even the losses have been respectable, such as the two-point setback in Golden State on Sunday. Just think how good they’ll be when he leaves for good.

23. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS (17–28) (22): How pathetic is the East when a team like this can hang around the fringes of the playoff race? Philly openly plays for next season, using all their kids and trading Kyle Korver, but they’re only two games out.

24. MILWAUKEE BUCKS (18–27) (24): Their win-loss record doesn’t do justice to their badness; the 31-point rout by Toronto on Thursday does. Chinese import Yi Jianlian has hit the Great Rookie Wall — he’s only cleared 13 points once in the past month.

25. MINNESOTA TIMBER – WOLVES (8–35) (29): You gotta move them way up after an impressive week in which they beat the Suns, Warriors, and Nets, and were one play away from beating Boston on the road.

26. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (13–27) (26): Same old Clippers: Coach Mike Dunleavy and owner Donald Sterling went to war in the pages of the L.A. Times, while emasculated GM Elgin Baylor could only shrug his shoulders.

27. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (13–31) (27): They’ve reached a buyout deal with guard Damon Stoudamire; once he clears waivers look for Boston, Toronto, and Phoenix to lobby for his services as a backup point guard.

28. NEW JERSEY NETS (18–26) (23): From the 20-20 hindsight department: Maybe four years and $62 million to keep Vince “half-man, half-untradeable” Carter wasn’t such a smooth move after all.

29. MIAMI HEAT (9–33) (30): Saturday’s win over Pacers salvaged a six-game homestand in which the Heat had dropped the first five. Salvaging the season, on the other hand, is no longer a possibility — especially with Shaq out again.

30. SEATTLE SUPERSONICS (9–35) (28): If you’re trying to find silver linings in their 14-game losing streak, they had a decent past week, losing at the buzzer twice and dropping all four games by single digits.

jhollinger@nysun.com