Two games in and the Hive is doing what we could not. Pounding the Spurs and boy does it feel nice.
This series is far from over and you can bet that Pop is going to have his team ready to fight in game 3 after losing the first two on the road. The Hornets though are looking very good and exposing the Spurs main weakness - lack of offensive depth and appearantly some form of unpleasant odor .
Coach of the Year Byron Scott has put together a game plan that has the lane packed and Timmy denied. He is daring the Spurs aging role players to beat him and they simply can't. This was the defensive adjustment that our dearly (soon) departed Suns coach refused to make until game 4.
I worried going in to the series that the Spurs would simply key in on Paul and the Hornets would grind to a halt. But the Hornets have shown more balance and versatility in their attack then I thought possible. Learning the lessons and adjusting their game, they are running less pick and rolls (which the Spurs defend so well with their great team D) and going more to isolation matchups that are in their favor. Again, an adjustment that G.W.D'Antoni didn't make until he was already down 0-3.
Most importantly however, the Hornets are playing with passion and fire and coming out with a chip on their shoulder. They understand from Chris Paul to Melvin Ely that to beat the Spurs they are going to need to bring it for 48 minutes. They understand that a better collection of talent stepping on the floor isn't going to get it done.
They play together and they play for each other and its been a joy to watch.