West hurt, Spurs win, game 7 Monday night

To get to the first Game 7 on the road of Tim Duncan's professional life, there was bound to be only one sure path.
In this repetitive series?
You could only assume that what happened in the third quarter, as usual with these teams, would decide whether Duncan could pack for one more trip to the French Quarter.
As San Antonio's Tony Parker helpfully observed: "The whole series, man. Third quarter looks like it's pivotal."
Playoff Schedule
WEST SEMIFINALS
New Orleans 3, San Antonio 3Game 7: Mon., TBD, at NOH
L.A. Lakers 3, Utah 2Game 6: Fri., 10:30 ET, at UTH
EAST SEMIFINALS
Detroit 4, Orlando 1Pistons win series
Boston 3, Cleveland 2Game 6: Fri., 8 ET, at CLE
The full playoff schedule
Fatal might be a better word after the pattern continued late Thursday. It was an unreservedly hideous third quarter, this time endured by the New Orleans Hornets, which helped San Antonio pull away for a 99-80 rout that, at the very least, takes Team Duncan's bid to win back-to-back titles for the first time through to Monday night.
In the intervening three days until the decider, expect to hear loads about how the playoff rookies from New Orleans have outscored the reigning champs by a tidy count of 93-46 at home in the third quarters of their three victories ... and how the Hornets completely buckled in the third quarter of a Game 6 that could have eliminated the Spurs.
"That third quarter was ugly," Hornets guard Chris Paul conceded.
"Ugly."
He said it twice for a reason. The scenes after halftime were that unsightly and dispiriting for the visitors, who suddenly might need this forthcoming 72-hour break as much as the "very old team" they're playing, as Parker jokingly called the Spurs.
Coming out of intermission feeling reasonably fortunate -- given that San Antonio shot 71 percent from the field in the first quarter and led by only seven points (58-51) at the break -- New Orleans promptly botched the inbounds pass to open the second half, essentially gifting Parker a layup.
"I looked at that as a bad sign right off the bat," Hornets coach Byron Scott said.
Not long after, Paul was called for two offensive fouls in a span of 17 seconds, followed by three fouls on David West in a span of 28 seconds. The flurry of whistles naturally enraged the Hornets since both of their stars were saddled with four fouls as a result, and New Orleans' ensuing spiral helped San Antonio stretch its lead to 78-63 entering the fourth.
Manu Ginobili's fifth and sixth 3-pointers to open the final period quickly pushed that lead to 21 before the Hornets' evening -- West's specifically -- got progressively worse. Unaware that Robert Horry was setting a hard back screen behind him -- and already trying to play through back pain -- West leaped to block Ginobili's entry pass and wound up landing back-first into Horry.
The ensuing hit floored him, too, eventually requiring West to be carried to the locker room with 10:11 to play.
"It's probably a good thing that Game 7 is Monday," Scott said, not denying that West especially might need the added rest to recover.
Yet that might also be because Duncan played him so well for long stretches, which is bound to be forgotten in the aftermath of the Hornets' collapse and West's painful exit.
With memories of West's 38-point, 14-rebound, five-block masterpiece in Game 5 still fresh, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made a concession he had hoped to avoid by starting Fabricio Oberto over Kurt Thomas and eventually asking Duncan to be his primary West defender. The result: West never looked comfortable, even in the first two quarters, while Duncan avoided foul trouble and amassed 20 points, 15 boards and a team-best six assists to highlight San Antonio's superior ball sharing and complement the nine triples pumped in by Ginobili (25 points) and Ime Udoka (13).
Said Popovich: "Things went our way tonight, that's for sure."
Now we'll see what the Spurs can do about changing the cycle of this series, having split the only two previous Game 7s -- both in San Antonio -- in Duncan's 11 seasons.
Already known as The Team That Never Repeats -- and trying to avoid going 0-for-5 in the Duncan Era in the chase to win back-to-back championships -- San Antonio goes back to the French Quarter knowing that the home team has won all six games in this series by 10 points or more.
And knowing, most of all, which quarter matters most.
Breaking things down simply one last time, Parker said: "If we can't keep it close, experience won't help us. If we can keep it close, [experience] can help us. We have played a Game 7 before."