Tonight the San Antonio Spurs will face the New Orleans Hornets again, in game 2 of their NBA playoff series.  Game 1, which took place on Saturday was a blowout.  The Hornets absolutely crushed the Spurs by a final score of 101-82.  New Orleans looked to be the better team at every aspect of the game.  They played excellent defense and executed on offense.  They also were very hungry to win and were the livelier team.

The Hornets shut down one of San Antonio’s key players, Tim Duncan.  They buckled down on defense and limited him to 1 for 9 shooting, with 5 points and only 2 assists.  New Orleans matches up well with very long and tall defenders.  Everytime Duncan touched the ball he seemed to be double teamed.  Although this is just one of the Spurs many problems which they will have to correct tonight in order to be successful.  They also were dominated in the offensive rebound category.  They gave up 16 offensive boards and they were outscored by 23 points in the second half of the game.   The Spurs will have to make some drastic changes tonight if they want to win.  Currently Oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com have the Hornets as a -145 favorite heading into tonight’s ballgame.

Chris Paul had another excellent game for New Orleans on Saturday.  He was 7 for 16 from the field, had 17 points, 13 assists, and 4 steals.  It doesn’t look like the Spurs are able to stop him.   They will need to contain him by double teaming him or having a man help when he has the ball.  Another key performer in game 1 was David West.  He was 13 for 23, with a game high 30 points and 9 rebounds.  New Orleans looked to be the better team of the two on Saturday.  They hope to come out tonight and do they same.

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