Standing between them is a ticket to Los Angeles for the Western Conference finals. Who will take it?

THAT is the question as the 2008 NBA playoffs FINAL FOUR nears its completion. The Pistons and the Celtics already punched their ticket for the Eastern Conference championship series while the Lakers await who’ll earn the trip to L.A. between the defending champions Spurs and probably the hottest team in the league, the Hornets.

The New Orleans Hornets, with the breakthrough season they’ve been having this year, found themselves in the position to reach the conference finals for the first time in franchise history. After all those losing campaigns, this year’s Hornets turned this franchise from the whipping boys of the league to a legitimate title contender.

Led by Most Valuable Player of the Year runner-up Chris Paul, the Hornets have the chance to rewrite history with a win over the defending champions of San Antonio. However, beating the San Antonio Spurs in a do-or-die playoff game is easier said than done. STILL, people from New Orleans finally have something to cheer for and you can’t really blame them if they start expecting nothing less than a championship this year.

”You walk around the city, everybody is talking about winning,” Chris Paul said.

”This is it,” David West added. ”For us, as a basketball unit, we don’t want the season to end. We’ve got to play the best basketball game we’ve played this season. To get the defending champs out, we know we’ve got to put together the game of our young careers.”

But are these Hornets really ready to put together the game of their YOUNG careers? Getting a win over an experienced team like the Spurs, especially with them being the defending champions of the world, is definitely a tall order and while YOUTH is what the Hornets will be bringing for the pivotal Game 7, Tim Duncan and the rest of the Spurs will have the EXPERIENCE.

Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker have all the championship experience any core of any basketball team can ask for. The Spurs already won Game 6 with their backs against the wall. Will Game 7 play a different tune once this series resumes in New Orleans?

Game 7 of this wild Western shootout should be a dandy.

Who will win Game 7 between the New Orleans Hornets and the San Antonio Spurs? Bodog Sportsbook has the odds.

New Orleans Hornets -4.5

San Antonio Spurs +4.5

Want more odds? Visit Bodog for more basketball betting odds and the best betting lines on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

San Antonio Spurs New Orleans Hornets