During their run of four NBA championships in the past nine seasons, the San Antonio Spurs have put their share of opponents into deep series holes.

On Thursday, they had to be near their best to avoid one.

San Antonio climbed back into their series with the New Orleans Hornets after earning a gutsy 110-99 victory in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal at the AT&T Center.

Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili both scored 31 points in the win, which cut the Hornets series lead to 2-1.

"We know that going 3-0 - it's never been done to come back like that," said Ginobili. "Today, for us, it was a Game 7. We knew if we didn't win today, it was almost over. So we had a different approach. We played with more passion, more edge."

Despite facing swarming double-teams throughout the game, Tim Duncan added 16 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in the win.

New Orleans point guard Chris Paul led all scorers and tied a career playoff-high with 35 points and added nine assists in another spectacular performance.

Power forward David West added 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Hornets in a losing cause.

"You got to give them a lot of credit," Hornets head coach Byron Scott said. "I thought they played a lot more aggressive tonight. A lot more physical. Basically kind of took us right out of our game. I thought we lost our composure tonight a little bit as well."

The game was incredibly tight through three quarters with both teams exchanging leads.

With the Spurs holding a slim 83-78 lead to start the fourth quarter, Ginobili used a seven-point outburst in the span of a minute to give his team a little breathing room.

The Argentine guard hit a wide-open three-pointer at the 10:54 mark and was then fouled by a sprawling Bonzi Wells after the shot. Ginobili proceeded to knock down the free throw for the four-point play and then added another three-pointer just seconds later to push the Spurs lead to 90-84.

New Orleans managed to cut the lead back down to 90-88, but San Antonio suddenly found another gear and began to show some of the championship pedigree that was lacking in the first two games of the series.

Led by Ginobili, Parker and Tim Duncan, the Spurs exploded for an 11-0 run that pushed the lead to 101-88 with just under six minutes left to play.

"They made a lot more shots," Paul said. "We got away from our defensive game plan somewhat. We didn't defend as well as we did the first two games."

Paul continued to be an unstoppable force in the fourth, scoring six of his points for the Hornets. West chipped in seven in the final quarter, but he missed three key free throws down the stretch that prevented New Orleans from cutting the lead to single digits.

"We knew that they were going to play better at home. We just didn't respond," West said.

Hornets dictated play

Early on, it was the Hornets who dictated play - rushing out to a quick 8-0 lead after the opening tip.

But Parker scored 10 points in the first quarter to help the Spurs storm back to trail 23-21 after one quarter of play.

West and Paul also got off to a hot start and by halftime, the all-star duo had shot a combined 14-of-21 to account for 30 of the Hornets' 56 points.

The usually raucous Spurs crowd was also silenced in the first half as Tyson Chandler converted alley-oop passes from West, Paul and forward Bonzi Wells.

The Spurs however, managed to come back and lead by as many as four points in the second quarter thanks to Michael Finley, who came off the bench because usual reserve Ginobili started, and chipped in eight crucial points.

New Orleans regained a slight one-point advantage which ballooned to 56-49 after sharpshooting forward Peja Stojakovic and former Toronto Raptor Morris Peterson each hit threes to leave the Spurs down 56-49 with 23 seconds left.

But San Antonio cut the halftime deficit to 56-54 at halftime as Bowen hit a three pointer and Ginobili hit a buzzer-beating jumper.

Led by Paul, the Hornets came out determined to build on that slim lead by scoring 11 points in the third. The runner-up for this year's MVP award made a spectacular basket during that stretch - flipping the ball into the net with his back to the basket while being fouled.

Paul made the ensuing free throw to cut the San Antonio lead to 77-76.

But after breakdowns in the third quarter killed the Spurs in Games 1 and 2, the Spurs' biggest guns weren't about to let that happen on their home floor, where they went 34-7 during the regular season.

Duncan, Parker and Ginobili combined to score 26 of their team's 29 points in the quarter to gain the lead for good.

"We were waiting for that third quarter, that it would be on our side this time," San Antonio centre Fabricio Oberto said. "I think we did a pretty good job. It's not the best job we can do."

With the Spurs' win, the home teams are 10-0 in the four conference semifinal series. The Spurs will aim to continue that trend and level the best-of-seven series in Game 4 on Sunday night in San Antonio.

With files from the Associated Press

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