<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs were determined not to put themselves in an early hole in another playoff series. Parker scored 11 of his 29 points and Duncan 11 of his 22 in the first quarter as the Spurs built a big early lead and cruised to a 103-81 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series. The second-seeded Spurs had a lethargic opening game in their first-round series against the Denver Nuggets and absorbed a 93-87 setback here. San Antonio rebounded to win the final four games of the series. In this one, San Antonio shot a scorching 67 percent (12-of-18) in the first quarter behind Duncan and Parker to open a 35-24 lead. "I thought Tony was awesome in the first quarter," Duncan said. "He was very aggressive out of the gates. He found the seams, he got right to the basket and he just got layups. It was just a great start to get us out." </div> <div align="center">Game Recap</div>
Spurs just haven't realized how good they really are!! If Ray Allen is down for very long it'll be a sweep. That's good, hopefully the Mavs will win 1 or 2 in Phoenix and the Spurs will have a little more rest but from last night that series may be a sweep also but kind of doubt it. Except for Devin Brown the Spurs are functioning on all cylinders. The trades for Nazr, and Glenn Robinson they've had time to learn their system. Bring on Detroit or Miami. With Detroit, it will be almost a mirror image of teams. Pop is Brown protege' and constant D is their philosophy but I think the Spurs are a better running team than the Pistons. If it turns into a defensive struggle games will be in the 80 pt. per team range. I think the Spurs problem is they lack confidence in just how good they really are. Let Bowen do his thing, he knows how to get into others players heads and frustrate them until they do something stupid and get tossed. Guess we'll see soon enough. I live for this time of year. Go SPURS Go!! JT
Spurs win game 2, 108 - 91. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker yet again led the way for the Spurs. Ginobili had 28 points in 31 minutes off the bench. Duncan had 25 points and 9 rebounds. Parker had 22 points and 7 assists. The Spurs as a team have shot over 50% from the court in both games against the Sonics.
I'm afraid that the Sonics are done. If they pull off a win in Seattle, it will be because the Spurs gave it away. I sense a sweep for the Spurs which will only help their title run.
Silky, You don't play too long for Pop with out at least showing an attempt to play D. G. Robinson was know pretty much for his offense from the 16-18 ft. range before coming to the Spurs. I feel everone that plays for the Spurs have to accept the team concept of play, their is no place for (I or me) with Spurs or you'll be long gone. You can see the Spurs confidence growing, for a while, like I said, I don't think the Spurs really knew how good they were until some of the injured players healed up. I still don't exactly know what to expect in a Suns-Spurs match up, other than the Spurs are going to slow that freight train down with D and I don't think the Suns have enough D to slow the Spurs down, now in a grind it out game the Spurs should definitely come out on top, but weirder things have happened in the NBA playoffs. We will soon see. Later JT
I think with all the injures It has helped the Spurs much more than If Tim was healthly. Now I know that with Tim the Spurs would of got homecourt throughout, I have no doubt in my mind about that but It is the play of big dog and Nazr that have really taken my attention. Nazr as soon as Rasho went down got good minutes and really producted. Had some very good double double games and even though Rasho is back, Nazr is still the starting center and really thats the best part for the Spurs team. Bones now starting was always best for him. He has not done well as a bench player. Every time he has started this year he has looked alot more confident and give the team something. Manu seems best suited for the 6th man role as he has proved in the playoffs. Averaging 21 points a game. It's not often you see an all-star coming off the bench but It has worked well and there's no reason not to keep contining that role. Manu has no real ego and as most euro's just loves to play the game and win, the starting position isn't a big deal to him. Which may be the difference between the european players and the spoiled americans. Game 3 is tonight which is a do or die game for the Sonics, I expect them to come out firing and motivated. They know If they lose this game, the series is over. Be interesting to see If Tony can keep up his great scoring pace on the road. Obviously the Sonics aren't what last years Lakers are but you can bet that TP is aware of the fact he slipped rather badly after dominating the first two games of last years conference semi-finals.
AllNet, Couldn't said it any better. If Duncan wouldn't have been injured, they may have not went for Nazr or G. Robinson and they have helped turn the Spurs into a MONSTER!! It was like a few years ago when David Robinson was injured, the Spurs found a way to win without him and it only made them better. Even when one of the 3 (D,P,G) have an off game someone else steps in to pick up the slack. I hope the Suns-Mavs turns into at least a 5-6 game series. They'll run each other to death and the Spurs should end up facing a very tired team whoever it is. GO SPURS GO!! Also, looks like S.A. may be finally getting an NFL team, Tom Benson, owes that much to S.A. and I think S.A. is finally ready and will support an NFL team. The 11 years I've been away from S.A. , it has really grown into a big time city. I don't miss the traffic though! JT
Sonics win game 3, 92 - 91. The Spurs free throw shooting really let them down in this game. Seattle went 28 - 33 from the line, San Antonio 19 - 34. Box Score
Kudos to the Sonics for playing well-enough to win, BUT with that awful free throw shooting, the Spurs truly did give that game away. Seattle can feel good about not being swept, but this series is over for them. There is no way they can win 3 out of 4 games against the Spurs.
