If Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs want to make a series out of this, he obviously has some adjustments to make.

The Spurs were slow in defensive rotations in the second half of their 101-82 loss to the Hornets, causing David West to pick them apart at the seams. The All-Star power forward scored in all ways imaginable. Mid range jump shots. Left handed hook shots. Dribble Drives. Turnaround 17-footers with a hand in his face. And-ones. West, and not Chris Paul, was the key to the whole game.

Had the Spurs doubled West early in each of the Hornets' possessions, it would have forced Paul, who had an off night shooting, to make other decisions. Decisions that may not have panned out for New Orleans. Keep in mind that San Antonio was up by 11 early on. So how come they could not maintain the lead?

Because while West was warming up, they did nothing to make sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic take tough shots. Stojakovic had open looks all night. The defending champions need to stick Bruce Bowen on Peja because it's the threat of Peja that opens up the entire game for CP3 and the rest of the team.

Popovich erred by putting Bowen on CP3. You can't treat New Orleans like the Suns. The tactic worked on Steve Nash because Nash is not as great as everyone thinks. Nash is soft and he gets rattled easily in the playoffs. So it's a tremendous advantage to put a physical player like Bowen on him. But on a player like Paul, it won't matter because Paul is too quick and too good a player to let Bowen frustrate him.

Pop should stick with the basics. Let your best counter weapon Tony Parker guard CP3. Parker is quick enough on his feet to keep up with him. Plus Parker makes CP3 work on the defensive end. He scored 23 on him so that should tell you something. You keep Bruce on Peja so he can be physical with him and wear him down. That's how the Lakers kept beating Sacramento between 2000-2003 when Peja was in his prime. L.A. used Rick Fox to outmuscle him, frustrate him, and take him out of his comfort zone. San Antonio should do the same.

Then you take the same tactic that NO is using on Tim Duncan and use it on West. Double him with Kurt Thomas/Fabricio Oberto and Manu Ginobili, who is good at stripping the ball. You can afford to use Manu to sag off of Morris Peterson or Bonzi Wells because I don't think either of those guys can be consistent enough to be a threat all series. This allows Duncan to stay on Tyson Chandler, thus preventing any CP3-to-Tyson alleyoops.

And once Duncan starts to find his groove, Chandler will be neutralized and will probably be in foul trouble. At the same time, Chandler won't be putting up numbers like he did on Saturday. Because West was basically going nuts, Tyson pulled down a quiet 15 boards.

Let Chris Paul score 35 because he won't beat you by himself unlike the great Kobe Bryant can. Paul scored 32 against the Lakers in January at New Orleans and the Lakers blew them out by 29! West shot 7-17, Peja shot 4-11 and they combined to score only 28 points. This is how you beat the Hornets. You have to wear down the Hornets physically. You have to make West and Peja work for tough shots. You have to make the Hornets defend, and you have to get them in the penalty early in the quarter. 

If the defending champions want to have the right to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, they have to take a page out of the Lakers' scouting report in order to make their series against New Orleans a competitive one.

Otherwise, Coach Byron Scott is going to make a trip back to his hometown in a couple of weeks.

After a long layoff from FOXBLOGCITY, and after drinking my share of PURA VIDAS and enjoying beautiful COSTA RICA with friends and my sizzling Stephanie... THE DIZZLE is BACK!

The 2007 edition of TEAM USA Basketball is about to play Venezuela tomorrow to kickstart the quest for gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

We certainly have some top talent on this summer's squad, but I am not convinced that this should be the team to represent our country next year against the likes of France, Argentina, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Spain. I do believe, however, that this team is better than the team that lost to Greece last summer in Japan because this time around KOBE replaces AI. Mr. Bryant is the real answer.

But there are still questions. Will TIM DUNCAN or THE MATRIX be in the red, white, and blue next year? What about the CELTIC TRIO? Will D-WADE be healthy enough? Does SHAQ give it one more go 'round or will GREG ODEN take his place? We can dream about the real DREAM TEAM, but we must use what we have at our disposal right now...

AIR KOBE, J-KIDD, BRON BRON, MELO MAN A,  buh buh buh BILLUPS, AMARE, LEFTY REDD, HOWARD THE DUNK, DERON WILL.I.AMs, T-CHANDLER, MILLER MIKE and FRESH PRINCE OF COMPTON.

My crunch time starters are: PG- Kidd Magik, SG- Kobester, SF- Fresh Prince, PF- Amare, C- Howard the Dunk

Melo Man A, Chauncey, The King, and Lefty will head the second unit. Tyson, Will.I.AmS, and Miller Mike are there in case of foul trouble, much like THE LAKERS used Slava Medvedenko, Sasha Vujacic, and Devean George.

So tip off is tomorrow on NBA TV. Who are your STARTERS? Feel free to speak your mind.