Hornets gain ground, but Spurs clinch playoff spot after Suns lose

Basketball Betting Lines

03/29/2009 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David West went 11-for-11 from the free throw line as part of a 23-point effort, and the New Orleans Hornets made up some ground in the Southwest Division with a 90-86 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

West also pulled down 16 rebounds for New Orleans, which moved to within 2 1/2 games of the Spurs with 10 games remaining. The Hornets also moved into a sixth-place tie with the idle Jazz in the conference standings.

Chris Paul added 26 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, as the Hornets won for the fourth time in six games. Antonio Daniels contributed 10 points in the victory.

Tony Parker had a team-high 20 points to go with seven assists for San Antonio, which had a three-game win streak snapped and dropped to only a half- game ahead of Denver and Houston for second place in the West. Nonetheless, the Spurs clinched a playoff spot after Phoenix lost to lowly Sacramento on Sunday.

Tim Duncan provided 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Manu Ginobili had 17 points in the defeat. Michael Finley added 12 points.

Trailing by five to start the fourth, the Spurs cut their deficit to 72-71 on a Drew Gooden layup with 8:36 left, but the Hornets pushed their lead back to five, 80-75, on a Paul jumper with five minutes remaining.

A Matt Bonner three made it a three-point game with 3:40 left, and, after several failed possessions by both teams, West's jumper with 38.9 seconds left made it 85-80 in favor of New Orleans.

Finley's three-point attempt was off on the ensuing possession, and Rasual Butler hit two free throws to put the hosts ahead by seven.

Just when the game seemed to be in control, Ginobili drained a three and was fouled on New Orleans' inbounds attempt, giving the ball back to San Antonio. Finley promptly connected on a three from the corner to make it 87-86 with 17.8 seconds to play.

Paul was fouled by Ginobili with 7.1 seconds on the clock in the act of shooting a three-pointer from about half-court. San Antonio was extremely unhappy with the shooting foul call, but Paul sank all three from the line to make it a four-point, two-possession game.

San Antonio only got one shot off before the buzzer, a missed three-pointer by Finley, giving New Orleans the victory.

The Spurs held a 25-19 lead after the first quarter, but the Hornets cut their deficit to 47-43 at halftime.

New Orleans quickly made up its deficit, forging ahead, 55-53, on a Julian Wright three-point play just past the seven-minute mark.

Back-to-back threes later in the third from Finley and Ginobili put the Spurs back in front by four, but a Sean Marks dunk gave the Hornets a 64-63 lead with 2 1/2 minutes to go. The hosts led, 68-63, heading to the fourth.

Game Notes

New Orleans leads the season series 2-1, and the teams will meet on April 15 in San Antonio to close out the season...Spurs center Fabricio Oberto missed his second straight game with a irregular heartbeat...New Orleans forward James Posey missed the game after being suspended for one contest following an altercation with a referee in the team's loss to New York on Friday...The Spurs fell to 21-11 in games decided by six or less points.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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