Who's to blame?

Like most NBA fans living outside the greater San Antonio area, I was rooting for the Hornets last night. I always like to see new blood deep in the playoffs and I was excited about the prospect of a Lakers/Hornets series pitting the top two MVP candidates against each other. But, alas, it was not to be. A horrid third quarter did New Orleans in, and although they made a furious comeback in the fourth, the hole they dug was just too deep. I have to give a ton of credit to the Spurs, who made several adjustments between Game 2 and Game 3 that made life a lot tougher for the Hornets. They played terrific defense and Gregg Popovich should be lauded for having the trust in Robert Horry and Michael Finley, who hit some big shots down the stretch to keep the Hornets at bay. But New Orleans had the advantage heading into the game. It was at home where they had already blown out the Spurs three times in the series. What went wrong? It starts with Chris Paul. Though he had a near tr...