New Orleans at San Antonio

We have watched each of these teams dominate each other at home with all the games resulting in double-digit blowouts. San Antonio is, and always has been, a defense-first team, especially in the playoffs and especially at home. New Orleans understands what they have to do in game 5, and that is come in with the same defensive intensity they have displayed at home. Otherwise they know they are leaving 3-3, and anything can happen at that point. There is a long and decisive history in this round, and specifically in game 6 & 7 when the series comes down to crunch time. The defensive tone begins to prevail more and more. The last 10 years shows game's 1-5 averaging 188.3 ppg while game's 6 and 7 average 170.3 ppg. That is an 18 point dropoff in games that are usually most final and decisive! It's hard to take two top defensive teams, and expect anything other than what history has told us from the past.