Game 2 was the most important game of the season up to this point. You can probably say that about every game at this stage of the playoffs, but game 2 was the biggest challenge the Suns have faced all season. It’s was a must-win game if ever there was one. You don’t want to go down 0-2 at home to the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs. The Suns came out and played well, but as always the Spurs had an answer for everything. It was frustrating to see the Suns play so hard, but still not quite be able to out-perform the Spurs at either end of the floor. They always have somebody contesting shots, somebody back on transition D, somebody hitting 3’s and somebody crashing the boards for offensive rebounds. In the first half of game 2, it was Nazr Mohammed who was rebounding and scoring on put-backs for the Spurs. For all their efforts, the Suns had the same 10 point deficit going into the second quarter. Both teams had scored one point more than their game 1 first quarter. So clearly the Suns were not stopping the Spurs.
But just as in the first game, the Suns got back into this one in quarters 2 and 3. They were trying hard to get Q and Marion involved with mixed results. They made some buckets in the first half, but they struggled a little bit too. There was one stretch where Q looked real bad. He missed shots, mishandled a pass and turned the ball over on the dribble, all in a span of few minutes. The turnover was a bad call and he got a T too. I was glad that when they came out in the third quarter, Q was able to stroke a couple of threes and get back into a rhythm. Tim Duncan had a sub-par first half and the Suns got him in foul trouble as well. The Suns put Timmy on the bench in Q3 with a lot of time left. This is when the crowd got into it, the Suns were rolling and they built the lead to 9. I was thinking that this is when they should step on the gas and blow the game open before Timmy comes back in Q4. But the Suns probably lost the game right there. They came of a Spurs timeout and once again the Spurs execution was flawless. Ginobli got going and even had a thunderous dunk down the lane. The Suns didn’t score for a couple of possessions and the game was back on track for the Spurs.
I couldn’t help but think that this game looks eerily similar to game 1. They went into Q4 with the same kind of lead as game 1, when they should have blown the game open in late Q3. Amare and Nash were still rolling and Q and Marion had better game 2 than game 1. Still they just could not contain the Spurs. It’s amazing how efficient these Spurs are. They got Timmy in the low block and the Suns have no answer for him. Steven Hunter played well on him, but nobody stops Timmy I guess. For all of the greatness of Steve Nash, he is not a defensive stopper. So they can’t lock up Tony Parker. Both in game 1 and 2, there were really exciting stretches when Nash and Parker just went at each other and scored at will at both ends. Obviously, the Spurs will live with that. But the most amazing guy has been Ginobli. The Suns seem to have no match-up for him. He dropped 48 on them even in the regular season. This guy is a baller and he finished off the Suns down the stretch in game 2. If the Suns can’t stop any of their top 3 options, it’s hard to win. On top of that, Barry and Horry seem to always hit the open threes. So the Suns are in deep trouble.
I hate Robert Horry. People call him “big shot Bob” these days, and rightfully so. But he has been killing the Suns since his Houston days in 94-95. On top of that, who can forget him throwing the towel in Ainge’s face when Ainge was the coach and Horry was the Suns “go-to-guy” for a few months after the Barkley trade? Now he is back hitting threes again. He nailed a crucial one in the fourth quarter and the Suns never really got back after that. Ginobli took over from there and the game was over. The Suns could have tied it up with a 3 at the end, but it didn’t quite work out.
Now the Suns have to go to San Antonio trailing 0-2. Experts are not even sure if the series comes back to Phoenix for game 5. I am pretty sure it does. Of course, as a Suns fan, I hope it comes back all tied up! But seriously, I think they win one, may be game 3 and lose game 4. I still think this series goes 6 with the Spurs winning. I think Suns can extend it for 3 reasons. One, they are better on the road than home. Two, their offense is still flowing and should help them win at least one game. And three, Joe Johnson should be back. I am thinking he’s going to give them a huge lift. So, looking forward to getting the series back to Phoenix.
SAN ANTONIO (111) AT PHOENIX (108)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 33 1-5 0-0 1 3 4 2 3 0 0 3
T DUNCAN F 36 10-19 10-11 2 6 8 2 5 2 1 30
N MOHAMMED C 28 5-10 1-2 5 3 8 0 1 3 1 11
T PARKER G 40 12-20 0-0 0 3 3 5 2 1 4 24
E GINOBILI G 38 10-18 3-5 0 4 4 4 2 1 2 26
R HORRY 28 3-6 1-2 2 1 3 2 2 0 3 10
B BARRY 25 2-5 0-1 2 1 3 4 0 1 0 5
B UDRIH 9 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 2
R NESTEROVIC 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T MASSENBURG DNP - COACH'S DECISION
G ROBINSON DNP - PERSONAL REASONS
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 44-86 15-21 12 22 34 21 16 8 11 111
(.512) (.714) TEAM REBS: 10 TOTAL TO: 12 (15 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 36 7-13 1-2 1 1 2 1 4 1 4 18
S MARION F 44 5-11 1-1 2 10 12 0 4 2 1 11
A STOUDEMIRE C 42 14-23 9-10 4 4 8 2 3 1 5 37
S NASH G 46 13-22 2-2 0 5 5 15 2 1 5 29
J JACKSON G 39 2-4 0-0 0 3 3 1 2 0 0 6
S HUNTER 30 3-6 1-2 2 2 4 1 4 0 1 7
W MCCARTY 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
L BARBOSA 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 44-79 14-17 9 25 34 20 19 5 16 108
(.557) (.824) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 17 (24 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO 31 22 27 31 - 111
PHOENIX 21 33 31 23 - 108
BLOCKED SHOTS: SAN ANTONIO - N MOHAMMED 2, R HORRY, T PARKER. PHOENIX -
J JACKSON 4, S HUNTER 3, S MARION 2.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: SAN ANTONIO 8-18 (.444), B BOWEN 1-3, T PARKER 0-
1, E GINOBILI 3-7, R HORRY 3-4, B BARRY 1-2, B UDRIH 0-1. PHOENIX 6-
12 (.500), Q RICHARDSON 3-7, S NASH 1-2, J JACKSON 2-3.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - Q RICHARDSON, A STOUDEMIRE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: BENNETT SALVATORE, BILL SPOONER, KEN MAUER.
A - 18,422. T - 2:41.
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