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Good post. My personal opinion is that this will be a very closely contested series and will be long either way. Unfortunately for the spurs I think this was a devastating loss. It reminded me a lot of the suns-spurs series opener and I sincerely believe that if the suns had held on and won game 1 in SA, it would have gone 7. (Not to change the subject but I thought that was a much more compe ive series than 4-1) However, once they lost that game I knew they were in trouble long term. (whether or not they managed to take the spurs to seven which they of course did not) The reason I felt that way then and the reason I feel that way now is simply that it is always easiest for the lower seeded team to steal game 1 or 2 versus having to try and breakthrough on the road in game 5 or 7. Also, when there are two elite teams playing each other as is the case in this series (and really was the case in the spurs last 2 series for that matter), each team can usually be counted on to dominate one of their home games. (I personally could see this happening in game 2) Thus, this would only give the spurs two more chances to win in LA and winning either a game 5 or game 7 in LA will be extremely difficult. Especially since the spurs just did this to the hornets. (I mean think about it. How many teams can u think of in NBA history that have won back to back game 7s on the road? - I can't think of any) Finally, I have always thought that having more rest actually HURTS for a game 1 of a best of seven series but HELPS LONGTERM. It always sesms that the "well-rested" team comes out flat and the team that just played an emotional elimination game comes out firing on all cylinders because they are fully in sync. I always notice that the more rested team struggles on offense and usually shoots a below average percentage from the field. A perfect example of this was in game 1 of the Detroit - Boston series. I can't tell you how many people I heard giving Detroit a huge edge because of their rest. Look how that turned out. The fact that the spurs didn't take advangtage of this reality will really hurt them in my opinion. How many more times this series do you expect Kobe Bryant to play as listless of a first half as he played tongiht?
I guess I just think that anytime you have an opportunity to steal the homecourt early in a series and you blow it in the heartbreaking fashion that the spurs just blew their opportunity, it really hurts your chances long term. I personally think that game 2 is HUGE for the spurs. I think it would be incredibly hard for them to come back from 0-2 in back to back series without the homecourt. (Again, I can't think of ANY team that has done this back to back)
