Spurs-Hornets Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Jan 22 2012 7:22PM

Unable to shut down opponents on the road, the San Antonio Spurs find themselves in the midst of their worst start as the visiting team in 15 seasons.

The Western Conference-worst New Orleans Hornets, meanwhile, are experiencing plenty of difficulty putting points on the board at home.

The Spurs continue a road-heavy stretch Monday night against a Hornets team desperate to end its longest home losing streak in almost seven years.

San Antonio (10-7) has been solid defensively while allowing 90.1 points per game in 10 home contests, but in contrast has struggled mightily on the road. The Spurs have yielded an average of 104.7 points away from the AT&T Center in opening 1-6 away from home - their worst start since losing nine of their first 10 during their first season under coach Gregg Popovich in 1996-97.

One night after falling 88-86 to Sacramento, Popovich's team began a stretch of 14 of 18 on the road with Saturday's 105-102 loss at Houston. With Manu Ginobili still sidelined (broken left hand) and Tim Duncan resting, Tony Parker posted 24 points and 13 assists while reserve center Tiago Splitter scored a career-high 25 to go along with 10 boards.

The Rockets, though, shot 55.7 percent. In each of their Spurs' road losses, their opponent has made more than half of its shots.

"Some days, there are no excuses. They made plays at the end of the game," forward Richard Jefferson said. "Tony had a great game, Tiago had a great game, two teams were battling back and forth. They made the right plays, we had a shot to tie it, and we don't get it done. Simple enough."

Having taken seven of nine in this series even with Chris Paul to worry about, San Antonio has to like its chances of regrouping against woeful New Orleans (3-13). The Hornets opened the season with back-to-back victories but have since dropped 13 of 14 - including eight straight at New Orleans Arena.

The Hornets, who are experiencing their worst skid on their own court since concluding 2004-05 with 10 consecutive home defeats, are averaging a league-worst 85.1 points as host.

New Orleans' offensive struggles continued in Saturday's 83-81 loss to Dallas. The Hornets shot just 37.2 percent from the field - including an ugly 2-of-19 effort from 3-point range.

"I don't know what our 3-point percentage was, but it was poor. It's one of those things where you have to keep plugging away. That's all you have until this changes," coach Monty Williams said. "Our defense is holding teams in the 80s, which is what we like to do. Now our guys have to go out there and have some fun and score the ball and trust the offense a bit."

New Orleans is shooting just 20.4 percent from beyond the arc during a seven-game overall losing streak.

"You can't point it at one particular thing," Williams added. "You point the finger at us as a team. We have to get back in the gym and keep working on it."

Forward Carl Landry, who had been held to a combined 16 points in limited minutes over the previous five games, scored a game-high 19 on Saturday.

While the Hornets have held their own defensively, they could have a hard time slowing down Parker. The three-time All-Star is averaging 24.3 points and 9.3 assists in his last three contests.

Duncan, who has posted four double-doubles in his last six, is expected to return.

Duncan lifts Spurs past Hornets, 104-102

By BRETT MARTEL
Posted Jan 24 2012 2:18AM

NEW ORLEANS (AP) As Tim Duncan strode forcefully into the lane for a running hook in the final seconds, Tony Parker could not help but be reminded of a couple of the greatest players the NBA has ever known.

"It was a mix of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson -a kind of sky-hook, and we'll take it," Parker said of Duncan's 13-foot game-winner over Hornets center Emeka Okafor with 1.4 seconds left.

The shot capped a season-high 28-point performance by the Spurs' 15-year veteran star forward and sent New Orleans to an eighth straight loss, 104-102 on Monday night.

"Okafor played pretty good defense and that's the shot I had had, and just luckily made it," Duncan said. "I couldn't do it again if I tried, but it went in that time. That's all that matters."

Parker added 20 points and a career-high 17 assists for the Spurs, who snapped a two-game skid, while Richard Jefferson added 14 points and Tiago Splitter added 12 points.

The Hornets inbounded the ball to Carl Landry for a desperation 3-pointer that could have won it as time expired, but the shot fell short, dooming New Orleans to its 14th loss in 15 games.

Jarrett Jack led the Hornets with 26 points and nine assists. Trevor Ariza tied a season high with 18 points and Landry also scored 18.

"Its' extremely frustrating," Jack said. "The good part is that we gave ourselves a chance. ... It just comes down to making plays. There are a couple that I am kicking myself about that I wasn't able to complete."

The Spurs led 102-98 after Duncan's free throws with 1:16 to go, setting up a thrilling finish to a game that included 15 lead changes and eight ties.

Jack hit a reverse layup in a crowd to make it a one-score game, then the Hornets got a pair of critical defensive stops to set up Landry's tip-in of Jack's missed floater, tying it with 5.2 seconds left.

The Spurs immediately took timeout and then fed the ball to Duncan, who had no intention of giving it up as he went strong to the lane for his winning shot, quieting a crowd that was on its feet and begging for one more stop.

Hornets coach Monty Williams said he sensed what was coming when he saw San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich say something to Duncan as the Spurs left their bench after the timeout.

"I told Emeka, `It's coming to you,"' Williams said. "He made a tough shot. You'd take that defense every time. It's just that (Duncan has) been there, done that. That's why he is one of the best power forwards of all time and one of the best players in the history of the game. Those situations don't bother him."

What did bother Duncan and the Spurs was the trouble they'd been having on the road. The victory in New Orleans was only their second in eight away games.

"I just wanted to win on the road, honestly," Duncan said. "I don't remember the road ever being this tough."

