Tue May 6 00:35:26 2008

Comment | Email | Print

Paul, Hornets put defending champs in 2-0 hole

---

New Orleans, LA (Sports Network) - Chris Paul scored 30 points and dished out 12 assists as the New Orleans Hornets used a dominating second half for a second straight game to rout San Antonio, 102-84, taking the first two contests of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Peja Stojakovic went 5-of-7 from three-point range, on the way to scoring 25, including 12 in the pivotal third quarter, for the Hornets, who have won eight straight games as the host in the playoffs, dating back to the 2004 postseason. David West tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds in the win.

The Hornets won 101-82 on Saturday, outscoring the Spurs, 56-33 in the second half. The margin in the final 24 minutes on Monday was 60-41.

This is the first time the Spurs have lost the opening two contests of a postseason series since 2001 when they were swept in four games by the Los Angeles Lakers in the West finals.

Tim Duncan had 18 points and eight rebounds for the defending NBA champions. He was limited to a career playoff-low five points on 1-of-9 shooting on Saturday. Brent Barry had 14 points, Manu Ginobili 13 and Tony Parker 11 in defeat.

Game 3 of this best-of-seven series is Thursday in San Antonio.

Down by a point at the half, the Hornets scored the first 10 of the third. Stojakovic and Morris Peterson hit attempts from beyond the arc during the spurt, which ended on a Stojakovic running bank shot for a 52-43 lead.

Paul's three-ball moved the lead to 63-53 with 5:19 remaining in the quarter, and the long distance shots kept coming. Stojakovic nailed one from the top of the arc after the Hornets came up with a loose ball for a 70-56 difference, and Paul's acrobatic driving layup in the waning seconds of the third moved the cushion to 78-61.

San Antonio couldn't rally against the strong defense of the Hornets, who pulled away thanks to some strong inside play of Tyson Chandler. His alley-oop jam off a feed from Paul had the lead at 87-76 with 6:42 left. That marked the start of 12 consecutive points for the Hornets, ended by a Paul jumper for a 21-point lead with 2 1/2 minutes left.

It was tight throughout the first quarter with the Spurs holding a 23-22 lead after 12 minutes. A pair of buckets from Ginobili and a layup from Ime Udoka expanded the margin to 29-22.

The Hornets later scored 10 straight for a 36-31 lead with a pair of free throws from West culminating the burst with nearly 3 1/2 minutes remaining. However, the Spurs bounced back and Parker's three-pointer from the left corner at the buzzer gave the visitors a 43-42 halftime edge.

Game Notes

Peterson had 12 points...The Spurs were 8-of-27 from three-point range...Paul shot 11-of-20 from the field on the eve of his 23rd birthday...The Hornets are halfway to their first second-round series victory in franchise history. They lost to New York (4-1) in 1993, Chicago (4-1) in 1998, Milwaukee (4-3) in 2001 and New Jersey (4-1) in 2002...Following a championship, the Spurs have never made it past the Western Conference semifinals in the playoffs. In 2000 they fell in the opening round to Phoenix, and lost in the semis to the Lakers in 2004 and Dallas in 2006.