Stats of the Game: Spurs vs. Hornets
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich opted to bench Tim Duncan and Tony Parker for the entire fourth quarter with the Spurs trailing 76-60 entering the final period. As a result, the Spurs (1-1) lost to the New Orleans Hornets (3-0) 99-90 who remained unbeaten after three games.
It was the first lost of the season for the Spurs in only two games and it's too early to tell on how will the team fare for the rest of the season. For now, let's look at the numbers that stood out in this game.
63.6 - The Hornets had a great shooting night from behind the arc converting 7-11 (63.6%) of their 3-point attempts. The Spurs on the other hand, just made 6-26 (23.1%) of their 3 point shots.
50 - For the second straight game, the Spurs allowed their opponents to shot at least 50% from the field an indication that they need to improve a lot on defense. Also, the Spurs locked Tony Parker into a $50 million multi-year extension.
33 - The Hornets outscored the Spurs 33-18 in the third period that proved to be the turning point of the game.
38 - DeJuan Blair logged the most minutes in the game (38 minutes), and scored 4 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
25 - Chris Paul had a game high 25 points to go a long with 7 rebounds and 5 assists in just 31 minutes of action.
23 - Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 23 points and six assists in 37 minutes of playing time.
17 - The Hornets bench outscored the Spurs bench 35-25. With Marcus Thornton scoring 17 points off the bench.
2 - To sum up the Spurs woeful shooting from the floor, Tim Duncan (2-10), DeJuan Blair (2-10) and George Hill (2-7) only made two field goals each for the entire game.
What's Next? The Spurs will try to bounce back on Monday when they visit the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center. This could be the NBA debut of Tiago Splitter.
