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West steals show as Hornets sting Spurs

The New Orleans Hornets mascot dives through a ring of fire during a break in the action against the San Antonio Spurs in their NBA playoff game on Saturday. The game was delayed when the fire was extinguished and spray from the fire extinguishers soaked the court making it slippery. PHOTO: AP

David West scored a playoff career-high 30 points to spark the New Orleans Hornets past San Antonio 101-82 on Saturday in the opener of their NBA playoff series.

Serbian sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic added 22 points while playmaker Chris Paul scored 17 points and passed out 13 assists to spark the Hornets as they won easily to start the Western Conference best-of-second round series.

The Hornets, who split four regular-season meetings with the Spurs, showed why they had the second-best record in the West, overpowering the reigning NBA champions in the second half.

“We came out with a lot more energy,” West said. “They were outhustling us to the loose balls. We have the fresher legs, younger legs. We want to be the aggressor the entire series.”

San Antonio’s Tim Duncan equaled a career low with only five points, hitting only 1-of-9 shots from the field thanks to impressive and tenacious defense from the Hornets, who swarmed the All-Star forward like their insect namesakes.

“We don’t want to give him any easy baskets,” West said. “We want to keep two or three guys running at him the entire series.”

The Hornets, who had 15 rebounds and 10 points from Tyson Chandler, went on a 13-0 run to seize a 61-54 lead in the third quarter, a run of six successful shots in a row capped by a 3-pointer from Stojakovic.

The Spurs, seeking their fifth title in 10 seasons, have become the symbol of everything the Hornets, a long-struggling team that moved from Charlotte only to spend two seasons at Oklahoma City because of Hurricane Katrina.

“The past couple of years, we’re chasing these guys,” West said. “We’ve been trying to build what these guys have. Over the course of the season, we feel we’ve been able to do that.”

French guard Tony Parker led the Spurs with 23 points while Argentine guard Manu Ginobili came off the bench to score 19 points and Bruce Bowen added 17 for San Antonio, which will try to equalize in game two today.

“No excuses. No concern,” Ginobili said. “We’re just going to try to fight and play a better game.”

Game one was hit with a 20-minute delay after the first quarter after fire extinguishers were called upon because a hoop used for a stunt during a timeout continued to blaze despite attempts to snuff it out.

The Hornets’ mascot leaped off a trampoline through a blazing hoop and made a slam dunk but the hoop fire would not go out and fire extingushers caused a slick floor that required a careful cleanup to avoid any risk of injury to players.

cleaning

Officials asked for more cleaning after Parker slipped and fell to the floor five minutes into the second quarter and canceled half-time activities so more time could be spent cleaning off the court.

“It’s not just happening to us. It’s happening to them too. The floor is slick for both teams,” Spurs guard Bruce Bowen said. “It was important for us to keep our minds on attacking, things of that nature.”

Ginobili, nursing a sore ankle, was forced to go into hallways near the locker room during the unexpected lull and keep moving the sore spot.

“I felt pretty good. I’ve got to try to keep it warm all the time,” Ginobili said. “I have to keep the blood pumping in that area. I’m going to be fine.”

The Hornets opened with an 8-0 run, serving notice at the start how much they had earned their home-court edge and second seed status in the Western Conference.

But Ginobili came off the bench for the Spurs and sank three 3-point shots to spark a San Antonio comeback that had the reigning NBA champions ahead 27-23 after the first quarter.

The Spurs led 49-45 at half-time but Hornets coach Byron Scott was not worried.

“We weren’t extremely disappointed being down four the way they shot the 3-pointers and with us giving them the ball on turnovers,” he said. “We had to come out and do what we do well which is get up and down the floor.”

Meanwhile, Detroit overpowered Orlando 91-72 on Saturday to open their NBA second-round playoff series, leaving Magic star Dwight Howard injured and frustrated in the process.

Chauncey Billups scored 19 points and Richard Hamilton added 17 to lead the Pistons, who won their eighth playoff game in a row over Orlando to start the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series, outmuscling the Magic near the rim.

rough

“You can’t rough up the game with us,” Hamilton said. “We’ve been doing this for years, and that’s the way we want to play. They tried, but we enjoy it. We like it.”

The Pistons, who swept the Magic in round one last year, had the second-best regular-season record in the NBA but struggled to defeat Philadelphia in six games in the first round after losing that opener.

“That was a punch in the face right there. That was a wake-up call, what the Sixers did to us last round,” Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace said.

“We just couldn’t let it happen tonight. We know this is a good team and, if we get down in this series, not saying that we’ll lose, but it’ll be a harder fight than we had with the Sixers. We’ve been saying we can’t get down,” he said.

Detroit opened the fourth quarter with a 15-4 run to seize command for good after the Magic lost Howard with 42 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Pistons outscored the Magic 48-30 in the second half.

Howard, who contributed only 12 points and eight rebounds, injured his left thumb while trying to grab a rebound. After X-rays, Howard expressed confidence he would be back at full strength for game two today.

Turkey’s Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis each scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Magic.

“We’re going to still come out with the same focus in the second game,” Detroit’s Jason Maxiell said. “Howard hurt his hand but we’re still going to have to concentrate on shutting down him and Turkoglu.”

Maxiell had 12 points and nine rebounds and played the tough defense that kept Howard at bay.
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