West dominates

There was a dominant big man on the floor Tuesday, just not the one you expected. While Tim Duncan struggled to a 5-for-18 shooting night, Hornets forward David West was scintillating on both ends.
He needed to be. As the rest of the Hornets struggled to hit shots during a sloppy first half, West lit up the Spurs for 22 points to keep New Orleans in the ballgame. At the break his teammates were 5-for-23 from the field, but the Hornets were in the game because West was 10-for-14. Eventually the rest of the cavalry rode in, and the Hornets cruised to a 101-79 Game 5 win that has the champs on the brink of elimination.
But the outcome would have been very different if not for West's dominant effort. For the night, he finished with 38 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, five blocks and two steals. He shot 16-of-25 from the floor, made 6-of-7 from the line, and only had two turnovers, even as the Spurs played musical big men trying to find somebody who could stop him.
"This was a big game for us, this was it," said West. "In our minds we couldn't go to San Antonio down. We just didn't want to go back to the locker room saying woulda, coulda, shoulda."
Hornets coach Byron Scott, who has coached West his entire pro career, said the fourth-year pro has never played better.
He's right. It's hard to come up with an adjective to properly describe how good he was at both ends, so let's describe a few plays instead. Like how he faced up on the right mid-post and went one-on-one against Duncan for a baseline drive that ended in a sweet reverse off the board. Or how he took Duncan by himself on defense and made a spectacular block, one of his five on the night; another amazing swat came when a wide-open lay-up by Ime Udoka was erased when West swooped in.
There's more. Though having a career night, West responded maturely to double-teams that came his way in the second half, making kickouts that led to two Mo Peterson 3-pointers during the Hornets' back-breaking third quarter run. He even found Chris Paul for a layup in a rare reversal of the usual Hornets pattern. And of course, he knocked down one short-range jumper after another.
And he did it all on a back that was tightening up on him and giving him trouble -- presumably from carrying the Hornets on it the whole first half.
"He was pretty upset with the way he played in Game 4," said Scott. "We've been around D-West long enough to know he was going to come back and he was going to play a great game tonight, and he carried us, especially in the first half."
"He shot the ball. He shot more jumpers," said Kurt Thomas, who along with Fabricio Oberto took most of the abuse from West. "He came out very aggressive. We've got to help out and try to make somebody else beat us."
For the Hornets, the question immediately moves on to West's back and his status for the next game. West said, "It got pretty stiff there in the second quarter," but that he'd be fine for Game 6 on Thursday. As with the Lakers' Kobe Bryant on Sunday, the fact that he was able to keep playing with it is a positive sign. The Hornets hope that rest and treatment will be enough to allow him to go again in 48 hours as the try to clinch the series.
"The good thing about them is they're both young," said Scott of West and teammate Tyson Chandler, who also was injured in the game. "Is it going to keep him out of Game 6? Probably not. We just need to make sure that we get some treatment on there, get some rest, and get ready for Thursday."