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In the first half, Paul defers to his teammates to get them in rhythm and keep them involved. Then in the third quarter, he comes out in attack mode. When defenses collapse on him, his teammates are involved, in rhythm, and ready to capitalize.
Throughout the playoffs the Hornets have dominated the 3rd quarter at home and some on the road.
It has been no different in this series. The Hornets are outscoring the Spurs by about 15 points in the 3rd in the 3 games in NOLA and by about 20 in the
2nd half.
I'm not sure how they continue to do that against experienced teams in the playoffs. Either Byron Scott is a half-time Genius or One of a Motivational speaker?
But for the Spurs to have any chance at all, if the series goes back to NOLA, they will have to find a way to stay even with the Hornets in the 3rd,
In the first half, Paul defers to his teammates to get them in rhythm and keep them involved. Then in the third quarter, he comes out in attack mode. When defenses collapse on him, his teammates are involved, in rhythm, and ready to capitalize.
Very true, and the Hornets have been a second half team all season, not just in the playoffs. See the Mavericks, and Celtics wins, and the Lakers loss since the all-star break. Those were some of the most glaring.
i just dont see how all these games have been blowouts. if there is a blow out in game 6 i would be completely shocked. and if game 7 is a close game. i think it would be all worth it.
There was a time the Spurs were the 3rd quarter team.
I don't know what the happens in the spurs locker room at half time.. Are they trying to catch a nap or what!! I kinda think their bodies start to wind down and come out cold and stiff. What else could it be? I just hope if there is a game 7 the spurs will play all out for a full 48 minutes on both sides of the ball, then we will have a good chance to pull it out. It's really about time the Spurs start making the hornets panic in the second half. If they can only install a little bit of self-doubt onto that young team.
Pop needs to have a Q&A session and ask the players what is going on with them during the 3rd quarter, are they tired, sore, unfocused, stiff? Why is there intensity level low and why do they cripple at some pressure defense? Basically he needs to ask during film review:
WTF is up with the 3rd quarter and you guys?
I wich pop would have called more timeouts.. of course i wish we wouldn't let the hornets outscore us 100 to nothing in the 3rd qtrs either..
If the Spurs don't play with all out effort, they get waxed. Plain and simple.
Especially against a young and hungry team at home, the Spurs have no margin for error.
Voodoo... the only answer.
My bet is that they already did this back in game 2. They shrugged their shoulders and Pop just said "let's just move the ball, find the open guy, yada yada"... They need a new strategy to start the 3rd, maybe TP needs to be a one man fast break whenever possible and then grind it out the rest of the time. We can't continue to play into their hands and expect to come out ahead. When NO gets all those rebounds the Spurs run back playing transition D, which they should, however this gives CP time to walk up the ball and do his thing which is usually finding open guys ready to knock down their shot. We let Nash do this but we made it tougher for him and made them take bad shots. CP is much more aggressive than Nash and so are their wing players in the second half. Got to give credit to coach Scott in taking off the leash on offense. Spurs need to play a little better D and stop making stupid fouls. It looks like it frustrates the out of them when they get called for ticky tack fouls... STOP DOING IT!!! Just play good D and try to force Paul to his left and let them make mistakes.. Thats Spurs ball right there!!!!!!!!!!!!
Third quarter blues have been as much a characteristic of Pop-coached teams as great defense and lots of wins. I remember once in the Alamodome asking Pop at some " Ticket holders get to ask the coach questions" thing what is was that the Spurs did during the halftime. I didn't want to make him defensive and say "you all suck in the third quarter, what's happening?", so I just asked the generic question. Pop answered with his characteristic sarcasm saying "oh, you know, we go out for a beer, that kind of thing". Then he seemed to realize that I wasn't a press person and said "No, really...we just let them talk among themselves, get some rest, that sort of thing.." I did not pursue it, although I wanted to respond with equal sarcasm and say, "Pop, I know it LOOKS like you all go out for beers at the half, but I'm assuming you don't". Now I've just learned that half-times are not Pop's strength. In fact, they are his weakness. The problem is that if you point out any weakness of Pop's you are considered a traitor and ignorant of his strengths. So I've just stopped buying tickets.
If these guys don't solve the (French) 3rd quarter blues in Game 6, there will be NO Game 7.
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