Hornets-Spurs Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Apr 05 2012 4:56PM

Eric Gordon certainly made his presence felt in his first game back following a three-month absence, coming up big for the New Orleans Hornets their last time out.

Leading them to a win over the Southwest Division-leading San Antonio Spurs could prove much more difficult.

The Hornets try to avoid a four-game season sweep and a 14th loss in 16 road matchups with the Spurs, who can extend the league's longest active winning streak to 10 on Friday night.

After appearing in just two games and missing 47 straight due to a right knee injury, Gordon made his much-anticipated return during a 94-92 win over Denver on Wednesday. He struggled to get going before scoring 13 of his 15 points in the second half, including the winning free throws with 2 seconds remaining.

"(The knee) feels good," Gordon said. "I just looked forward to winning and my individual game will come as far as stat-wise ... I'm looking forward to Friday."

Chris Kaman had 14 points, 10 rebounds and a season-best five blocks while Greivis Vasquez scored 11 to go along with 10 assists.

New Orleans (14-40), which hasn't won two in a row since a season-best three-game run Feb. 13-17, improved to 2-1 when Gordon plays. He may have to have a very big game, though, for the Hornets to avoid a sweep in this series.

San Antonio's three wins this season give it 10 victories in the last 12 matchups. Two of the wins in 2011-12 came by a combined five points, though those games were at New Orleans Arena.

While the Hornets have managed to hold their own versus the Spurs in their own building, it's been a different story at the AT&T Center of late. New Orleans fell 93-81 at San Antonio on Feb. 2 and is 2-13 in its last 15 visits.

The Spurs (38-14) are coming off a thrilling win of their own, holding on to defeat Boston 87-86 on the road Wednesday. Tim Duncan had 10 points and 16 rebounds for the Spurs, who earned their ninth consecutive victory after Paul Pierce missed the potential winning jumper as time expired.

"It was a great game, great game," Duncan told the league's official website. "We knew coming in here they're a playoff caliber team and there always a tough challenge and it was a good game for us, a good challenge for us."

The Spurs last won 10 in a row during a season-high 11-game run Jan. 30-Feb. 20. San Antonio is 17-2 when Duncan posts a double-double.

While Trevor Ariza and Carl Landry returned from four- and two-game absences for the Hornets on Wednesday, Jarrett Jack sat out with a sore right ankle and is unlikely to suit up Friday. Jack has averaged 26.5 points and shot 56.1 percent in two games against the Spurs this season.

New Orleans, which continues to play without injured center Emeka Okafor, has dropped eight of 11 on the road.

San Antonio, 21-4 at home, plays five of its next six at the AT&T Center.

Duncan scores 19 to lead Spurs past Hornets

Posted Apr 07 2012 1:45AM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) The San Antonio Spurs rose to the top of the Western Conference standings by overpowering the weakest team in the conference.

Tim Duncan scored 19 points to lead San Antonio to a 128-103 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night, giving the Spurs their 10th straight win.

Manu Ginobili and Patty Mills scored 14 points apiece, and Stephen Jackson and Gary Neal each added 13 for the Spurs, who scored 72 points in the first half and swept the four-game season series.

The win, coupled with Oklahoma City's loss to Indiana, moved the Spurs percentage points ahead of the Thunder for first place in the West. The Spurs were prevented from clinching their 15th consecutive playoff berth when Houston beat the Los Angeles Lakers later Friday.

The last time the Spurs didn't make the playoffs was in 1996-97, the season before Duncan arrived.

Duncan said the team's strong play at the outset was a result of its struggles late against Boston on Wednesday.

"We didn't play well the second half of the last game, so we wanted to come out and be a little more focused and play a little better," Duncan said. "It was a good start for us. We got a lot of people in, a lot of different players in. Everybody we kept rotating in kept playing well, so it was a great team effort."

Eric Gordon, playing in only his second game in three months, scored 31 points to lead the Hornets, who have lost four of their last five games. Marco Belinelli had 15 points, Carl Landry scored 13, and Greivis Vasquez added 12.

San Antonio jumped out to a 72-45 halftime lead and was never threatened the second half. As a result, the Spurs, who have played much of the season without Ginobili because of injuries, sit atop the West.

"It's great, but there's too many games left," Duncan said. "We're going to go through some ups and downs. We're going to lose some games. They're going to lose some games. We'll see how we come out at the other end, but at this point of the season, we haven't been playing for that. But it's great to be in that situation."

The easy win gave the Spurs their second streak of at least 10 victories - they won 11 straight earlier this season - and also allowed coach Gregg Popovich to rest his stars.

Popovich has carefully managed minutes all season in anticipation of the playoffs, something easier to do now with a bench strengthened by the additions of Mills, Jackson and Boris Diaw. The Spurs' reserves, led by Ginobili, scored 82 points, allowing Duncan to play only 20 minutes and Parker just 16. Ginobili played 21.

"The bench contributed another big game for us," Neal said. "Patty came in and made some shots, I was able to make some shots, Matty (Bonner) made some shots. Boris came in and gave us good minutes. Tiago (Splitter) came in and played well. That's going to help us in preparing for the playoffs."

The Hornets, meanwhile, were without point guard Jarrett Jack for the second straight game. Jack, who has a right foot sprain, averages 15.6 points and 6.3 assists per game. Against the Spurs, Jack had been particularly effective, averaging 26.5 points and 7.0 assists in two games.

"I think it's one of those things that may take some time to heal," coach Monty Williams said before the game.

Vasquez started in Jack's place but had only four points in the first half.

