The Spurs want to take the crowd out of Game 5 on Tuesday night when the semifinals series resumes at the Arena at 8:30 o'clock.
San Antonio won Games 3 and 4 on a wave of emotion and intensity that Hornets coach Byron Scott said his team couldn't match. The chances are the Bees will have that advantage on Tuesday night because they play very well at home with a vocal partisan crowd screaming them on.
The Spurs realize they must keep Chris Paul out of the paint, but he gets his points regardless. The Spurs will attack with Tony Parker, the Spurs' counterpart to Paul, and even when CP3 scores Parker will be on top of him. Note: Parker and his French actress wife are guests in Paul's condo near the river when San Antonio plays here.
After the Hornets took a 2-0 lead in the series, talk here shifted and fans on talk shows were already looking forward to the conference finals. Scott isn't sure is such speculation rubbed off on his tea, but he didn't exactly shoot down the theory.
"Our intensity was terrible,: said Scott after the Game 4 roasting. "I think from Game 1 to Game 4 it has gotten worse. The Spurs have just gotten better and that's the difference."
Above all, the Spurs are defending better than they were here, where the Hornets shot 49.1 per cent and averaged 101.5 points. The Spurs' work on defense in Game 4 might rank among the most dominant efforts of the postseason. They held the Hornets to a 40.2 shooting percentage and a playoff low of 80 points. Starters on both teams watch the final quarter from the bench.
"We're not a great offensive team," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, "but if we play good defense, that fuels everything we do."
As the series moves back to the Arena, the Spurs have turned the tables with a healthy Tim Duncan and a good defense in tow. The Spurs did a superb job on the boards in Game 4, out rebounding a very good Hornets team 45-36, Duncan had 15 by himself, or two fewer than the Hornets' starting five. When the Spurs can do this, they take away two of the Hornets preferred scoring methods: second-chance points and fast-break points.
"We're going to try and take one and put some real pressure on them," said Duncan.
If the Spurs do that, they'll have a good chance of slipping a toe tag on the Hornets.
West Semifinals:
G1 - at Hornets 101, Spurs 82
D2 - at Hornets 102, Spurs 84
G3 - at Spurs 110, Hornets 99
G4 - at Spurs 100, Hornets 80
G5 - at Hornets, 8:30, TNT
G6 - Thursday: at Spurs, TBA, ESPN
G7 - *Monday, May 19: at Hornets, TBA, TNT
* (if necessary)
I checked with the boys who make the lines on these games in Vegas and they look for a low-scoring game, and don't see either team cracking the century mark. They believe if the Spurs know if they let the Hornets break free, they will get blown out. They look for the Spurs to do everything they can to keep this game at a slower pace, thus giving the Spurs a chance to steal an outright win.
The Hornets are favored by 3.
LSU
Coach Les Miles' dismissal of Ryan Perrilloux did not surprise the LSU coaches or players and it really didn't disappoint them either. I fit into that category.
The coaches were waiting for a reason to cut the troubled quarterback loose. They didn't want it to happen, but they had reached the point where they knew no matter how hard they tried, Perrilloux was going to let them down.
Perrilloux had been dancing with wolves (tiptoeing around the law for a couple of years as well as barely maintaining academic eligibility as well). Using a fake ID to try and get into a casino, well, Perrilloux was not he first LSU student to try that. Tigers students have been doing that to get into bars since the age limit for drinking was raised to 21. What's a 20-year-old to do?
His involvement in a counterfeiting scheme was an involvement. There was the involvement in an off-campus nightclub. There were more that never made the news. The latest shoe to drop that came recently and LSU made listed no reason, but there is every indication that it allegedly came after Perrilloux flunked a test, and not one of the academic variety.
Whatever it was, Miles decided it was time for him to get rid of the quarterback with the million-dollar arm and the fast legs for good. Perrilloux's ten-cent head did him in.
It's too easy to say Miles stuck with the quarterback too long because he does have that arm and having him on the team was Miles' best chance for the Tigers to defend their national championship, one that LSU would not have won except for Perrilloux's performance in the SEC Championship Game last season.
Plenty of coaches have been faced with the same decision on a star player, and ultimately make their decision of what is best for the player, and what is best for the team. LSU would have been a better team with Perrilloux aboard, but the rest of the players might be better persons today for having seen one of their own pay a price for stepping over the line.
