All season long, those who follow the NBA and cover it professionally said New Orleans’ youth and inexperience would finally catch up to it.

Monday was that night.

San Antonio used its playoff experience and moxie and molded Game 7 into the form it wanted. And the Hornets had no answer.

Photo by Ann Heisenfelt / The Associated Press

Spurs forward Manu Ginobili, left, gets around New Orleans center Tyson Chandler in the first half of Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals. The Hornets lost 91-82.

The result was a 91-82 home loss for New Orleans that knocked the Hornets out of the playoffs.

“We were a little jittery,” Hornets sixth man Jannero Pargo said. “They came out and were making shots. They made 12 3-pointers tonight. We made four. That’s a lot of points right there.

“Just experience. They’ve been here before. They were just taking their time and knocking down shots. We haven’t been here before, were a little jittery and a little short on our shots.”

Yet, Morris Peterson refused to use that as an excuse.

“We can make an excuse about the experience factor and things like that, but at the end of the day, we went out and played basketball,” Peterson said. “We had a chance to win. That’s how we’re going to look at it.”

Pargo’s big night

All series long, Pargo couldn’t get going. After having a career-best series against Dallas, New Orleans’ backup guard had no answer to the San Antonio’s defense and a shooting slump.

Until the fourth quarter Monday night, that is.

Pargo scored 16 of his 18 points in the quarter and helped New Orleans come back from a 15-point deficit and cut it to three points with 1:35 to play.

He even had an open 3-point attempt that would have tied the game with less than a minute to play.

“Great look,” Pargo said. “I was in the corner by myself. I saw two guys running at me, but I had more than enough time to get my feet set and get off a good shot. I wish I had the chance over again. I left it a little short. I can’t do anything about it now.”

Still a good season?

The first thing out of Chris Paul’s mouth was that the team had a good season regardless of losing Game 7 to the defending champions.

But now he’s eager for more.

“We weren’t satisfied,” said Paul, who finished with 18 points and 14 assists. “We fought every game and came up short tonight. Every was upset in the locker room. One thing David West said is we’ll be right back here next year. That’s something we can take into the summer.”

No consolation

Before you think the Hornets were happy with just working this series against the defending NBA champions into a seventh game, stop.

David West and Paul said there are no moral victories.

“I don’t know if we’re going to look at it like that,” West said. “We obviously wanted to win. … Our objective was to win. No moral victories, anything like that. We didn’t win.”

Added Paul, “No second chance in the playoffs.”