Looking back, did you expect a game 7?

[spursfaninla]

I think most of us, taking the regular season as a barometer, thought this series was a BAD matchup for the spurs. That NO was very dangerous, perhaps the 2nd most dangerous to us outside LA in the west.

It has been a while since we faced a game 7...dallas and Detroit come to mind. Dallas was a bad matchup for us, and Detroit was just a very, very good team.

NO has definitely earned my respect. They are for real and are here to stay. They will only get better as their core ages together.

I must admit, I was guardedly hopeful about this series, and my realistic side told me it made sense if we lost this round; although we have the same record, we are "the underdog" technically speaking, and NO rolled us over the last 2 games of the regular series.

Half full? Spurs won the last 3 of 4, and last 5 of 10.

Half empty? Spurs have yet to win in NO since before Jan, and each loss was by double digits.

I'm hopeful. We have a better chance than I realistically thought to begin things, looking back. The Spurs are already in a game 7 and they are not even in the WCF...damn...

[Shaolin-Style]

I thought in the beginning we'd really give them troubles and Duncan especially would dominate after having a tough defender like Shaq guarding him. I predicted a sweep just cause I had confidence in our team coming off a good rest and a tough, close series against the Suns.

New Orleans has actually lost my respect as players especially David West and Chris Paul but their talent can never be denied.

Now I'm really crossing my fingers on the game 7. I didn't expect Chris Paul to have his amazing numbers, and I didn't expect Peja to demand Bowen's playtime so he couldn't keep Paul in check. And I didn't expect David West's mid range jumper to be so consistent like it has been.

Really I was nervous about game 6, and I'm equally as if not more nervous about game 7 since its on the road. I'm still hoping the spurs come through and give me something to cheer for on into the summer for weeks to come.

[Budkin]

No way, I predicted Spurs in 5 or 6.

[SnakeBoy]

I hate to admit it but before the series started deep down I thought the Hornets would take it in 6. Never would have guessed that every game was going to be a blowout. I think Game 7 favors the spurs though.

[rascal]

No, I expected the team that won game 5 to close out the series in game 6.

[TDMVPDPOY]

no way this series shouldve even gone to 5 games...

i was expecting the spurs to sweep

[word]

I did predicted either here or on the EspNz board that home court was more important this year than any other, quite a while before the playoffs started but that was a no brainer. Spurs coughing up those later losses was tough to stomach.

The 3rd quarter collapses have been 'disconcerting' for quite a while, even in the regular season..which is definately 'anti-spurs' style. That used to be their quarter. Their inability to win on the road as they used to is also, definitely, not good and may do them in HOWEVER....lawler....lawler....

We.....Will....See...

Won't we ?

When was the last time you had a 'for sure' feeling about the Spurs going all the way ? Game 4 of the 2007 finals ? Yeah okay. LAWLER !!?! Way to stretch.

It is what it is. No amount of TMVP analysis or KorrEE 'don't bad rap the SpUrZ after a loss' midget minded tiney threads changes jack ing .
Never has, never will. Smack that ... Fun to talk about ..sure, sometimes. But it means . Watch all of the NBA..ESPN analers till you're blue in the face and it still..doesn't matter.

Put the ball in the hole boys. all else.

[SpursFanFirst]

6 or 7...Hornets was the only team I really worried about in the West.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

I wasn't excited about New Orleans so I'm not surprised it's gone down to a game seven.

I kinda enjoy this post-season, because it's a real test for the Spurs...this isn't that cupcake championship of last year.
These playoffs have been do or die.

It's only reassuring that we've been able to punch back equally in our home games. It's like sharks... or grizzly bears, you may not know it but "they're more afraid of us, more than we are of them"

Hopefully the Spurs have an epiphany in game 7 and break through their road game drought...and kill them, and eat them.

[Obstructed_View]

I didn't expect Timmy to play two games with a fever, so no I didn't expect the series to have gone this long. If the Spurs can win this game the only team I worry about is the Pistons.

[TampaDude]

Nope...didn't expect Game 7...but here we are...GO SPURS GO!!!

[Mister Sinister]

Eh, kinda.