Ginobili scored 13 points on 5-for-5 shooting in the first half to help San Antonio take its big lead. The Spurs outscored the Hornets 38-21 in the second quarter to essentially put the game away.

"We couldn't guard tonight," Williams said. "Since I've been here, that was the worst defensive effort I've seen. We couldn't guard a bike if we were riding it tonight. It was unpleasant to watch. Our guys allowed that much penetration over and over. I told them `if you're going to play that way, you're going to (be) embarrassed."

NOTES: The Spurs shot a season-high 51 for 84 and had 31 assists. New Orleans had 11 assists. ... Twelve of the Spurs' 13 active players saw action in the first half. Bonner didn't score and James Anderson didn't play until late in the fourth quarter. Bonner finished with five points and Anderson with seven. ... The Spurs have had at least a 10-game winning streak during each of the past two seasons. They won 11 straight last year.

Notebook: Spurs 128, Hornets 103

Posted Saturday April 7, 2012 12:04AM

By Tim Price, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: A new leader has emerged in the Western Conference after the San Antonio Spurs got a 19-point, 8-for-9 shooting performance from Tim Duncan in a 128-103 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Friday at AT&T Center.

The Spurs (39-14) have won 10 straight and have surged to a West-best .736 winning percentage. Oklahoma City (40-15) is .727 after losing at Indiana, and now the Thunder are second best after spending all season at the top of the conference standings. San Antonio can match a season-best 11-game streak Sunday at home against Utah.

The Spurs shot almost 61 percent (51-for-84), and it's the second time in the last three games that they've scored a season-high point total.

The Hornets continue with the worst record in the West (14-41). Playing without starting point guard Jarrett Jack (in addition to the continued absence of the injured Emeka Okafor), the bright spot was the play of Eric Gordon (31 points in almost 32 minutes). It was his second game back after missing the previous 39 games with an injured right knee. Otherwise, it was rotten for the Hornets. They missed their worst loss of the season by one point.

QUOTABLE: "Normally, I talk about us and what we didn't do. But that Spurs team is about as complete as I've seen. We couldn't guard tonight. We couldn't have guarded a bike tonight if we were riding it."
-- Hornets coach Monty Williams

THE STAT: The Spurs scored a season-high 72 points in the first half by shooting almost 67 percent (30-for-45 from the floor with 6-for-10 going down from past the 3-point line). More than that, San Antonio limited the Hornets to 16-for-41 (39 percent from the floor) before halftime. San Antonio had a 73-point half last season.

TURNING POINT: New Orleans trailed by 10 points after the Spurs enjoyed 71-percent shooting in the first quarter. The Hornets still had it at a 12-point deficit midway through the second quarter when the Spurs hit five of their next six shots on the way to outscoring the Hornets 20-4 over a 4 ½-minute span.

QUOTABLE II: "It was a great (first) half for tonight. New Orleans has been playing hard all year under tough circumstances, and tonight we played just really, really well in the first half and were able to jump on them."
-- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich

HOT: Duncan's 8-for-9 shooting night is his first at 50-percent or better since going 9-for-18 four games back against Sacramento.

NOT: Everyone wearing a Hornets uniform that did not have the name Gordon written on it shot poorly in the first quarter. Gordon was 5-for-9 in the opening 12 minutes; the rest of the team was 4-for-14.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: After missing 39 games, Gordon's game has come back rather quickly upon his return to the lineup these past two games. His 31 points, four assists and three steals tonight against the Spurs goes along with 15 points, four assists and four rebounds in his return Wednesday.

GOOD MOVE: The Spurs hadn't played Boris Diaw in two of the past three games coming into Friday. But they inserted him late in the first quarter, and Diaw helped the Spurs keep their first-quarter offense rolling. He scored six points on 3-for-4 shooting and grabbed three offensive rebounds to keep possessions going in 11 first-half minutes.

BAD MOVE: With Jack out, the Hornets could not find much offense in the starting lineup save for Gordon. Replacement point guard Greivis Vasquez played 29 minutes but could hand out only one assist. He got to the foul line twice.

ROOKIE WATCH: Kawhi Leonard hit 3-for-5 shots, including a stout baseline drive and slam dunk against Chris Kaman, and scored six points in 21 minutes. Gustavo Ayon went 1-for-5 and scored four points while Hornets teammate Lance Thomas went scoreless in 11 minutes.

NOTABLE: Duncan and Tony Parker (seven points, six assists) did not play the final 15 minutes of the game and Manu Ginobili (14 points on 5-for-6 shooting) sat after the Spurs had a 99-73 lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter. The rest (Duncan and Ginobili each played 21 minutes and Parker played 16), could come in handy. The Spurs play four games in six days, including a home-and-home back-to-back with Utah on Sunday and Monday before playing the Lakers on Wednesday. ... San Antonio has swept New Orleans in the season series twice in the last three seasons. ... By not having Jack tonight against the Spurs, the Hornets lost their most effective player against San Antonio. Jack had gone 23-for-41 for an average of 27 points and seven assists in two games this season versus the Spurs. ... Carl Landry was called for a flagrant foul 1 when his foul to the upper body of DeJuan Blair in the third quarter caused Blair to fall to the floor.

UP NEXT: For the Hornets, Saturday vs. Minnesota, Monday vs. L.A. Lakers, Wednesday vs. Sacramento. For the Spurs, Sunday vs. Utah, Monday @ Utah, Wednesday vs. L.A. Lakers.

• Hornets: Okafor
• Spurs: Joseph

• Hornets: --
• Spurs: --

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #48 Scott Foster, #38 Michael Smith, #63 Derek Richardson
• Attendance: 18581
• Duration: 2:05