Open Court: This isn’t basketball

This is big.

Monday night’s Game 7 between the San Antonio Spurs and the New Orleans Hornets is about much more than a trip to the Western Conference Finals.

In fact, the very essence of what makes basketball special is at stake.

Simply put, the Spurs can’t win. A San Antonio victory sets the NBA back 20 years.

Hyperbole, you say? Nonsense. If anything, I’m underplaying the significance.

For all the talk of the Spurs’ professionalism and sportsmanship over what has been a remarkable nine-year run, this current incarnation has to be the most agonizing team to watch for anyone who has ever cared about basketball.

Late in Thursday’s Game 6, Robert Horry — yes, the same Robert Horry who body-checked Steve Nash into the scorer’s table last season — laid a shoulder into David West’s back.

West writhed in pain as San Antonio’s crowd cheered Horry’s abhorrent display of poor sportsmanship.

“Big shot” Rob? Try “cheap shot” Rob.

Of course, this play is barely a blip on the radar compared to his teammate’s flopping antics.

For all of his gifts as an offensive player, Manu Ginobili reacts to every bit of contact on the defensive end as if he is being shot out of a cannon.

Fellow Argentinian teammate Fabricio Oberto has taken flopping to a new level, falling to the floor even if he is the only player in a 10-foot radius.

The Spurs’ flopping has infected the NBA like the Ebola virus, turning professional basketball into a depressing combination of flag football and soccer.

The worst part? The flopping epidemic has even infected the great Tim Duncan — one of the league’s finest defensive players and an all-time top-10 talent.

In Game 6, West made a pivot move into the lane to set up his patented jump hook, and Duncan hit the deck as if he had been hit by a truck.

The official immediately made the offensive foul signal. A disgusted West soon picked up a technical foul.

Did Duncan make the right move? Absolutely, especially since this inept crew of NBA officials can be tricked by anyone who knows how to flop correctly.

But plays like this are robbing the NBA of its competitive edge.

Each time the Spurs don’t get a call they like, they whine and complain like a spoiled teenager.

The Hornets are a fun, likable team led by a breathtaking point guard. It is up to them to eliminate the Spurs.

Their flopping and complaining is getting out of hand, and it is compromising the integrity and the soul of the game.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747