NBA.com preview: Upstart Hornets Have Homecourt vs. Spurs

[CubanMustGo]

The Hornets are coming off their first win in a seven-game series in franchise history while the Spurs are in the Western Conference Semifinals for the eighth straight season.

New Orleans is in the playoffs for the first time since 2004 while San Antonio is the defending NBA champion and has made the postseason for 11 straight seasons.

At first glance at the series, one might think the Spurs are heavily favored to make quick work of an inexperienced Hornets team -- much the same way they disposed of the Suns – and continue their quest towards their fifth title in 10 years.

That’d be a decent assessment, well, only if one failed to notice the diminutive Chris Paul when peeping the matchup.

Paul was downright dominant in a 4-1 series win over the Mavericks, boosting his regular season numbers of 21.1 points, 11.6 assists and 4.0 rebounds to averages of 24.6, 12.0 and 5.6.

Add in the fact that it’s the upstart Hornets who have home-court advantage in the series by virtue of edging out the old sages in San Antonio for the Southwest Division title, the first for the Hornets franchise, during the regular season (both teams finished 56-26, but New Orleans owned the tiebreaker) and the perceived gap between the two teams starts to shrink.

There will be plenty of questions to answer …

After the two-headed monster of Shaquille O'Neal and Amare Stoudemire couldn’t do anything to slow down Tim Duncan (24.8 points, 13.8 rebounds in the First Round), what chance does Tyson Chandler (11.2 rebounds, 1.4 blocks vs. Dallas) have of taking on TD by himself?

Chris Paul ran rampant against an aging Jason Kidd, but what happens when the equally speedy Tony Parker is chasing him around?

Who is the more underappreciated cog, Manu Ginobili (18.2 points against the Suns) or David West (22.6 points against the Mavs)?

By beating Dallas and Phoenix, both the Hornets and the Spurs have already knocked off a title contender this postseason. Now we’ll see who can knock off another one.

-- Dave McMenamin

[Supreme_Being]

Now we’ll see who can knock off another one.

That remains to be seen.

[Cry Havoc]

I just feel really confident against this team. Bowen and Parker are two fantastic guards and they can contain just about any type of player when they are playing well. We are a SHUT DOWN team on defending the three, as Phoenix found out, and the only player they have that's going to give us major headaches is West.

Meanwhile, NO has NO (hehe) answer for Duncan, no answer for Parker (Paul is not nearly the defender that Tony is), and no answer for Manu if he's on.

I like the Spurs in 6. Not that I think NO is a bad team, far from it, I just feel we'll give them difficulties that they cannot compensate for. There is absolutely no trace left of the regular season Spurs. This is a squad that plays for 48 minutes and will absolutely destroy you with any mistakes being made. I expect Chris Paul to be brilliant in a couple of games but frustrated with a level of defense that he has never witnessed before in his life in the others. And what are they going to do when Parker rolls off a Duncan screen and suddenly Peja or Bonzi has to step over to cover him?

Nothing. We have adequate if not optimal answers for their offense. They have little to none for ours. Is Tyson Chandler REALLY going to stop Parker from scoring in the paint?

[raspsa]

I think Paul will be very difficult to shuy down. I think the Sours should target Chandler and try and get him in foul trouble. His defense and rebounding are key to NO. Tag team West with Fab, Horry and Thomas. He's primarily a jumpshooter, just body up to him. When he drives to the rim, TD will be there to help. Bowen on Peja, Parker on Paul. Looking forward to a great series.