Well......That Sucked.

A lot of things worked against the Spurs in their first two games against the Hornets. Tim Duncan secretly hid a 103 degree fever, leading to his worst playoff game of all time (the Timmy fever, as it turns out, is nothing like the Jordan flu). Manu Ginobili has been relegated to midrange shooter because of a lingering ankle injury. The Spurs' respective shooters have gone cold, while the Hornets' shooters are on fire.

The Spurs can't really control all of these things...it's just a matter of happenstance. Yes, it sucks, but you play through it. Unfortunately, that's not all that's plaguing the Spurs. They are getting owned in almost every facet of the game. New Orleans has ridden toughness, cockiness, and a raucous home crowd to a deserved 2-0 lead.

We're going to be optimistic here, and instead of dwelling on what they're doing wrong, we're going to focus on what they could improve:

- Take Bruce Bowen off of Chris Paul to shut down Peja "bear chest" Stojakovic. I know this is a risk, since Paul will run Tony Parker ragged and render him less effective on offense. That being said, if Bowen is going to go under the screens on pick-and-rolls, let Parker do the same and use his footspeed to recover. If Parker goes under the screens and chases Paul around, Bowen could be better used on taking away Peja and his 23.5 points per a game this series.

- Don't stop attacking. Yes, if the Hornets are going to collapse the lane, you have to take the open shots. That means you, Finley. Even when you're sucking. That being said, the Spurs can't just give up on slashing to the basket, which they've been prone to do.

- Play Ime Udoka more, and Robert Horry less. Small ball is killing the Spurs, but so is Big Shot Bob-asaurus. At least Udoka is showing fight, and doesn't seem to be intimidated. I'll take his 1-6 3 PT shooting before I'll take Horry's stuck-in-mud defense on David West.

- Play with fire. You can't teach it, and I won't question the heart of guys like Timmy, Tony, Fab, or Manu. That being said, where's the passion? Where's the competitive response? I've never seen the Spurs "give up" the way they did in the second half of game two. Collectively, the team hung their heads and allowed Paul to continuously showboat, hype up the crowd, and influence the Spurs' confidence.

Maybe the shift home will change all that, because, ultimately, the Spurs can be beaten by a team that's on fire like the Hornets are, but they shouldn't be beating themselves.