[Emeyin]

I thought it was going to go 5 and 6 at the most. Just from what I saw in Game 3 of the Phoenix series, made me think this Spurs team had the killer instinct from .

[gospursgojas]

I, like the Spurs, way underestimated the Hornets.

[florige]

I thought 5 favoring us. Even after that game one debacle.

[Russ]

Spurs in 6, I thought. (Wrong.)

The Suns are a much tougher matchup than NO, I thought. (Wrong.)

NO has a clear advantage in Game 7 and it will be very tough for the Spurs to pull this off.

[TwoHandJam]

Health is so critical in the playoffs. I feel that had Tim not been ill in the first two games, we could have stolen one on the road and changed the face of the series. Ginobili's injury is also huge. His inability to drive to the basket negates a huge mismatch we would have had in our favor. If either one of those two was playing at 100% for the first two road games, I think we would have closed out the series in 6.

You play the cards you are dealt however. The Spurs have valiantly forced a game 7 and now the Hornets are struggling with injuries themselves. This upcoming game will be huge and will no doubt show us exactly what both teams are made of.

[SAGambler]

I thought NO might fold up under pressure in round 2 playing the Champs. But then after watching them dismantle the Spurs the first 2 games, I began to worry that the Spurs left too much on the court in the Suns series. I thought they were in deep trouble.

Then after we took them apart in games 3 and 4, I thought the Spurs would put them away in 6. I thought the pressure would be too much for them.

This has been a strange series, with apparently evenly matched teams, dismantling each other on their respective home courts.

But now, I still have hopes that the Spurs experience will come through in a pressure packed game 7.

If Manu and Ime can continue to drop 3s Monday, Hornets are in trouble. If by chance West hasn't healed, and he for sure won't be 100%, Hornets are in trouble. If we will just play a 3rd quarter like last night, Hornets are in trouble.

[JWest596]

No way, I predicted Spurs in 5 or 6.

Ditto No more than 6.

[mVp]

I predicted Spurs in 7 before the series started

[ducks]

thought it would go 6 games

[spursfaninla]

This is really interesting. Lots of Spurs fans thinking that momentum or flipping the switch was going to do it.

I think CP3 is the best player on the court for both teams today. Dude is a monster.

Word, you are borderline incoherent and your hate for the forum owners is stupid. Please either enter rehab or think before you type so that a semblance of a thought is present. I feel like I"m listening to ramblings of a homeless psychotic.

[hater]

I had spurs in 6 or 7

[tmtcsc]

After game 1, I thought we were done in 5. I hated the match up with New Orleans and DID NOT underestimate them. They got my attention when they blew us out at home in the regular season. I was able to watch them on the League Pass all year and knew they were for real. If we didn't have a healthy Manu driving to the rim, I thought we were going to be home fast. So, I'll take a game 7 all day long.

The weird thing is, after we lost game 2 I did the unthinkable a rewatched both games on the DVR. What I saw gave me hope. We weren't really out-matched, we just played bad. We made careless mistakes, took bad shots, turned the ball over, etc. We also didn't have Bruce on Peja. If not for the 3rd quarter collapses, we may have won. We have had the lead at half time in 5 out of 6 games. Our problems are usually from cold starts, not cold second halves. That's what was surprising the most.

I like our chances in 7 even though I'm going on faith alone. Since its apparent we won't attack the rim (mostly because we don't have the personnel to do that) we are going to have to rely on making our outside shots AND hopefully making our FT's. I think we are going to need a nice sized lead (9-10 pts) by the 4 minute mark of the 4th quarter to win.

[beachwood]

After game 2, i felt it was going 7. it's pretty much gone as i've expected so far. I knew we'd lose game 5 and win game 6. I also feel we're going to win game 7. NO is tough though. They're a great team, but their weakness is their role players. Their role players can be taken out of games turning them into a one dimensional team with CP trying to do everything. But their role players also step up big time at home, so we've got a mountain to climb.

The silver lining, though the blow outs have been mutual, is we've actually played better on their home court than they have at ours. Their home crowd definitely fires them up. More so than ours does for us. But historically we are a good road team and I like our chances in game 7. I really like our chances a lot.