14th
The Hornets beat the Spurs, 101-79, in a home game 5, and take a 3-2 lead in the best of seven series. If the pain that injured Hornets Tyson Chandler and David West feel today is an indication, the Spurs expended plenty of energy trying to right a sinking ship in the third quarter. They just didn’t have enough in the tank after playing Duncan-Ginobli-Parker-Bowen nearly max minutes in the first half.
And judging from the worn out path of Thomas-Oberto-Horry between the bench and David West’s pocket Spurs’ coach Popovich seems to have lost confidence in his power forwards, giving key minutes to undersize Udoka there. The Udoka move worked in Game 4 (scroll down) but not this time.
It’s a quick turnaround to game 6 on Thursday in San Antonio. If the Spurs flew home last night they might regain an energy advantage. Or they might be too old. See if Pop rests his Big 4 more in the second quarter tomorrow, and see if the Hornets’ key bench players, Bonzi Wells and Jannero Pargo, are ready and can take advantage. It’ll also be important for Mo Peterson to continue to contribute positive minutes in big spots, like he’s done in all three Hornets’ wins.
Note: A bug in the program has David West playing at the end of the game, when in fact, he’s not. Shouldn’t be too difficult to fix.