New Orleans led most of the third quarter and was up 80-74 late in the period after Jack's jumper, but Jefferson responded with one of his four 3-pointers and Parker converted a difficult driving scoop to cut it to 80-79 heading into the final quarter.

Popovich credited Parker with picking up all aspects of his game while Manu Ginobili has been has been out with a broken left hand.

"He's scoring for us, but he's finding players and involving everybody," Popovich said. "He's doing a great job of keeping us together."

The Hornets, who had turned the ball over only eight times through the first three quarters, turned it over six times in the fourth, which hurt in a game that went down to the wire and wound up being New Orleans' third-straight two-point loss to a Southwest Division opponent.

Both teams shot well, with the Spurs hitting 55 percent (41 of 75) and the Hornets, who had struggled to break 90 points recently, connecting on nearly 51 percent (42 of 83). New Orleans was strong inside, outscoring San Antonio 42-40 in the paint and outrebounding the Spurs 40-27.

Marco Belinelli had 12 points for New Orleans and Okafor 10.

Gary Neal scored 10 for the Spurs, hitting both 3s he attempted.

Looking to get over the hump after consecutive close losses to Houston and Dallas, New Orleans raced to a 22-13 lead. The Spurs then responded with a 12-2 run that included three jumpers by Duncan - one of them a running bank shot - to go up 25-24.

The Spurs built a first-half lead as large as six when Parker's 22-foot jumper made it 42-36. The game remained tight for the remainder of the opening half, which ended with San Antonio leading 56-55.

Notes: The Hornets reached 100 points for the first time this season. ... Hornets G Xavier Henry, who has been recovering from a right ankle injury, was activated for the first time but did not play. ... The Hornets' home losing streak is now nine games. ... Movie stars Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah, Brooke Shields, Wanda Sykes and Camryn Manheim took time out from filming a basketball-themed movie in New Orleans to attend the game in courtside seats. They were among the announced crowd of 12,599.

Notebook: Spurs 104, Hornets 102

By Scott Kushner, for NBA.com
Posted Monday January 23, 2012 11:35PM

THE FACTS: Tim Duncan broke a tie and connected on an off balance shot with 1.4 seconds left, part of his game-high 28, propelling the San Antonio Spurs to a 104-102 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Monday night at the New Orleans Arena.

QUOTABLE: "I just wanted to win on the road honestly. I don't remember the road ever being this tough."
-- Duncan, on the Spurs winning just their second game away from San Antonio this season, improving to 2-6 on the road. It was their first road win over a Western Conference foe in five tries.

THE STAT: It was a rare shootout for the Hornets. For the first time this season, the Hornets eclipsed the 100-point barrier, but it was also the first time New Orleans allowed an opponent to shoot over 50 percent from the floor, as the Spurs converted 54.7 percent of its shots from the field.

TURNING POINT: Duncan snapped the 102-102 tie, when he improvised on an inbounds play, sweeping across the top of the lane before netting a one-handed, leaning floater from the free-throw line. Despite Hornets' center Emeka Okafor cutting off Duncan's initial route to the baseline, he was able to improvise an open look.

QUOTABLE II: "It's not like Emeka gave him a point-blank layup or an easy shot. He was running across the lane, fading away, one-handed, and that's just Tim Duncan. He's an amazing player. It's tough to stop a shot like that. If we had a chance to hold them to that shot, we would take it nine times out of 10."
-- Hornets forward Jason Smith on Duncan's game-winning shot.

HOT: Hornets guard Jarrett Jack produced his fourth 20-point performances in his last six games, scoring 26 points. He also served as New Orleans' best facilitator, dishing out nine assists while pulling down six rebounds. Jack was the Hornets' go-to scorer in the final minutes, but he couldn't get open to for the game's final shot. Instead Carl Landry missed the rim entirely on his three-pointer at the buzzer.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Tony Parker filled up two columns on the stat sheet, scoring 18 points and handing out 17 assists, baffling the Hornets' defense with his ability to penetrate into the lane, finish around the basket in transition and find open shooters.

INSIDE THE ARENA: It was ladies night at the New Orleans Arena. A trio of actresses - Brooke Shields, Daryl Hannah and Melanie Griffith - took in the game, sitting courtside together, flanked by Hornets' chairman Jac Sperling at mid-court. Another pair of actresses - Wanda Sykes and Camryn Manheim - also sat together underneath the basket.

ROOKIE WATCH: Spurs' rookie forward Kawhi Leonard saw his role drastically reduced on Monday, after playing 38 minutes in San Antonio's 105-102 loss to Houston on Saturday. Despite an appearance in the starting lineup, the first round pick out of San Diego State logged just seven minutes, without scoring a point or pulling down a rebound.

NOTABLE: New Orleans made nine of its first 12 shots in the first quarter, scoring 22 points in the opening seven minutes of action...San Antonio matched and surpassed its opponents' early offensive outburst, converting on 66 percent of its shots over the entirety of the opening quarter, en route to 30-28 lead...It marked the the third consecutive two-point loss by the Hornets...New Orleans shot a season-high 92.3 percent from the free throw line, making 12-of-13 foul shots.

UP NEXT: For the Hornets, Wednesday @ Oklahoma City, Friday vs Orlando, Sunday vs. Atlanta. For the Spurs, Wednesday vs. Atlanta, Friday @ Minnesota, Sunday @ Dallas.

• Spurs: Ford, Ginobili
• Hornets: Gordon, Johnson

• Spurs: --
• Hornets: --

• Lead Changes: 15
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA
• Officials: #57 Greg Willard, #36 David Jones, #31 Scott Wall
• Attendance: 12599
• Duration: 2:01