Playoff Pit-Stop #3: More Hornets

After dismantling the Mavs (see below), the Hornets entered the Western Conference Semi's with as much momentum as they have had all season.

The same could be said for the Spurs. Winners of 4-out-of-6 against the Suns.

On top of that, the individual match-ups are spectacular: Young v. Old. PGs: Chris Paul v. Tony Parker. PFs: Tom Duncan v. David West. Lefties: Morris Peterson v. Manu Ginobili. Coaches: Popovich-with-four-rings v. Up-and-coming Byron Scott.

But despite all these trappings, the series and the Hornets 2-0 lead has boiled down to one common denominator: the play of Chris Paul.

So far, he has been electric!

Game 1: 7-16 fg, 17 points, 13 assists, 2 TOs, W

Game 2: 11-20 fg, 30 points, 12 assists, 1 TO, W

Meanwhile, his major competition, M. Parker, the Saul Sierce MVP of the First Round, has failed in comparison:

Game 1: 9-17 fg, 23 points, 4 assists, 5 TOs, L

Game 2: 5-14 fg, 11 points, 3 assists, 3 TOs, L

Now Tony Parker is not known for his assist-to-turnover ratio. He is a penetrator, but not necessarily a play-maker in the sense that Chris Paul is. Nevertheless, Paul's 25:3 assist:TO ratio deserves series attention. Especially compared to Parker's 7:8 ratio.

That is the ultimate benchmark for a point guard. How well they run the offense and avoid miscues. Chris Paul's 25:3 mark is as good as it gets.

On the other side, after picking apart the Suns, Parker came back to earth vitement. Took the TGV.

But as glaring and obvious as the numbers are, Chris Paul's swagger and on-court-persona have been just as important.

Just like every great perimeter player in the league over the years--Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Michael Finley, Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups, LeBron James, etc--Chris Paul has had to deal with Bruce Bowen's defense. His actual defense and all of the shenanigans.

Most players, especially Nash, have quietly tried to answer Bowen's play by out-playing him. Carter, Allen, and Finley among others, have marched right back at Bowen and punched him, pushed him, and verbally assaulted him.

Chris Paul, on the other hand, has served him a dose of his own medicine. So far in this series, Chris Paul has physically out-played the Spurs. He has also mentally out-played them. Usually Bowen and the Spurs get in their opponent's head. Especially 23-year old PGs. But this time, Chris Paul is in Bruce Bowen's head.

One of the reasons that Paul is so good is that he is so alert. He sees the court. His teammates, his opponents, the flow. Everything. He sees Bruce Bowen. He is preparing for every angle. And then acting upon it. When Bowen threw a hip-check after a dead-ball in Game 1, Paul sold it. He answered right back with his own theatrics.

In Game 2 after a rebound, Paul waited for Bowen to begin advancing up the court. Instead of allowing Bowen to make some contact, Paul planted his feet and initiated it. Sold the offensive foul. It went un-called, but Paul sent the message again: "We are not going to take any of your c-r-a-p."

In the words of the Big Lebowski, "this aggression will not stand, man."

What is so interesting about all of this is that in the past the Spurs have been the ones doing this stuff. And now more than ever, you expect the veteran Spurs to be standing up and initiating these things. Stepping up and playing mind games. Getting into their opponents heads and calling out the unchecked aggression and c-r-a-p. But Chris Paul and the Hornets have flipped the script and sent it right back at the Spurs and left them in a 2-0 hole.

The last time the Spurs trailed a Playoff series 2-0 was against the 2001 Kobe-Shaq Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. There is not an obvious similarity between that series and this one. But the 2001 games against the Lakers featured an awful match-up for the Spurs. They had no answer for Kobe Bryant. Antonio Daniels chasing Kobe for 40 minutes didn't cut it. They lost 4-0.

This 2008 Hornets series is similarly a bad match-up for the Spurs. As great as Parker has been in his career, he has always had trouble checking strong point guards. Stephon Marbury roughed him up in 2003, Chauncey Billups did the same in 2005, Deron Williams in 2007. As a result of these match-ups, Bruce Bowen has checked PGs, like Steve Nash in 2007. Now while, the Spurs ended up winning each of those series, it does not hide Parker's weakness. In this series, it is already very obvious.

Furthermore, Bowen cannot stop Paul. Chris Paul has badly outplayed him and Parker. This is not something easy to fix--like an off-shooting night, foul trouble, or poor execution. It's a match-up nightmare for the Spurs and it looks like they don't have an answer.

But home-cooking is still home-cooking. I fully expect the Spurs to return the favor in San Antonio.

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What's more, how old do the Spurs look?

So far the Hornets bench has been fab. The Pargo-Wright-Bonzi Wells-Melvin Ely Hornet unit has especially made the Jacque Vaughn-Brent Barry-Michael Finley-Robert Horry group look like gray-beards.

The Spurs have hit a couple of stretches already in this series where they desperately needed a spark off the bench (besides Ginobili) and there really was not anybody. The Hornets counter with the above group and they are quick, fearless, and effective. The Spurs' Barry, Horry, Oberto bunch have lacked all of those things.