Game 1: Well the Spurs took this one 121-114. They had great play from their bench, especially Barry and Horry. The Suns failed to execute their fast break game as they pushed the ball often, but did not convert due to the Spurs transistion D. Jim Jackson had a huge game for them nailing 3's and playing good D. Marion was a ghost tonight on the offensive end as he did not have no flow what so ever, hence the 1-6 shooting and 3 points. Nash was Nash and Amare was Amare, however, in the 4th the Spurs turned it up and closed in on them. Tremendous 3 point shooting from the Spurs, and overall a great game. Duncan did not look totally healthy, but you wouldn't have known that from looking at the boxscore and his 28-15 stats from tonight. They shut down the Suns and their transistion game and their backcourt was great. Parker turned it on towards the end of the half, and carried on in the 2nd half. Next game, most likely the Suns will have JJ back and combined with Marion being able to produce on the offensive end along with some more production from Q, the Suns should have a better chance to win. They must though, need to find away to push the ball and convert.
It was a competetive game, i thought pheonix was gonna win but i think san antonio's bench really helped them down the stretch. But i mean who would have thought that the spurs would score 43 points in the 4th. But im takin the suns to win the next game either Joe Johnson plays or not, and nice half court shot by Manu to end the 1st q.
i know this doesnt have to do with san an vs. phoenix, but im just wonderin how you guys can be raptors fans ans still like vince after what he did to us
Suns are a fast breaking team, and they were not allowed to do what they do. However, i feel that offensivly the suns are too much for the spurs. They had a great game, but i don't think they can outshoot the suns in the entire series.
Only two guys came off the bench Hunter and Barbosa, JJ's absence is hurting the Suns as Jim Jackson would usually be coming off the bench. Hopefully he'll be back for tuesday night and Marion will make his presence felt on the stat sheet this time.
Brent Barry had a great game for the Spurs. He has been struggling for most of the playoffs, but he wasn't struggling in this game. He shot 5-8 from 3, and 8-12 from the court scoring 21 points. He's been averaging just 6 points during the playoffs this season. Barry stepping up helped the Spurs out a lot, and the Suns can't afford to let him shoot like that again. The Spurs got 43 points in the 4th quarter, Phoenix 32.
Suns Keys to game 2: Get Marion involved, Q Rich needs to stop shootin 3s. D'antoni's job is to tell him to shoot close shots until he gets hot, then slowly move out, that's basic basketball. MOVE AROUND! Help Nash out, get yourself open for passes. Keep running. Don't get into a halfcourt game, full court offence is what this team is built on. Shoot early in the shot clock, before the other team can set up their defense.
You guys got beat at your own game quit your whining. Tomorrow's another day and game. I'm not disrespecting you or the Suns, it could very easily go the other way tomorrow. If it doesn't though, what's going to be the excuses then!! Maybe the Spurs are a much more versatile team, guess we'll see Tuesday. I might be eating my words tomorrow! Good luck though! JT
As long as they are behind by no more than 20 and there is at least 3 minutes or more left on the clock, this Suns are always still in it. To win a game, however, they need to show the quickness on the defensive rotation that they showed against Dallas. They need some defensive stops at the end. I expect this to be a good series if they can keep Parker out of the paint. When Dallas had Nash, that was always a difficult defensive match-up. I love this contrast in styles, and so I hope this series will last until 7-games.
phoenix does not stand a chance. the Spurs are way different than the MAVS........the SPURS are way more versatile. I call it a sweep.
If JJ doesn't come back, I could see a sweep happening. If he does then suddenly our defense and outside shooting goes back up. Not to mention our bench regains the depth of jimmy jackson. So we'll see.
The Suns need to get back in this series by being more physical in the 4th quarter. They cannot allow layups and dunks and the Spurs shooting over 60% in the 4th quarter. The Spurs can be rattled if you start laying them out with hard fouls. The Spurs have also choked with a 2-0 league, when they lost 4 straight to the Lakers. The Lakers got back into the series by knocking Tony Parker all over the court. In the first two games he was getting uncontested layups and doing what ever he felt like in the paint. After the Lakers fell 0-2, they basically used their front court as a wall and slammed Parker when ever he got inside the paint. The Spurs are a poor free throw shooting team and a miss here or a miss there just helps the Suns. Both of the games have been close, and the Suns have had a chance to win either one, but they need to get Jake in there to use his 6 fouls.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">The Suns need to get back in this series by being more physical in the 4th quarter. They cannot allow layups and dunks and the Spurs shooting over 60% in the 4th quarter. The Spurs can be rattled if you start laying them out with hard fouls. The Spurs have also choked with a 2-0 league, when they lost 4 straight to the Lakers. The Lakers got back into the series by knocking Tony Parker all over the court. In the first two games he was getting uncontested layups and doing what ever he felt like in the paint. After the Lakers fell 0-2, they basically used their front court as a wall and slammed Parker when ever he got inside the paint. The Spurs are a poor free throw shooting team and a miss here or a miss there just helps the Suns. Both of the games have been close, and the Suns have had a chance to win either one, but they need to get Jake in there to use his 6 fouls.</div> The Suns aren't the Lakers of yesteryear and Suns don't have anyone near the size of Shaq. The Suns don't have a bench that remotely even comes close to the Spurs depth, experience and size. If the Suns don't win Saturday night the series is over. The Spurs of yesteryear blew a 3-0 lead in 1979 against the Washington Bullets, who then proceeded to win the NBA championship. I thought, if I added that it may make you feel better. JT
Try not to forget that last year the Lakers came back from 0-2 after losing ON THE ROAD and got to go back to He... I mean, LA where they always get away with murder and were thus able to man-handle Tony without even getting so much as a look from the refs. This series is definitely not over yet, but try not to sound too desperate while you salvage your hopes, Spurs haters.
