|
FEELING DEFLATED: San Antonio stars Tim Duncan (left) and Manu Ginobili pondering over what went wrong, as New Orleans fans go wild with delight. -- PHOTO: AP
|
NEW ORLEANS - HORNETS coach Byron Scott showed off the three championship rings he won as a player during his pre-game speech.
The message? This is what the San Antonio Spurs have, and you want.
He certainly got through to All-Stars David West and Chris Paul.
West scored a career playoff-high 30 points to lead New Orleans to a 101-82 victory over San Antonio in Game 1 of their second-round play-off series on Saturday.
Paul added 17 points, 13 assists and four steals for New Orleans, who trailed by as many as 11 in the first half but stormed into the lead for good in the third quarter.
'It sort of gives you goose bumps,' Paul said about seeing Scott's rings, won in the 1980s with the Los Angeles Lakers. 'We understand right now we're on that same journey and we feel like we can get there.'
Game 2 is in New Orleans tonight.
One reason they were off to such a good start against San Antonio was the way they played defence on Spurs centre Tim Duncan.
Duncan had what he considered one of the worst games of his stellar career, going 1-of-9 from the field for just five points and only three rebounds.
'Things just didn't go my way,' said Duncan, who offered only a few terse comments in the locker room. 'They did a great job. I played badly, so credit to them.'
Tyson Chandler was Duncan's primary defender, but the Hornets also swarmed Duncan with double teams throughout the game, forcing San Antonio to look for points from outside.
The Spurs hit 12 three-pointers in the game, but also missed 19.
The Hornets dominated the inside, out-rebounding San Antonio 50-34 and outscoring them 46-26 in the paint. The Hornets also shot 50 per cent, while the Spurs finished at 40.8 per cent.
Chandler had 10 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots for New Orleans. Peja Stojakovic added 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, while reserve Bonzi Wells contributed 10 points.
Tony Parker led the Spurs with 23 points and Manu Ginobili had 19.
Bruce Bowen added 17 points and Michael Finley 13, but San Antonio needed more help inside from Duncan and Kurt Thomas, who had only two points and two rebounds.
'They took away our inside game. Timmy had a rough night,' Parker said.
'We need to do a better job to get him the ball and try to get him some shots, basically. Tonight, New Orleans did a good job to take that away from us. That's not Timmy.'
After trailing most of the first half, the Hornets surged into the lead for good with a 13-0 run in the third quarter that opened with Chandler's lay-up and ended with Stojakovic's second three-pointer of the game, giving New Orleans a 61-54 lead.
West scored four points during the run and 11 in the quarter, often hitting midrange jumpers, sometimes while fading away from a defender in his face.
'David West is the one that really, really hurt us tonight,' Parker said.
'He made outside shots, and once he made his outside shots, he was having the drive, so we can't all focus on Chris Paul.'
The Hornets led 74-66 heading into the fourth quarter.
Jacque Vaughn's driving lay-up got the Spurs as close as 71-76 early in the period, but the Hornets, despite being in the play-offs for the first time in four years, were not rattled.
They pushed the lead back up to double digits before turning it into a blowout during the last five minutes, with Paul scoring seemingly at will.
'We've been in that position where everyone is kind of waiting for the wheels to fall off of this thing, feeling like we are over-achieving,' West said.
'But we're a hungry group of guys, we're going to go out and compete.'
Also on Saturday, the Detroit Pistons pulled away from the Orlando Magic in the third quarter and rolled to a 91-72 win in the opening game of their Eastern Conference second-round series.
Chauncey Billups scored 19 points and Richard Hamilton had 17 to spark Detroit.
Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu each scored 18 points for Orlando.
Dwight Howard finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Game 2 is in Detroit today.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
|
