duncan228
05-18-2008, 11:20 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA051908.7D.BKNhornets.spurs.sider.3604b7b.html
Hornets look to make history tonight
By Mike Finger
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Hornets pulled back the curtain and allowed the world to take a look Sunday, and it turned out they hadn't been hiding anything at all.
David West looked a tad sore but close to his usual vigorous self, just like they'd said he was. Chris Paul still looked like he could play a little. And the Hornets, who spent the morning before the biggest game of their lives laughing and cutting up like they were on their way to a frat party, still appeared blissfully oblivious to their place in history.
“This team is a bunch of characters,” center Tyson Chandler said. “It's been that way all year, and it's not going to change now.”
One day after closing their entire practice for the first time during the Western Conference semifinals, the Hornets invited the media inside New Orleans Arena to watch the last 20 minutes of Sunday's workout. That included a full-court scrimmage, half of which featured West, who left Game 6 after re-injuring his lower back backing into a Robert Horry screen.
On Sunday, West wasn't exactly exerting himself running up and down the floor, and didn't get involved in much of the physical play under the basket. But he showed glimpses of his All-Star form, including a play in which he grabbed an offensive rebound, spun to the baseline and banked a nifty left-handed hook through the net.
“I'm right at 100 (percent),” West said. “These past couple days have been good. I got almost all of the soreness out of there.”
Like his Hornets teammates, West gracefully dodged questions about whether he thought Horry's screen was dirty — “Just a tough play,” was as specific as his words were on Sunday. And like his teammates, he seemed unfazed about the task of facing the Spurs and their decade of big-game experience in what figures to be the most important game in Hornets franchise history.
The Hornets have never advanced to the third round of the playoffs and have reached the seventh game of the second round only once before. In 2001, when they were still located in Charlotte, they lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Milwaukee.
“Experience plays a factor in it,” Chandler said, “but the better team is going to win.”
Said West: “Those are the steps of maturity we have to take.”
The Hornets said they don't feel like they need to make any major changes heading into Game 7 (“Our only adjustment is playing harder,” coach Byron Scott said), and they have reason to be self-assured. They've won all three home games this series by blowout margins, so wasting an opportunity to finish the Spurs off in Game 6 hasn't affected their swagger.
“Walking around the city, everybody's talking about how much they want to win and how nervous they are,” Paul said. “But I'm not nervous, to tell you the truth. I have the ultimate confidence.”
Still, the Hornets would be lying if they didn't admit they're curious to see how they'll react to being on the brightest stage of their careers.
“Everything we're experiencing now is new to us as a group,” Scott said. “This is the ultimate challenge for us.”
Hornets look to make history tonight
By Mike Finger
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Hornets pulled back the curtain and allowed the world to take a look Sunday, and it turned out they hadn't been hiding anything at all.
David West looked a tad sore but close to his usual vigorous self, just like they'd said he was. Chris Paul still looked like he could play a little. And the Hornets, who spent the morning before the biggest game of their lives laughing and cutting up like they were on their way to a frat party, still appeared blissfully oblivious to their place in history.
“This team is a bunch of characters,” center Tyson Chandler said. “It's been that way all year, and it's not going to change now.”
One day after closing their entire practice for the first time during the Western Conference semifinals, the Hornets invited the media inside New Orleans Arena to watch the last 20 minutes of Sunday's workout. That included a full-court scrimmage, half of which featured West, who left Game 6 after re-injuring his lower back backing into a Robert Horry screen.
On Sunday, West wasn't exactly exerting himself running up and down the floor, and didn't get involved in much of the physical play under the basket. But he showed glimpses of his All-Star form, including a play in which he grabbed an offensive rebound, spun to the baseline and banked a nifty left-handed hook through the net.
“I'm right at 100 (percent),” West said. “These past couple days have been good. I got almost all of the soreness out of there.”
Like his Hornets teammates, West gracefully dodged questions about whether he thought Horry's screen was dirty — “Just a tough play,” was as specific as his words were on Sunday. And like his teammates, he seemed unfazed about the task of facing the Spurs and their decade of big-game experience in what figures to be the most important game in Hornets franchise history.
The Hornets have never advanced to the third round of the playoffs and have reached the seventh game of the second round only once before. In 2001, when they were still located in Charlotte, they lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Milwaukee.
“Experience plays a factor in it,” Chandler said, “but the better team is going to win.”
Said West: “Those are the steps of maturity we have to take.”
The Hornets said they don't feel like they need to make any major changes heading into Game 7 (“Our only adjustment is playing harder,” coach Byron Scott said), and they have reason to be self-assured. They've won all three home games this series by blowout margins, so wasting an opportunity to finish the Spurs off in Game 6 hasn't affected their swagger.
“Walking around the city, everybody's talking about how much they want to win and how nervous they are,” Paul said. “But I'm not nervous, to tell you the truth. I have the ultimate confidence.”
Still, the Hornets would be lying if they didn't admit they're curious to see how they'll react to being on the brightest stage of their careers.
“Everything we're experiencing now is new to us as a group,” Scott said. “This is the ultimate challenge for us.”