Sportsattitude

The New Orleans Hornets shot out to an 8-0 lead early in last night’s Round 2 opener at home against the San Antonio Spurs.  The temptation among most would be to say they opened “on fire.”

Well…fire played a role in their eventual 101-82 triumph but it certainly wasn’t expected to be REAL fire…

At the end of the first period, which actually found the Spurs up 27-23 courtesy of six three-pointers…mascot Hugo The Hornet decided to trot out a dunk-through-a-ring-of-fire trampoline act. 

He made the dunk just fine…it was the putting-the-fire out part that is equally critical when attempting such a stunt.

The CO2 bottle his handlers were provided with was emptied to no avail, and some of the arena workers decided they had an emergency on their hands and promptly emptied a few ”normal” fire extinguishers that, while doing their job quite nicely, covered the N.O. Arena court with residue that took almost twenty minutes to clean up. 

After the lengthy delay, both teams were allowed to warm-up once more (which the older Spurs surely welcomed)…and while the Spurs eventually managed to slide their way through the second quarter to hold a four-point halftime lead, you knew they were on slippery ground not just from what was still on the court beneath their feet but what was “beneath” their 49 first-half points.

Finishing the half at 9 of 17 from outside the arc, with of all people Bruce Bowen (6.0 ppg regular season average) leading the charge with his new-found outside accuracy…while being outrebounded by a wide margin…you knew the Hornets had to feel good about their chances coming out of the locker room.   The law of averages was with them.

In the second half, the Hornets indeed came out fast and furious and eventualy wiped the floor with the Spurs, who seemed content to continue to toss up ill-advised shots from three-point range as if they felt their new-found scoring abilities would remain intact.  San Antonio finished the third quarter shooting 4-of-15 and down 8.

The Spurs looked all their age and more in the latter part of the game…Tim Duncan wound up with just five points on 1-9 shooting. 

A lot was mentioned before this series about who the Hornets would have to be able to match up with Mano Ginobili.  After last night, a new question - who do the Spurs have to guard David West?  West went off for 30 points, nicely helping out Chris Paul on his “off night” of 17 points, 13 assists and 4 steals.

After the third quarter, Hornets HC Byron Scott mentioned to TNT he told his team at halftime they looked like the “older team.”  Clearly, New Orleans bought into his reality check they are younger and if they stay aggressive and hungry…they can wear the Spurs down…as they did last evening.

It is Jazz & Heritage Week in New Orleans, and for at least this night the Spurs looked more like the “Heritage” part than the “Jazz.”  Their second-half performance hit all the wrong notes and they looked like a team who was stuck in slow-motion, flailing against younger, more energetic opposition. 

Game 2 is right around the corner Monday night…the Hornets’ sting will not have much time to heal.