http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1083572849101960.xml Hornets find urgency in must-win game Hornets enjoy 26-point outburst in third quarter Monday, May 03, 2004 By Jimmy Smith Staff writer Any time there's a Game 6 in a best-of-seven series, it can be considered a closeout game since one of the participating teams holds a 3-2 advantage. For Miami coach Stan Van Gundy, Sunday's game at New Orleans Arena was all about impressing his young team to focus on the task at hand, aware that the Hornets would be playing with a sense of urgency. "When you face an elimination game," Van Gundy said, "it's about as urgent as you can get." The Heat discovered just how urgent in Sunday's decisive 89-83 Hornets victory. TICKETS AVAILABLE: Tickets are available for the first two Hornets home games of the semifinal series. Tickets went on sale following Sunday's victory at all Hornets ticket outlets. CLOSE CALLS: It has been a rough series from the beginning, and it was obvious from the outset Sunday that the three-man officiating crew of Joey Crawford, Blane Reichelt and Sean Corbin wasn't going to let Game 6 get physically out of hand. The group called three personals, two on the Heat and one on the Hornets, in the first 51 seconds. Crawford also called a technical foul on George Lynch for taunting the Miami bench with 7:41 remaining in the quarter following a long field goal from the corner. Crawford did the same for the Heat's Lamar Odom with 3:36 left in the first. The first-quarter total: eight personals and two technicals. REFEREE INJURED: Crawford left with a right foot injury with 1:45 remaining in the first. Crawford, running up the court following an inbounds play, began hobbling in front of the Hornets bench and angled toward the scorer's table where he landed in obvious pain. The diagnosis was a torn right plantar fascia. Corbin and Reichelt worked the rest of the game without Crawford. The game was delayed several minutes while physicians and trainers tended to Crawford. He was hospitalized during the first half of a playoff game last week for calf pain, but returned to work the second half. The injuries were thought to be unrelated. TRACTOR IN: Robert "Tractor" Traylor played for the first time since Game 2. He checked in near the end of the first quarter for Jamaal Magloire. Tim Floyd had been using an eight-man rotation in the past three games, and Traylor wasn't part of it. Floyd played 10 men Sunday. Steve Smith, who has gotten into only the final minutes of a couple games, entered with 2:13 remaining in the third. SLUGGISH FINISH: The Heat ended the first quarter by missing their last six field-goal attempts. SLUGGISH START: Miami missed eight more at the outset of the second, not stopping the streak of 14 straight misses until Dwyane Wade made a layup with 7:08 to go in the second. AT LAST: The Hornets finally scored more than 18 points in the third quarter of a game in this series. The breakthrough 20th point came on an emphatic slam by P.J. Brown with 4:15 remaining. Prior to Sunday, the Hornets had scored 15, 10, 16, 18 and 17 points in the previous third quarters. They had 26 on Sunday. . . . . . . . Jimmy Smith can be reached at [email protected] or (504) 826-3814. --

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