Bear Bryant, my favorite coach of all time, did it with Joe Namath and Kenny Stabler at Alabama. The difference there is that for Namath it was a first offense. Namath was suspended for two games of the 1963 season for violating the coach's no-alcohol policy. Stabler was booted from the team in 1967 for cutting class and partying. Both eventually got second chances.
The key to Bryant's success was that he understood that there was more to a player than a strong arm or fast legs. The building of character was essential to the building of a winning team. "My intention over the years was to help the players to be better persons everyday, to help themselves, to teach a lesson on and off the field," said Bryant.
Stabler, who quarterbacked Alabama to a perfect 11-0 season in 1966, recalled when Bryant suspended him during his junior year. "He made me realize what I was throwing away, and he gave me the opportunity to recapture it," said Stabler.
Miles gave Perrilloux the same opportunity.
Coaches will always have to face the choice of whether certain players' athletic ability makes them worth the trouble they create. Some players are so athletically gifted that coaches are willing to to bet that their behavior can be changed, all the way up to the professional level. See Randy Moss. See Darren McFadden. Others aren't. Perrilloux fit into the "worth a lot of trouble" category. But as good as Perrilloux was, he was ultimately more trouble than he was worth.
LSU has fewer disciplinary problems that most other SEC schools. See Alabama's NFL draft class of 2008 Two key contributors to Tennessee's SEC men's basketball championship wee canned last week. Florida has problems. Fans who think that misbehavior will never affect their team will find the wolf at their door sooner or later.
Perrilloux will get dozens of offers to finish out his career at a small college, where he won't lose an eligibility. Hopefully, he has learned a lesson, will change his ways., go somewhere and become a productive quarterback and teammate. He needs to go somewhere far away from Baton Rouge and the circle of friends he runs with at the present.
Hopefully, he'll have a new beginning. Otherwise a once bright future will forever go down in flames.
I hope Perrilloux changes. But I doubt if he will. He has already made too make bad business decisions off the field. Not playing out his career at LSU probably cost him millions in the draft.
Brees on the Seas
Off the typewriter...
Drew and Brittany Brees will hold their second annual Brees on the Seas on Sunday in Venice. The Saints quarterback and several of his teammates along with professional fishermen will host 30 children from Ochsner and Children's hospitals to a day of fishing. The children will be assigned to a boast consisting of two children, one Saint and one professional angler. After a day on the water, the group will taken to a nearby lodge for a fish fry. This outing is sponsored by Florida Marine Transporters, Limo Co., Dennis Pasentine Sr., Andy Mnichowski, Art for Wear, Coca-Cola, Home Team Productions, De and the Saints. For more information, contact Marisha LaHaye at (619) 954-9698...
Saints coach Sean Payton and his wife Beth have formed a charity organization, Payton's Play It Forward Foundation, with a goal of raising money and awareness for families and children in the New Orleans and Gulf Coast communities, Initially, money will be raised for three specific charities: Brad Pitt's Make It Right NOLA, Blaine Kern's First Responders Fund and Dr. Phil's Foundation for children in Louisiana. Payton's foundation's signature event, a Black & Gold Gala fundraiser that will be held in the Superdome on Oct. 10 will feature master of ceremonies Chris Berman, honorary chairs Jimmy Buffett and Irma Thomas along with a star-studded entertainment lineup. For further details or to get involved with the Paytons' foundation, go to www.paytonsplayitforwardfoundation.com or contact Karen Hegner at (214) 529-6681.
Payton liked what he saw of the team's first-round draft choice, defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, at the rookies mini-camp just concluded. "He's got a lot things we're looking for," said the coach."He's an explosive player. I think he's got a want-to. He's been a part of a winning program (USC). I like him. I like what I see."...Eliis is vital in the Saints' plans because they didn't have anybody who was close to an interior defensive presence last season, which hurt the ability of their defensive ends to have clear rushing lanes to the quarterback...I believe Tulane's Matt Forte could replace Cedric Benson as the Bears' running star this season. Benson has been as big a disappointment to the Bears as Rex Grossman...
Expect to hear a lot about Native Dancer this wek as the Preankness nears. He was a champion from the 1950s known for his speed and bad legs. Barbaro and Eight Belles were from his bloodline along with countless others...Comedian Mitch Fatel, working for the "Tonight Show" at the Kentucky Derby, explained to jockey Javier Castellano about the old TV show "Mr. Ed," saying they would put peanout butter in his moth and it make him look like he was talking -- and that's what they do to Paula Abdul, too."
The Spurs want to take the crowd out of Game 5 on Tuesday night when the semifinals series resumes at the Arena at 8:30 o'clock.
