Man on Fire?

From the beginning of this series I thought the New Orleans Hornets led by my first pick in this year’s fantasy draft, Chris Paul, would take the series. I know the consensus pick has been the Spurs however something about how CP3 carried my fantasy team this year has had me believing in the Hornets. I knew the whole time that the X-factor would be Peja Stojakovic; if he could hit those deadly threes it would be a done deal I thought. I mean, we all know Chris Paul would get him the open looks at the basket, the question was whether Peja would step up to the challenge. And in the first two games he did show up, hitting 7 – 11 from the beyond the arc and 17 – 28 from the field. However the one thing I forgot to factor into my equation was that the San Antonio Spurs had Mr. Popovich at the helm. At first Coach Pop put his best defender (Bowen) on Paul in order to try and slow the best point guard in the league, but CP3 cannot be stopped and he showed that. Coach Popovich decided to put Bowen on my X-factor and by doing so has evened the series. Stojakovic shot 5 – 16 from the field in the last two games and only 1 – 4 from beyond the arc. Chris Paul will go off, West will contribute, and Chandler will get his share of rebounds and easy put backs. Despite everything if Peja can’t hit threes someone else will have to or the Hornets can start to flush their playoff hopes down the sports toilet.
I would love to sit here and tell you that I believe the home court advantage was the reason that each one of these games has been won by the home team. It’s not though. The San Antonio Spurs are seasoned veterans that can win at home or away; they just needed their head coach to make the necessary adjustments. And maybe Tim Duncan just needed a couple of days to feel better and in turn make Byron sick to his stomach. The Spurs are winning this series unless Byron Scott makes somehow figures out how to outcoach Popovich or Chris Paul puts forth two legendary performances.