NO Hornets at SA Spurs (May 15, 2008)
2008-05-15 06:55:00
PA SPORTSTICKER NBA PLAYOFF PREVIEW
(NEW ORLEANS-SAN ANTONIO)
*Spurs face elimination by Hornets in Game Six*
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New Orleans at San Antonio 9:00 pm EDT
Western Conference semifinals Hornets lead, 3-2
SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) - The defending champion San Antonio Spurs
have their backs against the wall.
The Spurs will try to avoid elimination from the playoffs when
they face the New Orleans Hornets in Game Six of the Western
Conference semifinals on Thursday.
Once again San Antonio came up on the short end of the stick on
the road, dropping a 101-78 decision to the Hornets to create a
three-games-to-two hole in this best-of-seven series.
"The New Orleans defense was great," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich
said. "They played fantastic, especially in the third quarter
and that's when they got away from us and that was the end of
the game."
"We know their backs are against the wall and they're going to
come at us with everything they got," Hornets coach Byron Scott
said.
Scott has his team just one step away from making its first
trip to the conference finals. The franchise never appeared
in the Eastern Conference finals when they were located in
Charlotte.
"We've proved all season long we're one of the better teams in
the NBA," Scott said. "We had every reason after Games Three and
Four to fold, but again, being with these guys, they've showed
this type of resilience all season, so I'm not surprised."
But if the postseason holds true to form, the Spurs could be
heading back to the "Big Easy" for a pivotal Game Seven as the
home team owns a 16-1 record in all four NBA's conference
semifinals.
David West had his way in the paint, scoring a playoff
career-high 38 points, compared to just 10 from Tim Duncan, who
has been held in check most of this series by Tyson Chandler.
"They did a great job of crowding the paint and also getting
back to our shooters," Duncan said. "They were very physical on
the post. I didn't shoot the ball very well and those
opportunities kind of turned into them running it back at us."
Hornets guard Chris Paul netted 16 of his 22 points after the
break to continued his outstanding postseason performance.
The Spurs are looking to capture back-to-back NBA titles for the
first time. They have failed to make it to the conference
finals in each of their last three championship defenses
following the 1999, 2003 and 2005 seasons.
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