NBA 3 on 3 Tournament Round One -- San Antonio Vs. New Orleans

The SB Nation NBA 3 on 3 Tournament moves on with the 1 vs. 16 matchup from the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs and the New Orleans Hornets.

This Spurs' 3 on 3 team is familiar to NBA fans and indeed to each other. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan have played together for a decade and won three NBA championships. On the other hand, the Hornets trio of Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson and first-overall pick Anthony Davis have yet to take the court together and between them have played just nine games for the Hornets.

This New Orleans' 3 on 3 squad is actually quite talented, and bears essentially no resemblance to the 21-45 Hornets of last season since Davis and Anderson are new to the team and Gordon was hurt most of season. It's too bad they're a 16 seed because they could definitely compete with many other teams in this tournament. Tough luck for them that they're up against one of the great threesomes in NBA history.

Here's what the panel had to say:

• Tom Ziller, SB Nation NBA, Sactown Royalty -- San Antonio wins 18 of 20.
• Andrew Sharp, SB Nation NBA -- San Antonio wins 19 of 20.
• Steve Perrin, SB Nation NBA, Clips Nation -- San Antonio wins 16 of 20.
• Frank Madden, Brew Hoop -- San Antonio wins 16 of 20.
• J.A. Sherman, Welcome to Loud City -- San Antonio wins 15 of 20.
• Overall probability of a San Antonio win -- 84 percent.

Expert comments:

I like to think Tim Duncan would be one of the secretly greatest three-on-three or 21 players ever. Who wouldn't want to see, say, Tim and Dirk go one-on-one for hours? -- Ziller

Tony Parker's just too much for anyone to handle here, even with his scratched cornea, and Ryan Anderson trying to defend Manu would be like one of those cruel slaughter scenes from Planet Earth, so this would never be close. Would probably pay 100 dollars to watch Duncan and Anthony Davis play one-on-one, though. -- Sharp

New Orleans is not without weapons here. Gordon and Davis are Team USA gold medalists in 2010 and 2012 respectively and if Anderson gets hot from deep they can definitely compete. But yeah, not sure how they stop this group of Spurs. -- Perrin

I think the Hornets guys would make things difficult for the veteran Spurs, but not enough to knock them off. Rookie Anthony Davis in particular could do well to pull Duncan away from the rim, which would give Gordon opportunities to drive and finish or kick it to the wings for three-point marksman Anderson. However, I think the real key to the Spurs is that nobody in the league can stay in front of Parker and he'd get too many easy points in the paint, even against Davis, and Ginobili knows how to turn young ballers inside out with his bevy of ball fakes and cuts. -- Sherman

The chalk outline on the floor? That's what happens when Ryan Anderson tries to check Manu Ginobili. -- Madden

The Results

Remember, we're letting the dice decide who actually wins these games, so although the panel thinks the Spurs are overwhelming favorites and would win 84 percent of the time, the Hornets still have that 16 percent chance of pulling the upset.

What do you think?

The results will be posted later this afternoon.