Spurs Spend Night on Tarmac

In an interview after last night's game seven win in New Orleans, Tony Parker revealed a little secret to Charles Barkley. The team hadn't planned on going back home to San Antonio after the game. They had packed for Los Angeles.

I thought it was an inspired move. But it would seem that New Orleans got the last laugh. Johnny Ludden reports:

When the San Antonio Spurs eliminated the New Orleans Hornets from the playoffs Monday night, they figured the hard part of their journey to the Western Conference finals was over.

Turns out it was only beginning.

In one of the more bizarre travel stories, the Spurs ended up spending the night on the tarmac at New Orleans airport.

The team had planned to fly to Los Angeles after the game, but arrived at the airport to find their flight had mechanical problems. With a cable convention crowding the city’s hotel rooms, the team couldn’t any place to spend the night.

Some of the players slept on the plane while others moved to buses on the tarmac.

The team left New Orleans around 6:30 a.m. And arrived in Los Angeles a few hours later. The Spurs will have only a brief shootaround on Wednesday morning before opening the conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers that night.