Terry Shilton

What a series so far, the up’s and downs, the emergence of Chris Paul unbelievable, I personally wonder how many journalists would like their MVP vote back. This playoff run has saved basketball in New Orleans this team was essentially the only team without a home court advantage during the regular season as any away team that played in the Hornet’s nest had more supporters than the home team. But now season ticket sales for next year are way up, numerous stars were courtside and their the hottest ticket anywhere. They should honestly do an NBA where the “improbable happens” commerical for this years Hornets, 39 wins to 55 plus, quite the Cinderella story and honestly who’s favorite player right now is not Chris Paul he has been brilliant and done it in such an entertaining way as Greg Popovich put it “he turns games into an organizied playground.”

The Game goes Monday May 19th and is the Can’t miss game of the year.

Keys to Victory for the Spurs

1. Clutch Shooting, the Hornets have doubled Duncan fairly effectively so the Spurs need to make the Hornets pay for doubling him, especially Ginobli if he gets going he can be unstoppable in big games
2. Contain CP3, the Spurs have made a great coaching adjustment here by placing Bruce Bowen on Peja, your not going to stop CP3 from getting his points but if you can contain him from getting everyone else going he can’t beat you alone.
3. Patience, I said to a buddy before the Suns vs Spurs series you didn’t need a shot or game clock to decide this series just give each team 10 possesions and who ever executed them the best would win the series; this game will be the same the Spurs are an exceptionally patient team setting and re-setting plays, experience here is everything, if they control the games Tempo and don’t waste possesions they’ll roll into the West finals again.

Keys to Victory for the Hornets

1. CP3, Chris has been amazing and to beat the Spurs he’ll have to be on Monday, the key is to get other players involved early, if he can get Peja and West going the Hornets have a shot, that being said it won’t be enough just to get them going he will have to shoulder the load on offense as well, To win he’ll need another 30 point 10 assist night any less i see this Cinderella story coming to an end.
2. Foul Trouble, The Hornets have really only two people capable of playing Tim Duncan one on one with any effectiveness; David West and Tyson Chandler if either gets into early foul trouble it will be a long night as they’ll have to double nearly every touch and leave the perimeter open. Chandler is maybe slightly more disruptive defensively because of his length and may be the real key here.
3. Moment, the Hornets can’t get sweeped up in the moment and force turnovers and waste posessions but if they feed of the crowd, run the break, get an alley-oop, or a replay worthy play that positive Cinderella adrenaline can sweep the team, arena, city and can carry them through a major upset. I just love the turn around of this arena the last home game not a fan would sit for nearly the entire first half.

Prediction

I am trying to have some kind of bias here but let’s face I too have been sweeped up in the performance of CP3 and the Cinderella story of the Hornets, plus I have endured enough of the Spurs their dynasty has seemingly no end in sight, I won’t buy into that their boring thing, they play the game with a medical precision have unselfish players, the best power forward ever to play the game, a fantastic coach, hit big shots, even in this series came back from the brink; it’s just that I’m sick of them, it’s like that awkward moment now they have hung around too long for them to be interesting to me anymore, if they win it all again honestly give Tim a statue like MJ but someone please force him to retire.

Final Score: Hornets 103 Spurs 98

Terry Shilton

San Antonio has sent Brent Barry and Francisco Elson to the Seattle Supersonics as well as Pick in 2009 for Kurt Thomas, I reported two days ago they were looking to move Elson for a big and suggested Magloire as a swap as they would get an expiring contract back and an upgrade on Elson. They did just that but with Thomas instead nice move Thomas is a better defender and more proven overall nice pick-up by the Spurs.

Look for those left looking for a big man Orlando, Toronto, Utah to look at Magloire as the next best option to Kurt Thomas.

 Interesting footnote The Suns are currently short one roster player and are looking for a PG or a shooter if Brent can negotiate a buyout look for him to sign with the Suns to have a shot at a team that just dealt him.

Terry Shilton

I have never seen a domino affect of this proportion before with the Mav’s, Sun’s, Lakers all making major deals it has the rest of the Western Conference looking to keep up with the Kobe’s. this deadline is far from over and the next team to make a push will be Denver, the team is pursuing Mike Miller, Zach Randolph and Ron Artest. They have some tradeable assets and have a core of players that are getting older and can feel their window closing. I think the eventual deal will be made to bring in Artest he will come with the lowest price tag, plus Carmelo has been publically lobbying hard for the deal at the all-star game. The Combo of Camby, Artest, Iverson would give the Nuggets 3 players of “defensive player of the year” calibre. Three years ago the Kings took the Spurs to the brink of elimantion with a combo of Bonzi Wells and Artest who frustrated the hell out of Parker and Ginobli and almost caused a huge upset. The Nuggets would pos even more trouble defensively with Camby and Nene in the middle plus they have more scorers and secondary scoring ability if they make this move add them to the teams no one wants to have to face first round.

Other teams are likely to make moves as well, The Spurs are currently shopping Francisco Elson but to what end is unknown yet, if I was them I’d swap Elson’s expiring contract for Magloire’s and take the skill upgrade that comes with that swap but we will see.

Last but not least the Hornets have been very quiet, look for them to add a shooter Mike Miller would be perfect for this team but Gordon Giricek may be a nice alternative.

There are still other teams in the west looking to deal but mostly to clear cap space Seattle, Memphis.

Quick Hit Rumour two Playoff teams in that of Phoenix and Boston are closely watching what the Kings are planning to do with Tyrone Lue both are looking for a pass first PG who can run an offense and shoot the deep ball.