The only difference in this game was the Spurs. The Hornets took advantage of every opportunity they were given, they got as many offensive boards and second chance points as they are likely to get, they got as many calls as they are likely to get, Duncan still didn't play particularly well and Paul hit everything he threw at the basket. Those looking for a Spurs blowout are insane, as the Hornets haven't played a bad game yet in these playoffs, yet there was a 30 point turnaround. That's pretty huge. The Spurs have to play their best to beat New Orleans, but it's pretty clear that they can do it. The Hornets were a lot closer to playing their best basketball than the Spurs were, so I feel really good about the rest of this series.

Now if the Spurs come out like the Mavs did in game 4 and just expect to win, the result will be similar to games 1 and 2, and the Spurs will likely be watching the WCF on television. They also seemingly haven't played 48 minutes twice in a row this entire season, so there's a new challenge, but that's a bigger problem than the Hornets are right now.