Game Seven. No way out except onward. The defending champs responded at home and sent a message about their physical approach. Now the Hornets are at home, hoping to knock off the Spurs and keep them from their "one for the thumb." In an expanded edition of our playoff game previews, here are seven things to keep an eye on in tonight's Spurs-Hornets Game 7.





1. Let's Get The Ugliness Out Of The Way: David West will play. So will Robert Horry. And it'll probably be fine and nothing else will happen. But the tension will be there. And don't be completely shocked if there's another incident of "good playoff basketball" somewhere that ends up with West clutching his back again. These things "just happen." Meanwhile, Horry will be booed like he probably never has been before. Suns fans didn't get another shot at him that season and are notoriously civil. I would not expect the same treatment from the New Orleans folks. There's going to be a lot of physical play and don't be surprised if we see more technical fouls as both teams are really getting to dislike one another.

2. Duncan Versus West: Mano A Mano: The Spurs are 1-1 in putting Tim Duncan on David West one on one. Duncan was able to shut down the All-Star before the "good hard playoff basketball" by using his size and length in conjunction with a cohesive Spurs effort that jacked up the spacing for the Hornets on the offensive end. Conversely, in Game 5, with a healthy David West and the confidence of homecourt, West was nearly unstoppable. If he gets separation from Duncan and freezes him with the drive fake, he can get his jumper going, and that's when he gets scary. Conversely, Tyson Chandler has the job of guarding Duncan on the defensive end, but West has held his own. You never know which Tim Duncan is going to show up anymore. The bamboozled veteran that seems to slow and too clumsy to ever get anything going, or the best power forward in the history of the game. The Spurs can win without Duncan going off, and they can lose with Duncan scoring 30+, but both scenarios are very difficult to achieve.

3. The Arc Of The Covenant: I've talked a lot elsewhere about the outside shooting differential this series between the two and how important it is, but essentially it comes down to this. Whoever shoots better from the arc will win the game. It's that simple. At home, the Hornets have managed to collapse the defense in, opening up shots for Peja Stojakovic on the left wing and Mo Peterson in the right corner. Conversely, Brent Barry has been the only Spur to step up on the road from beyond the arc. Bruce Bowen has streaks where he lights it up but he hasn't been able to keep the flame lit. The Spurs need to work Ginobili on the right wing as the entry pass man in order to create confusion in the Hornets which frees up open three pointers on the rotation. In a series this tight, it comes down to something as simple as how both teams shoot the ball to decide who advances to face the Lakers.

4. Point Points, Point By Point: Tony Parker has had a series that, against anyone else, would make him look magnificent, like the top-5 NBA point guard he is. Unfortunately, he's up against Chris Paul, who's become the best point guard in the league hands down, and has shown that off in the playoffs. These two go at each other like nothing else. What I've found especially interesting is how each one tries to take the momentum away from the other one. Say Paul comes off a screen and roll, loses Parker, attacks the basket and scores. Parker immediately sprints to quarter court, gets the ball, runs full speed for the other end and tries to get a layup to answer. Paul does the same thing. Both of them try to temper the other one's scoring with efficient responses. This works because the 1st scorer is still trying to recover defensively after the layup. Transition defense against the point guards by the other team is vitally important, and it's yet another matchup that's too close to call. The Spurs have Bruce Bowen who can get in front of Paul, use his speed, hands, body, and incredible flopping ability to stop Paul, and the Hornets have Tyson Chandler, who has been ferocious in attacking Parker on drives. These teams go the way of their point guards, and neither one can afford a poor game tonight.

5. Speed Versus Efficiency: The Spurs have displayed their versatility once again in this series. After failing in an attempt to play "slug-it-out" ball with the Hornets, the Spurs turned to their speed with Parker and Ginobili. The Hornets transition defense is good enough to slow it down by a margin, but the Spurs are still using less of the shot clock and attempting to get ahead of the Hornets' assignments. When it's worked, it's worked well. When it hasn't, it's just run them out of gas. Conversely, the Hornets are taking their sweet time. They had one of the lowest Pace rates in the league last year (along with the Spurs), and one of the highest efficiency marks. It's a difficult balance to maintain, but it's an effective strategy if you pull it off. Have very few possessions, and make each one count as much as you can. The risk involved is that a shooting slump is much more devastating to the Hornets than the Spurs, since the Spurs will just try and create more shots. Of course to do that, you have to ...

6. Crash The Glass: Offensive rebounding in this series is huge. If you give the Hornets another possession, it allows them to bludgeon you again with Paul and West. If the Spurs grab one, they have such size it usually means a put back. Both teams need to rebound effectively to win, and that means staying out of foul trouble. Tyson Chandler especially has to hope the refs don't get whistle happy early. Chandler can be a huge impact player, knocking the ball back out to the perimeter to create another instant possession. He can also create a huge mismatch if he gets in foul trouble, because it's unlikely Melvin Ely is going to set the world on fire. If Fabricio Oberto gets in trouble, the Spurs have Kurt Thomas, but Thomas has struggled in long stretches because, well, he's older than dirt. Whistles will determine the rebounding, which may determine the outcome.

7. The Finish Line: Enjoy this one. This has been the best series in the playoffs by far, and may be the best for the rest of the way as well. Two brilliant point guards, two All-Star power forwards, veteran shooters, rookie Julian Wright, journeyman Ime Duoka, the best coach in the NBA versus the NBA Coach of the Year, drama, the city of New Orleans as a backdrop, and Peja heads on a stick. It's Game 7, there's no next game for one team. Win or go home. This is why we watch.