Spurs / Hornets Series like a great title fight
Fig Jam
Don’t sleep on how great these Western Conference playoff series are. In particular, the Spurs / Hornets affair. The hornets came out in Games 1 and 2 and blew the Defending NBA Champs off the floor, looking like true title contenders in their own right. Now, after the Spurs have bounced back in games 3 and 4 to even the series, We are set to see a great 3 game series between 2 damn good teams.
I don’t know a helluva lot about boxing, but for whatever reason this Spurs / Hornets series reminds me of a great title fight (when boxing still had those) between a young upstart challenger and the incumbent champion who has dominated the sport for years. In the early rounds the upstart comes out, shows some flash and and some grit and has the champion on the ropes a little bit. Then, towards the middle of the fight the champ finds his rythym, reminds everyone (upstart included) that he is the champ, and captures momentum back.
Now, we are headed into round 9 (of 12) and the questions being asked by the commentators are: can the challenger find the magic he had early? Does the incumbent have enough left in the tank?
No matter how these questions get answered, the true winners will be those watching because what the Spurs and Hornets are doing right now is staging an old school, epic NBA playoff series. Chris Paul is showing everyone that he is the best point guard in the game right now and the pieces around him are firing on all cylinders (or they were early). The Spurs have proven once again that they don’t panic and have evened the series (Tony Parker’s contributions cannot be overlooked…. he is the reason they are in this series right now).
The games themselves have not been real close, but the results have been compelling. I know I’m in the minority of people who think that the Spurs aren’t boring, but I also really love to watch golf, so I guess for me a great sporting event is more about the caliber of play as opposed to the fireworks factor. But with Hornets in this series the flash is there, the fundamentals are there (Spurs contribution), and both teams have hit each other in the mouth a few times. From my perspective, that’s great basketball.