Spurs Force Game Seven with Win over Hornets

By Rohan of At The Hive
05.16.2008 - Updated on 05.16.2008

[Note: Crossposted from the SB Nation Blog At the Hive]

Obviously not the way I drew up Game 6. Gregg Popovich finally went to the Duncan on West switch, and boy did it pay off for them. If anyone wants to question Timothy’s countless All-Defensive Team credentials, they should be directed to footage of this game, specifically his footwork. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a 7 footer (let alone that he is a 32 year old in his 11th season) move laterally better than that in my life. I mean, Kevin Garnett could be taking lessons from this guy, that’s how good he was. But enough with the hyperbole.

Matthew of Pounding the Rock made a great point pre-game- putting TD on DX might fire up West emotionally, a bad thing for us. And that’s exactly what happened. DX lost his head after that quick succession of foul calls (I’ll do a post about the foul calls later). Duncan’s defense got into his head. But I’d like to point out the awesomeness of CP3 at this juncture. What other 23 year old could grab the attention of every player on his team, calmly explain the situation to them, and then rally his guys back? If we could’ve just made some open shots, this game was there for the taking. We have Chris Paul’s composure to thank for that.

And then there was the Robert Horry play: I believe it was totally 100% intentional. I believe it was a malicious play. I don’t care that Mark Jackson called it a "playoff foul." Answer me this- what reason did Horry have to push West in the back as he was backpedalling? One, West was totally out of position, stumbling backwards. Two, Horry had the inside offensive possession to the hoop. Three, there was no way he was setting a screen, because the guard had already gotten past his defender and Horry and West were a good distance from the play. Spurs fans have been calling the Hornets "classless." Tell your "7 time NBA Champion" to exhibit some class before ever speaking on the subject again. Horry knew about West’s severe back pain. He knew West was totally out of the play defensively. After this game, I know that Robert Horry is a classless individual.

But back to the game itself- homecourt advantage continued to take its toll on the visiting team. This contest was far, far closer than the final score will say. We consistently got wide open looks in the third only to lay brick after brick. Meanwhile, they got good looks too, and they drilled ’em. Story of the night, story of the night

[Note: Crossposted from the SB Nation Blog At the Hive]

[top image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67225156@N00/]

5 Comments: Spurs Force Game Seven with Win over Hornets

Posted by
michael espinoza
on 05.17.2008

what a bunch of fricken morons! why isn’t anybody upset over tyson chandler doing the exact same thing to tony parker...wait...chandler actually made contact with parkers lower back...horry never touched wests back and west was bent backwards when he jumped up for the ball, horry had his forehead on wests shoulder, west was faking it trying to milk the refs for game seven, if his back was that messed up why wasn’t he messed up when he was making all those illegal moving picks and banging the boards for rebounds? what a bunch of idiots! you ladies are just as bad as kleenex suns fans! poor poor ladies! .

Posted by
Dingdong
on 05.17.2008

Good article, although i gotta say the Hornets did themselves in by not scoring baskets. The Horry play is jus downright malicious. If the Spurs win this championship again, let it be a stain on the championship, just like all the others that they won. The Spurs dun deserve any respect....Down with the Spurs. if the Spurs do reach the Conference finals, hope the Lakers take them down. .

Posted by
Mark Cuban
on 05.16.2008

whoever wrote this article is a tool. how could robert push west when both of his hands were at his waist? your biased opinions are ridiculous. the spurs are gonna wipe out the hornets in this next game and then i wont have to read half assed articles like this anymore .

Posted by
Brooklyn Tony
on 05.16.2008

it was a pick, chill out. It’s not like Horry went after him, West ran into him and he pushed him down. Relax, son, .

Posted by
eastsider
on 05.16.2008

You are a disgrace to the publishing field Rohan. They should not allow biased writers like you to write period. You talk about the the Spurs being classless, well I guess that makes both teams classless right? Look, Horry is a savvy player just like Byron Scott is a savvy coach. It was obvious that after Tony Parker was torching the Hornets that Scott wanted to slow him down by ordering hard fouls on him and it worked to an extent. So my point is that this is playoff basketball but I guess you are not accustomed to watching playoff basketball in New Orleans. Watch and learn and keep your regular 8 to 5 job because you are not going far with this carrer. .

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