Spurs Revive ’07 Title Form

By Chris Colston

SAN ANTONIO — So this is why they’re the defending champions.

On a night when everything clicked, the San Antonio Spurs evened this NBA Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece with a 100-80 victory against the New Orleans Hornets.

The Spurs’ running shots fell and became “and-ones.” They cut, they passed, they drove and they still hit their beloved three-point jumpers. Guard Manu Ginobili even grabbed one hotly contested rebound in the paint flat-footed, just because of good positioning. And led by quick-shuffling, hand-darting Bruce Bowen, the Spurs played stifling defense.

“Defensively, we had the same energy we had in Game3,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That’s the way we need to play. It fuels everything we do.”

Said Hornets coach Byron Scott: “Our intensity was terrible. From Game1 to Game4, it’s gotten worse and theirs got better.”

Coming in, the Hornets knew what they had to do: contest every shot on defense, then grab the rebound. That way they could be off and running on offense, avoiding the grind-it-out halfcourt game San Antonio executes better than anybody else.

They also wanted to clog the lane. At the Sunday morning shoot-around, Scott pointed out that in Game3 the Spurs shot 7-for-22 from 15 feet out and 16-for-24 in the paint.

“I think it’s to our advantage if we can keep them out there and make them shoot jump shots,” he said.

But Spurs point guard Tony Parker and center Tim Duncan wrecked that plan from the opening tip.

Duncan wheeled-and-dealed inside, scoring 22 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. He also blocked four shots and handed out three assists.

Parker drove the paint with cold-stare intensity. While he made only two of his four layup attempts in the first seven minutes, he set the tone. San Antonio would not settle for three-pointers right away. The Spurs were in attack mode.

“Tony always needs to be aggressive,” Popovich said. “We’re not the same team if he’s not.”

As in the Spurs’ Game3 victory, a Bowen baseline three-pointer again forced a Scott timeout.

With 5:27 left in the first half, Parker hit a jumper that sent the crowd — including actors Tommy Lee Jones and Parker’s wife, Eva Longoria-Parker — into delirium, pushing the lead to 45-28.

The Spurs led 55-42 at halftime, and when center Tyson Chandler picked up his fifth foul with 8:39 left in the third quarter, the game was effectively over.

And the Hornets seemed to know it. With 4:18 left in the third, Hornets forward David West pushed Bowen to the floor out of pure frustration.

Scott had his reserves in for most of the fourth quarter.

The series moves to New Orleans for Game5 on Tuesday, and the Hornets must try to recapture the momentum of the first two games there.

“They’re going to be home and they’re going to play with more confidence and shoot the ball better,” Parker said. “We have to be ready for it.” (c) Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.