Hornets-Spurs: Five Reasons for New Orleans' Unexpected Victory

With the Spurs' Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili on the court together again and the Hornets' Tyson Chandler, Peja Stojaković, and James Posey on the bench, who would have expected the Bees to come out ahead in last night's contest? 

On paper, even with Hornets home court advantage, it was expected that the Spurs would prevail. 

Games, however, are not won on paper.  That's why they play the game!

Why did the Hornets win?  There were five simple reasons why New Orleans came out on top in this contest:

1) The Hornets were ridiculously good from the free-throw line, making 32 out of 33 from the charity stripe.  A large part of this was David West attacking the basket.  West was 11 out of 11 in foul shots.

I have been critical in the past of DW being unwilling to play like a true power forward.  Last night, West was the man!

2) Effort and defense. In many of their losses this season, the Hornets looked as though they were either too tired or did not have the desire to play as a team for the full 48 minutes, Last night, there was none of that.

Sean Marks and Hilton Armstrong together held Tim Duncan to four points in the second half. Julian Wright used his long arms to pester Spurs shooters and his athletic ability to disrupt the flow of the San Antonio's half=court game.

3) As usual, Chris Paul had a tremendous game. The Spurs unsuccessfully tried to employ the "trap Chris Paul" tactic that Denver used last week.  This likely failed because the Spurs are older and less athletic as a team then the Nuggets.

4) The Spurs stunk it up from the outside when it counted. Part of this was due to the defensive effort of the Hornets. However, the Spurs had a number of open looks in the second half that were just off.

5) The Hornets held their own in rebounding, losing that battle by only two against the Spurs.

Because of the depleted roster, Byron Scott opted to go with both Paul and reserve point guard Antonio Daniels on the court together.  This reminded me of the look that the Hornets successfully used last year with Paul and then backup guard Jannero Pargo on the court together often. 

I wonder if they will try this in the future?