PHX can't win because they can't match the bench of San Antonio. The Suns don't really have depth like the Spurs, and in the playoffs you see how depth comes in to play. If you have depth you usually play well, if not you get tired and worn out.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MUman:</div><div class="quote_post">Try not to forget that last year the Lakers came back from 0-2 after losing ON THE ROAD and got to go back to He... I mean, LA where they always get away with murder and were thus able to man-handle Tony without even getting so much as a look from the refs. This series is definitely not over yet, but try not to sound too desperate while you salvage your hopes, Spurs haters.</div> That's irony for you, a Spurs fan complaining about referee calls. The Spurs get plenty of non-calls and phantom fouls on their opponents. Bruce Bowen gets a way with his hand checking, Gino has been handed the torch from Vlade for the league flopper, and Duncan is usually allowed 10 fouls per game. Back to the topic, the Suns are in a world of hurt. They have not had a 3rd and 4th player step up in this series. Steve Nash and Amare are scoring, but QRich has disappeared and so has Shawn Marion. Kudos to the Spurs strategy and defense, but the Suns should be able to count on both Marion and QRich scoring 12 to 15 points per game for them. After watching both games, it's obvious D'Antoni didn't make any adjustments to get other players involved earlier in the game and to shore up the defense in the 4th quarter. Allowing the Spurs to shoot 69% in the final quarter of a close game is ridiculous. The Suns need to get physical and let some of the guys on the bench use up their fouls. I'd like to see Walter McCarty, Jake Voskul, and Bo Outlaw more to mix it up inside and try to frustrate some of the Spurs. Even get Paul Shirley in the game, at least he'll have something exciting to talk about in his Blog.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting JTex:</div><div class="quote_post">The Suns aren't the Lakers of yesteryear and Suns don't have anyone near the size of Shaq. The Suns don't have a bench that remotely even comes close to the Spurs depth, experience and size. If the Suns don't win Saturday night the series is over. The Spurs of yesteryear blew a 3-0 lead in 1979 against the Washington Bullets, who then proceeded to win the NBA championship. I thought, if I added that it may make you feel better. JT</div> The Suns don't have anyone like Shaq, but they do have the players on the bench to get physical with the Spurs and not have to worry about fouling out. Giving a hard foul and sending a message does not take talent or experience. Right now the Suns are playing the Spurs like they played the Mavericks in the last round.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">That's irony for you, a Spurs fan complaining about referee calls. The Spurs get plenty of non-calls and phantom fouls on their opponents. Bruce Bowen gets a way with his hand checking, Gino has been handed the torch from Vlade for the league flopper, and Duncan is usually allowed 10 fouls per game. Back to the topic, the Suns are in a world of hurt. They have not had a 3rd and 4th player step up in this series. Steve Nash and Amare are scoring, but QRich has disappeared and so has Shawn Marion. Kudos to the Spurs strategy and defense, but the Suns should be able to count on both Marion and QRich scoring 12 to 15 points per game for them. After watching both games, it's obvious D'Antoni didn't make any adjustments to get other players involved earlier in the game and to shore up the defense in the 4th quarter. Allowing the Spurs to shoot 69% in the final quarter of a close game is ridiculous. The Suns need to get physical and let some of the guys on the bench use up their fouls. I'd like to see Walter McCarty, Jake Voskul, and Bo Outlaw more to mix it up inside and try to frustrate some of the Spurs. Even get Paul Shirley in the game, at least he'll have something exciting to talk about in his Blog.</div> Uh, you're the one who's wanting the Suns to get physical and "use up their fouls" on San Antonio and then you accuse me of complaining about phantom fouls? Plus you sounded pretty proud about the lakers beating up on Parker last year so that little statement pretty much cancel's out your rebuttal. Don't even go there about Duncan, especially if you've ever cheered Shaq on. I've said it once but I'll say it again here; Ginobili gets hammered, elbowed or slammed hard at least 3 times for every "flop" he gets, not to mention his play usually brings out the punk in his opponent as they deal out a flagrant towards the end of a game (Denver and Seattle so far, my bet is Amare will be the dealer for Phoenix, heh heh). It's alright though, "That which does not kill us...", you should know the rest, and if you don't, look it up. Home games are where you have the best chance of getting away with that kind of desperate play, and well... Anyways, that type of play will only get you a game or two but I think Phoenix, for the most, has too much class to go that route. Of course there's still plenty of time for them to pull an LA...
