NBA Playoffs Rundown

San Antonio 99 New Orleans 80: It's amazing how this series has played out so far. In Every game, the road team has lost by 10 points or more. In fact, except for Game 3 when New Orleans lost by 11 in San Antonio, the road team has lost by 18 points in every game. Knowing that it is hard to believe that the Spurs can win a Game 7 in New Orleans. The question is how can these teams lose so badly on the road but win so big at home? Does home court advantage make that big of a difference? Definitely strange how the series has played out.

The difference in this game was the 11 three-pointers that the Spurs were able to hit, while the Hornets only managed 2. Manu Ginobili led the way shooting an incredible 6 of 9 from downtown. Ginobili finished with a game high 25 points. Ime Udoka was perfect from three shooting 3 of 3 and 5 of 5 overall to score 13 points off the bench. Tim Duncan also had a strong game and finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds, and 6 assists.

For the Hornets, Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler were the only two players who played well on offense. Paul had 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists. Chandler shot 7 of 8 from the floor and finished with 14 points. Peja Stojakovic didn't play poorly but scored only 13 points on 5 of 10 shooting. However, the Spurs limited him to 1 three-point shoot, which he made but Stojakovic has really hurt the Spurs when he has been able to hit multiple three-pointers. In games where Stojakovic does not score as much, the Spurs seem to have more success.

The Spurs were also able to control David West in this game as he finished with only 10 points on 4 of 14 shooting. If West doesn't play well then the Hornets really have a hard time winning. In most games, he has been their main mismatch and has really hurt the Spurs. However, he has definitely played better at home than on the road.

In the fourth quarter, Robert Horry put a strong forearm into David West's back and he went went down to the floor aggravating a back injury that had already been bothering him. It is funny how Robert Horry has become the enforcer on the Spurs and this is the second straight season that he may have altered the course of the playoffs. Last year when he leveled Steve Nash with his shoulder, Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw ended up getting suspended for a game and the Spurs ended winning in 6.

Now if David West is bothered by his back injury and isn't effective in Game 7, I'm almost sure the Spurs will win the game and it will be in large part because Robert Horry decided to be an enforcer against David West. Personally, I think the Hornets should have leveled Horry the next chance they had and since they didn't then this stuff is going to continue to happen. If Horry was worried about getting leveled then he might not try stuff like this. This is assuming Horry intentionally gave David West a little extra hit on purpose.

Either way, Game 7 should be great to watch and I would expect the game to be closer than the rest of the games so far. It will be interesting to see how New Orleans starts off the game because they have never been in this situation before and they could be shaky at the beginning. The Spurs are so experienced and you have to figure they are going to come into this game very confident and focused.

I think Chris Paul needs to take charge of the game early to settle his team down. Get them some easy baskets and score whenever he can. If Paul is able to do that then I think New Orleans will win the game. If not then I think the Spurs advance to the Western Conference Finals.