Game 3 on Thursday night at the AT&TCenter in San Antonio was a must-win game for the Spurs and they beat the Hornets 110-99.
"Today was a Game 7," said the Spurs' Manu Ginobili, who teamed with Tony Parker to score 31 points each, "because no team in NBA history has come back from a 0-3 series deficit. We knew if we didn't win tonight, it was almost over."
Now, the Spurs have at least forced a Game 5, and ensured another game in the Arena. But the Hornets face another challenge before then, Game 4, in San Antonio.
Chris Paul was brilliant and played up to his All-NBA selection with 35 points and 13 rebounds.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich changed his defensive assignments and shut down the Hornets' three-point shooting. The coach gave his best defender. Bruce Bowen, the assignment of shutting down the Hornets; best three-point shooter, Peja Stojakovic. After spending the first two games guarding Paul, Bowen held Stojakovic to eight points on 2 of 7 shooting. His only three-pointer came on a transition switch after Parker had fallen down at the other end of the court.
Peja had scored 47 points in the first two games.
"Bowen was next to me all the time," said Stojakovic.
""With Peja you have to be aware where he is and understand his comfort zone," said Bowen. "He likes his space and he's got that good shot for three-pointers, so you take that away."
Stojakovic and starting forward Mo Peterson scored only 11 points between them against the Spurs' defense.
"Peja and Mo are great players and when they get looks that knock them down, we need to find ways to get them s little more involved in the game." said Paul. "I don't think there's any need to panic."
Despite the offensive show by Parker and Ginobili, Paul had the highlight of the night when he took contact from both Parker and Tim Duncan on a drive to the basket, spun in midair, and threw a blind shot over his head and in to the basket to get a foul and one.
"I want my MVP vote back," yelled one San Antonio pressboxer from courtside after that circus shot.
"Come playoff time, that's when your stars shine, no pun intended," grinned Popovich. "They've got to bring it."
Hornets fans will; recall that it was Ginobili who had carried the Spurs in their last victory over the Hornets, a 99-89 game in February in which he had 30 points and 12 assists. This was the same Ginobili who had been absent so far this series.
"The first two games, we'd get close, we'd miss big shots and they would make them," said Ginobili. "Today it was our turn."
This was the third straight game in this series the team leading at halftime ended up losing by double figures.
According to yahoo news: AVERY YOUNGEST PLAYER TO COMMIT TO CATS.......
by Jeff Drummond..... CatsPause.com........ Talk about it in Basketball Recruiting Board....... To hear Howard Avery describe it, Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie knew nothing of his son when their paths happened to cross at a recent AAU basketball event.......... Michael Avery, As fate would have it, though, that chance encounter led to a scholarship offer from the Wildcats and perhaps the earliest verbal commitment in the history of college basketball's winningest program……. Michael Avery, a 6-foot-4 eighth-grader from Lake Sherwood, Calif., says he will play for the Cats. Now on with the business of finding a high school…………… "That's the funny thing," Howard Avery said with laugh. "We've got our college. Now we need our high school."………………….. Now that is basketball news…… Sort of seems like they are going along the lines of training children in the Appalachians to become the next great white hope in the boxing ring…… Odd things happen when Strongconcrete types of approaches are made… So tell me more about the Hornets………… It is such an important topic, sort of like Piyush on the GOP V.P. ticket…………..
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on 5/9/2008
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Great way to spend a friday, reading Charlotte, er uh,,, New Orleans/Oklahoma City/New Orleans Hornets spam, I can see where that is of extreme importance to Louisiana...... Ehhhh, whenever I watch basketball, I have always liked the Lakers, or the Celtics, or the Bulls anyways............... Written by .....Hey, how about a Louisiana bowling team??
on 5/9/2008
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