The Basketball Diaries

San Antonio Spurs 91 New Orleans Hornets 82

My thought going into this series was that the Spurs playoff experience would be the deciding factor to help them move on. For the first six games of this series it had no relevance, but it finally showed up in game seven last night.

The Hornets looked very good at home all series, but not last night. Last night they looked like a team that was scared to lose, and the Spurs looked like a team that had been there a hundred times before. Manu Ginobili was huge for San Antonio, finishing with 26 points and hitting big three-pointers to keep the Spurs out in front.

Of course, the big key in this game was going to be the third quarter. In the first three games in New Orleans, the Spurs took a lead into halftime only to get blown out of the water in the third. Not last night. I kept waiting for the Hornets to pick up the tempo, but they never did, and the Spurs outscored them 20-14 in the quarter.

New Orleans gave it a valiant effort late, but I have no idea what the hell Byron Scott was thinking. You have Chris Paul on your team, one of the best players in the league, and a near MVP. You also have David West, who is an All-Star and has been huge this series.

So would someone explain to me why the hell Jannero Pargo had the ball in his hands so much late, and why he was taking so many shots? Does this make any sense? Apparently the pressure of a game seven didn't just get to the players, it melted Byron's brain.

The good news is, while I wouldn't have minded seeing Kobe and Chris Paul going at it, the two best teams in the West will be meeting in the conference finals. It's the same way in the East as well, so both Conference Finals should be very fun to watch.