The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - The Heat and Hornets will have one more chance to shove, scream and squabble. The only first-round series in the playoffs to last beyond six games will go the distance.

On a day when the New Orleans Hornets were the verbal and physical aggressors, defensive specialists P.J. Brown and George Lynch gave Baron Davis enough offensive help to force a deciding Game 7 with an 89-83 victory Sunday.

"It's going to be a war, just like every other game in this series. It might be a little more intense," said Miami guard Dwyane Wade, who led his team with 27 points. "It's a great series - two great teams going at it. That's what you watch the playoffs for, to see who's going to duke it out in Game 7."

The series concludes Tuesday night in Miami.

The host team has won each game so far, and the Heat have a 15-game home unbeaten streak. In NBA history, the team with homecourt advantage has won its Game 7 on 70 of 85 occasions.

The mind games and brute force that have helped define this series picked up even more in Game 6, compounded by a foot injury to senior referee Joe Crawford that left only two referees on the floor for most of the game.

Robert Traylor was called for a technical when he flattened Eddie Jones on a shot attempt in the fourth quarter, then Traylor was thrown out of the game as he continued to shout at the Miami bench.

Davis also exchanged words with the Miami bench twice in the final quarter and had to be pulled away by teammates the second time. Lamar Odom, Lynch, Jamaal Magloire and Stacy Augmon also were called for technicals for their behavior toward opposing players.

"It just left a nasty taste in your mouth. I don't know what they were trying to do," Miami forward Caron Butler said.

MIAMI (83)-C.Butler 7-14 0-1 14, Odom 3-12 2-4 9, Grant 3-8 0-0 6, Wade 10-17 6-8 27, Jones 6-13 9-10 23, Haslem 0-2 3-4 3, Alston 0-4 1-1 1, R.Butler 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 29-75 21-28 83.

NEW ORLEANS (89)-Lynch 7-14 0-0 16, P.Brown 7-12 2-3 16, Magloire 6-12 2-2 14, Davis 6-19 2-2 15, Wesley 3-9 3-5 10, Traylor 1-3 2-3 4, Armstrong 1-2 0-0 2, Augmon 3-6 0-0 6, West 3-5 0-0 6, Smith 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 37-83 11-15 89.

Miami	14	19	22	28-83
New Orleans	21	22	26	20-89

3-Point Goals-Miami 4-16 (Jones 2-6, Wade 1-1, Odom 1-3, R.Butler 0-3, Alston 0-3), New Orleans 4-15 (Lynch 2-3, Wesley 1-4, Davis 1-5, Magloire 0-1, Armstrong 0-1, Smith 0-1). Fouled out-Odom. Rebounds-Miami 52 (Odom 11), New Orleans 51 (P.Brown, Magloire 9). Assists-Miami 14 (Wade 6), New Orleans 23 (Davis 12). Total fouls-Miami 20, New Orleans 23. Technicals-Odom, Lynch, Augmon, Magloire, Traylor. Ejected-Traylor. A-17,297 (17,200).

Spurs 88, Lakers 78

SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio forced the Lakers into 10 fourth-quarter turnovers and held Los Angeles without a field goal for a six-minute span, using a late 10-0 run to cement the victory in Game 1 of their second-round series.

The Lakers succeeded in getting Tim Duncan out of the paint, but he still scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to help the Spurs overcome their 9-for-21 free throw shooting. The win was the Spurs' 16th straight since late March. Game 2 in the best-of-7 series is Wednesday night.

L.A. LAKERS (78)-George 2-2 2-2 8, Malone 3-10 4-4 10, O'Neal 8-14 3-13 19, Payton 1-8 2-2 4, Bryant 10-26 9-10 31, Rush 0-1 0-0 0, Fisher 2-7 0-0 4, Medvedenko 0-1 2-2 2, Walton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-69 22-33 78.

SAN ANTONIO (88)-Bowen 2-7 0-0 5, Duncan 13-18 4-11 30, Nesterovic 5-11 0-2 10, Parker 8-19 3-5 20, Turkoglu 0-6 0-0 0, Ginobili 4-10 1-1 11, Horry 0-2 0-0 0, Brown 3-4 1-2 8, Hart 2-2 0-0 4, Willis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-79 9-21 88.

L.A. Lakers	14	19	32	13-78
San Antonio	21	20	21	26-88

3-Point Goals-L.A. Lakers 4-10 (George 2-2, Bryant 2-6, Fisher 0-2), San Antonio 5-17 (Ginobili 2-5, Brown 1-1, Bowen 1-4, Parker 1-5, Turkoglu 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-L.A. Lakers 56 (O'Neal 13), San Antonio 52 (Duncan 11). Assists-L.A. Lakers 16 (Malone 5), San Antonio 16 (Parker 9). Total fouls-L.A. Lakers 20, San Antonio 26. Technicals-Bryant. A-18,797 (18,500).

NETS-PISTONS: The last time they met, the Detroit Pistons and New Jersey Nets left yapping at each other and vowing to settle the score in the playoffs. The Pistons were miffed six weeks ago that the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion Nets committed an intentional late foul to get the chance to snap Detroit's streak of sub-70 point defensive efforts at five games. The Nets were annoyed Detroit left starting guard Richard Hamilton against their backups. The rivalry between the teams that met in the conference finals a year ago - when the Nets swept the Pistons - appeared to be heating up at just the right time.

The teams open the best-of-7 playoff series tonight in Detroit.