(Best E Casino) - The defending world champion San Antonio Spurs and the New Orleans Hornets battle for the right to play in the Western Conference finals, as the teams meet tonight at New Orleans Arena in the decisive Game 7 of their semifinal series.

The winner of tonight's contest will face Kobe Bryant and the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in a best-of-seven series. That series will begin on Wednesday at the Staples Center.

The home team has won all six games in this series by double-digits. In Game 6, Manu Ginobili's six three-pointers highlighted his game-high 25 points as the third-seeded Spurs forced a deciding Game 7 with a dominant 99-80 victory over No. 2 New Orleans on Thursday at the AT&T Center.

Tim Duncan finished with 20 points, a game-high 15 rebounds and six assists for San Antonio, which shot 11-of-21 from beyond the arc in the victory. Tony Parker netted 15 and Ime Udoka scored 13 in the victory.

Chris Paul ended with 21 points, six rebounds and eight assists for the Hornets, who were just 2-of-9 from three-point range and connected on just 41.2 percent of their attempts from the floor.

David West was held to 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting and left early in the fourth quarter after re-injuring his back due to a Robert Horry pick. Tyson Chandler, who came into the game nursing a left foot injury, added 14 points for the Hornets, who are trying to advance to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history.

West is probable for tonight's contest. The All-Star forward is averaging 21.3 points and 8.5 rebounds in this year's playoffs.

San Antonio is 1-4 on the road in this year's postseason. The Spurs have never won a playoff series when they lose the first two games of the set.

The Spurs are 2-4 in Game 7s since joining the NBA in the 1976-77 campaign,

The Hornets, who have never lost a playoff series when they win Games 1 and 2, are 6-0 at home in this year's playoffs, and have won nine straight as the host in the postseason. They are 0-2 all-time in Game 7s.

The Southwest Division-champion Hornets are back in the postseason for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign. New Orleans moved to the Western Conference for the 2004-05 campaign, and are competing in the West playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

New Orleans won its first best-of-seven playoff series (1-6) in franchise history, as it defeated the seventh-seeded Dallas Mavericks in five games, 4-1, in the first round of the postseason.

The Hornets are 0-4 in the second round of the playoffs. They lost to New York (4-1) in 1993, Chicago (4-1) in 1998, Milwaukee (4-3) in 2001 and New Jersey (4-1) in 2002.

The Spurs, who swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in last year's NBA Finals, have captured four world championships (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007) in the last nine years.

History is not on San Antonio's side. Following a championship, the Spurs have never made it past the Western Conference semifinals in the playoffs. In 2000 they fell in the opening round to Phoenix, and lost in the semis to the Lakers in 2004 and Dallas in 2006.

San Antonio, which is playing in the postseason for the 11th straight year, advanced to the West semis for the eighth straight year. The Spurs knocked out Steve Nash and the sixth-seeded Phoenix Suns in five games in round one.

The Spurs have won four of their last seven trips to the West semis. They defeated the Suns, 4-2, last year in this round.

This is the first time the Hornets and Spurs have met in the playoffs.