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New Orleans Hornets vs San Antonio Spurs
NEW ORLEANS (AP) Jannero Pargo spun through the air on a one-handed dunk attempt, stuffed himself on the front rim and fell backward onto the court while his New Orleans Hornets teammates buckled over in laughter. Tyson Chandler, showing no lingering effects from a foot injury last Tuesday, quickly grabbed a ball and mocked the whole sequence - fall included. If the young Hornets are nervous about Monday night's Game 7 against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, it didn't show after practice on Sunday. Chandler joked that having three days off after Thursday's Game 6 loss helped his conditioning because he was able to spend more time with his 2-year-old daughter. No Hornets team has advanced to a conference finals in the 20-year history of the franchise. However, this squad, led by first-year All-Stars Chris Paul and David West, already has led the organization to new heights, including a franchise-record 56 victories in the regular season.
That mark earned the Hornets the second seed in the Western Conference and what seems to be an all-important home advantage in this second-round series. The home team has won every game by double digits. The Hornets have yet to lose in six home playoff games during the first two rounds of the playoffs. "We knew it was going to be a long series, the type of team we're dealing with,'' said West, whose sore back didn't stop him from scrimmaging on Sunday and apparently won't keep him out of the lineup on Monday night. "The reason we fought out games throughout the regular season was to be able to have a Game 7 on your home floor. We've been able to do that, so we've got to take advantage of the opportunity we have.'' This is also the first time the Hornets have faced elimination in these playoffs, something the Spurs overcame in Game 6 in San Antonio, when the Spurs blew out the Hornets, led by Manu Ginobili's 25 points. Although the Spurs have won four NBA titles in the previous nine seasons, they've never won two back-to-back. They've also never fought back from a 2-0 playoff series deficit, which they had early on in this series. The Spurs were beaten soundly in their previous three games in New Orleans, but in none of those games was their season on the brink as it is now. Whether added urgency makes San Antonio a better road team remains to be seen. AnalysisThese series never were defensive. Winner was find on offensive end mostly. Which team score more points that wins a game. In New Orlean Hornets looking like unstopable machine with 102.6 pts scored per season and 101.0 in series vs. Spurs playing at home. Spurs did not find good receipt against Orleans offense and they always were looking awful in 2 halves of the game. I can't predict if this will happen again but I think that today we can see both teams scoring over 90 points. Spurs needs to transfer their home court offense version into New Orleans and held it in 3rd quarter. They can't defend in New Orleans against C.Paul and his supporting staff because New Orleans have too much offensive options for this spurs roster. So my advice for Spurs would be to score points during whole 48 minutes. They already showed that they can score around 90 points by scoring 49 points in first half of Game 1, 43 in Game 2 and 47 in Game 5. But they always failed to score 40+ points in last 2 quarters. If they want to win this one they must take care about their offensive decisions. PredictionI see this game very close in first half (as it always happened in series when team played in New Orlean), but game will be decided in 3rd quarter. If Spurs again will fail to score points and will allow anotner 4-18 run (or smth like this) this game, series and championship will be over for them. But if they will stay close until 4th quarter their experience will help them to win a game. Can't predict who will win this game but I think that both teams will be able to score around 185-188 points. I will root for New Orleans today because I want to see something new & fresh in this league... But unfortunately Spurs are full of playoff-mentality and know how to handle emotions in Game 7. Prediction: New Orlean Hornets 98 - 92 Spurs Pick: Over 182.5 @ 1.91 PinnacleSports
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