Game 7 key questions

* Fan guide in Hornets.com's Courtside Live blog
By: Jim Eichenhofer, Hornets.com
A few things to watch for in Monday’s Game 7, which is being described as the the biggest in Hornets franchise history by pretty much everyone:
1) Does health have any effect on David West and Tyson Chandler?
In terms of Chandler, it’s safe say he’s 100 percent. After Jannero Pargo fell to the floor in hilarious fashion during Sunday’s practice, Chandler proceeded to mimic Pargo’s tumble. Obviously, if the 7-foot-1 center was injured or concerned about his toe/foot, we wouldn’t have seen him joking around on the court and intentionally falling onto his back to tease his friend and former Chicago Bulls teammate. In West’s case, he said Sunday he believes he is close to 100 percent. The three-day layoff appears to have helped him alleviate some of the soreness in his back. Let’s be honest: He scored 38 points with this same back injury in Game 5. He won’t be using it as an excuse if he has a subpar Game 7.
2) How does the return home impact role players?
Byron Scott said Sunday that he expects some of the team’s perimeter guys to play better, simply because they are in the New Orleans Arena in Game 7. Aside from Game 5, Peja Stojakovic has been spectacular at home during the playoffs. Morris Peterson has two double-digit scoring games in this series, both in New Orleans. Jannero Pargo has actually been better on the road than at home during the playoffs, but that defies how he’d performed throughout the regular season.
Speaking of role players, Scott sounded like he doesn’t want to attempt to play the starters as many minutes as he did in the first half of Game 6. In that game, Chandler, West and Chris Paul played virtually the entire opening 24 minutes (Paul sat out 3 seconds). Scott seemed to acknowledge that going to the bench too much is risky, but tiring out the primary weapons by overusing them is also dangerous. “We can’t play our starters 48 minutes at the level we want to play,” Scott said Sunday.
3) What does Chris Paul have in store for us?
This is the first Game 7 for the MVP runner-up. (By the way, the Hornets actually have more guys with Game 7 experience than most people realize, with Ryan Bowen, Rasual Butler, Mike James, Peterson, Stojakovic, Bonzi Wells and West all having played in at least one). CP has consistently come through with incredible individual performances this season in big spots. I’m sure all Hornets fans are anxiously awaiting getting to see how this emerging superstar reacts to the enormity of this game.