I don't know why, but it didn't dawn on me that Hilton Armstrong and Julian Wright would be in the starting lineup for the Hornets. They don't have a chance to win this game. Julian Wright is a complete doofus. If Chandler and Peja don't return soon, I can see the Hornets dropping to 8th place.
Hornets have to feel good only being down 4 at the half. They missed a ton of open looks. If they play hard in the second half, I think they'll take this game.
Since this is a win win situation for the Rockets. What do you guys prefer? Hornets win or Spurs win?
Hornets, for sure. They've been struggling and have a tough schedule down the stretch. A Spurs loss puts us 1 back in the loss column. We'd still have a reasonable chance to win our division and get the 2nd seed despite having a tougher remaining schedule than the Spurs and Nuggets. That said, I think the Spurs will pull this out despite being down 5 heading to the 4th.
I don't have a preference. I just hope it is a good game, and so far it is! The hornets are playing fast tempo now, and old spurs cannot follow the pace. If the hornets don't run out of gas in the 4th quarter, they will take this win.
The Spurs look terrible. They didn't bring their "game face". Still plenty of time to turn up the heat and close the Hornets out.
This might be an interesting final 5 minutes. What the hell was up with Duncan and his help defense out on Paul?
Parker is getting caught up in the PG battle, trying to prove himself. Paul will win that battle almost every time. That was a terrible foul by Parker on the Paul 3 a few minutes ago. Even if it was a questionable call, Parker shouldn't have allowed it to be close. He was trying to prove something instead of using his brain.
Does anyone else notice that Hubie Brown seems to be rooting for the Hornets to win? He gets excited when the Hornets do something good and says, "oh no", when the Spurs do something.
Disagree. That was a blown call because Paul clearly stuck his foot out and tripped Parker, causing both players to go down.
I don't really want to spark this debate again but I don't understand how anybody can say Paul isn't tough. I consider Paul to be as tough as they come, both physically and mentally. The fact that he acts and flops at times doesn't change that fact in my opinion.
No reason to be that close. It wasn't just that play that makes me think Parker is overly concerned with outplaying Paul. Paul is doing the same thing in some respects. The difference is he's winning the battle and almost always will. Parker needs to forget trying to outduel Paul. He can't do it 9 out of 10 times. Just my viewpoint.
But it wasn't that close. And you can't let him have an uncontested shot. TP did the right thing and the master flopper hooked him.
