http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1083146165317290.xml Hornets show poise in pivotal 4th quarter Wednesday, April 28, 2004 Peter Finney When it got dicey down the stretch, in a game ready to tilt either way, avid Hornets watchers probably were dreading what they had witnessed too many times this season. An unraveling. A turnover. A forced shot. A lead that evaporated, slowly, painfully. Well, not this time. In the clutch, the Hornets on Tuesday night were Mr. Cool, which is why they're headed back to Miami all even at 2, thanks to a 96-85 victory that had fourth-quarter poise written all over it. Yes, Baron Davis was your hero, with a game-high 23 points, but it was not the 23 that was Davis' signature. Instead, it was the last of BD's game-high 10 assists, a 12-foot pass he drilled down the middle, to a wide-open David West, who banked it in to stretch the lead to 88-82 with 53 seconds remaining. When Davis was hitting a 3-pointer at the start of the fourth quarter to tie the score at 71, he was drawing a crowd of Heat players -- and he was dishing to an assortment of teammates, sometimes to George Lynch, sometimes to Stacy Augmon, who combined for 28 points on 11-for-16 shooting, filling a position vacated by Jamal Mashburn. "Baron's a tough guy," said weary Coach Tim Floyd, who watched a team that had trouble shooting 40 percent over most of the regular-season finish with 50 percent. "He got everyone involved with his penetration. He got us going early offensively. He did it in the open floor, and he did it in late-shot clock situations. That's why we shot a good percentage." Floyd could not have asked for a better getaway. The Hornets came out of the gate with a bounce in the legs and a sharpness in the eye. With Davis and David Wesley knocking 'em in from the perimeter, the home team was firing away at 53 percent after the first 12 minutes to establish a five-point cushion. It only got better in the second quarter when the Hornets began getting a big lift from Lynch and Augmon, who were 8-for-8 -- Lynch doing his damage from a distance, Augmon from the inside. When Davis made his third 3-pointer with time running out in the half, the Hornets went to the locker room with their hottest opening 24 minutes of the season, a torrid 61 percent. But, when the Heat came alive in the third quarter, mainly on the athletic moves of Lamar Odom, the challenge was there. Miami turned a 50-44 deficit to a 71-68 lead with a 22-8 blitz that left the Hornets down, but not out. "I think the guys knew they had to dig down, and they did," Floyd said. "It was definitely gut-check time." The Hornets sent a message when they busted a deadlock at 75 with two inside baskets, by Jamaal Magloire and West, followed by a 3-pointer by Darrell Armstrong that barely beat the shot clock, followed by a West dunk that came on a feed from Davis. This set up a stretch run with Davis passing out assists, with Augmon beating the 24-second clock, with Wesley and Augmon closing the door with eight straight from the foul line. "We just willed it out tonight," Davis said. "We played smart, and guys stepped up and made big shots and played big on defense." Heat coach Stan Van Gundy was realistic. "We each won two at home," he said, "and now it's a three-game series. I don't see it as a major concern. We're two evenly-matched teams, and I didn't come in here thinking we were doing to sweep 'em. Augmon and Lynch really, really killed us with those 28 points. And Davis hit some unbelievable shots. Now we go home.'' Home is where the Heat have won 14 in a row. "We can go into Miami and win Game 5," Davis said. "It's just a matter of us playing physical, playing with consistency and poise on the road." Floyd will tell you he'd gladly settle for the kind of poise his team flashed over the final 12 minutes Tuesday. . . . . . . . Peter Finney can be reached at [email protected] or (504) 826-3802. --

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