For the second game in a row, I got recap duty - and true to form from the regular season, whenever I get to write the recap it's never a happy one. I've managed to write a recap after a winning game one time all season. I'm not a supersitious man, but if this continues Ron may end up on permanent Recap duty.

David West bitches and moans in Game 4

As for the game? There was nothing good in that game. I tried to pick one or two plays to hold up as a microcosm of that game, but a whole slew of them stuck out to me. Just a few of the ways of Hornet's Futility:

  1. Peja has his number called three times in the first five minutes of the game. Running like a madman off screens, he managed to miss two uncontested layups and a wide open 15 foot jumper. Later, his one open three for the game? Clang.

  2. The Hornets, desperate for a run to bring the game back within reach, managed to force 6 turnovers at the end of the third - and got two points out of it.

  3. Julian Wright, who sank two big threes in game two has the ball worked around and receives it, wide open, on the wing. He passes up the shot. Next time down the court, the Spurs ignore him, he gets the ball, he passes up a wide open shot, dribbles into traffic, and loses it.

  4. Multiple times, Paul penetrated, drew the defenders, kicked to West, and West faked a shot, fumbled around, and then bricked a contested shot. When he did decide to post or drive, he managed several nice up and unders, but laid them short repeatedly.

  5. The Hornets missed a lot of shots. The starters managed 4 offensive rebounds.

  6. Tyson Chandler plays two solid quarters, keeping from fouling, making Duncan work for his shots(though Duncan was still hitting them), then, out of nowhere, he picks up five fouls in a 12 minute span.

Essentially, even when the Hornets managed to do good things, they couldn't finish them. Of course, I don't want to give the impression that the Hornets were doing lots of good things. I said in my last post that I felt comfortable because the Spurs hadn't shown they could stop our offense. They did it tonight. Oh, and don't let the spurs 30.8% long range shooting fool you. Finley and Udoka killed us from long range when the minutes mattered, and Parker seemed to hit every long shot he took.

Lets see what adjustments Byron makes and see if the Spurs can do it in New Orleans. I have a feeling next game will be very different.