The Basketball Diaries

New Orleans Hornets 101 San Antonio Spurs 79 (Hornets lead 3-2)

The third quarter has been huge in this series, and that didn't change last night. As had happened in games one and two in New Orleans, the Spurs led at halftime, but the Hornets came out and took over in the third quarter. The Hornets outscored the Spurs 28-11 as San Antonio couldn't make a bucket to save their lives.

David West kept the Hornets alive in the first half, scoring half of their points with 22, and finished the game with 38 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Decent, I guess. Chris Paul had 22 points and 14 assists, and came alive in the second half after his teammates that didn't have the name West written on the back of their jerseys started sinking shots.

Tim Duncan, on the other hand, didn't have things so easy. He was only able to manage 10 points on 5-of-18 shooting, though Tony Parker did have 20, and Manu Ginobili finished with 18. The Spurs will probably go home and win game six, probably, but I'm not too sure they're going to be able to come back and win in New Orleans if they do.

Detroit Pistons 91 Orlando Magic 86 (Pistons win 4-1)

So the Pistons will be playing in their sixth straight Eastern Conference Finals after disposing of the Magic last night. The Pistons were without Chauncey Billups again on Tuesday night, but they seem to be doing just fine without him.

Rip Hamilton led the way on offense, scoring 31 points, and hit the clinching free throws at the end of the game. Tayshaun Prince didn't struggled from the field on offense, but his huge block of Hedo Turkoglu in the closing seconds more than made up for all his bricks.

The best news of all for the Pistons is that they'll now get to rest up while Boston and Cleveland keep pounding each other (same can be said for teams out west as well). I don't care who wins that series, the way those two teams are playing I don't think either will beat Detroit.