The 31-31 Hornets finish up their season series against the Spurs tonight in San Antonio, trying to avoid the 0-4 sweep. Game tips at 8:30 Central, and you can catch it live on ESPN.

The Spurs haven’t played since beating the Hornets last Monday in New Orleans. They relied heavily on the pick and roll in that game and caught the Hornets out of position repeatedly. George Hill, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan did most of the damage for San Antonio. Marcus Thornton did his best to keep the Hornets in it with a game-high 30-point effort, becoming only the fifth rookie in the last 20 years to drop 30 on the Spurs.

While the Hornets may not win tonight, I have two reasons to believe that they’ll put up more of a fight than they did on Monday. First, they have Darius Songaila back healthy again, and he can defend that high pick and roll much better than any other big on the roster. Second, Darren Collison should be better rested for this one. He looked exhausted in the second half on Monday, playing that second game of a back-to-back and his third game in four nights. Not easy when you’re getting no less than 42 minutes per.

Numbers:

Pace: Spurs 93.9 (22nd), Hornets 94.7 (17th)
Offensive Efficiency: Spurs 106.6 (9th), Hornets 104.5 (14th)
Defensive Efficiency: Spurs 102.5 (10th), Hornets 105.7 (18th)

Linkage:

• Journals: Marcus Thornton – The evolution of Buckets
• Lagniappe: Much love for the rooks, plus a breakdown of some key plays from Wednesday’s game
  
• Standings: The Hornets are now 10th in the West, five games behind the 8th-place Blazers and 7th-place Spurs.
• Rival bloggers: 48 Minutes of Hell (THN) | Pounding The Rock | Project Spurs

(Many thanks to Dariusz for today’s banner featuring David West. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz’s designs in our Wallpapers vault.)