Finally the Suns team we have all been expecting to see showed up. Apparently Amare went into the locker room after game 3 shouting "we are not getting swept". I guess he meant it. He was unbelievable. He has scored over 30 in every game this series and this game was no different. He dominated the 4-th quarter and that block he had on Duncan at the end was one of the most amazing thing I have ever seen. He got up in a hurry and blocked the shot as it was almost being dunked. His wrist was bent backwards as he blocked it and Timmy didn't know what hit him. Amare made several key plays on both ends of the floor and clinched the game for the Suns as the Spurs made a push in the fourth quarter as usual. Nash was back to being his usual self. Joe Johnson was sensational. He showed what we were missing this series. This guy is an integral part of the Suns offense and his high-percentage outside shooting is key to their success. He made a clutch shot coming out of a timeout with Bruce Bowen all over him. That showed his talent and also Mike D'Antoni's confidence in him.
For the Spurs, Timmy had a sub-par game. Ginobli was unbelievable as always. The Suns came up with a new strategy for Parker. They laid off of him and gave him the outside shot. They packed it in and forced him to shoot. This combined with Joe Johnson on him, made it difficult for him. I always thought he was a good enough shooter, but seems like his range is limited and letting him take the outside shot is the lesser of two evil. Apparently Joe Johnson went back to the huddle during a timeout in game 3 and said he didn't know Parker was this quick. He really is very quick and the Suns packing it in against him worked fine, at-least for one day. More than all of this, for the first time this series, the Suns played their game for an extended stretch in the 3-rd quarter. They were running and gunning. Nash was pushing, Marion was finishing and Joe Johnson and Q were hitting those outside jumpers. This was the stretch that won them the game. Hope they can do it more consistently. Now back to Phoenix hoping to win one more. I think they can do it and may be this series becomes real interesting. I am not expecting a RedSox-repeat, but may be I am hoping for one :-)
PHOENIX (111) AT SAN ANTONIO (106)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 40 5-12 1-1 0 6 6 2 4 0 1 14
S MARION F 45 5-12 0-0 3 11 14 2 2 0 1 11
A STOUDEMIRE C 37 13-23 5-6 3 2 5 1 4 2 4 31
J JOHNSON G 41 10-15 3-4 0 5 5 4 3 1 3 26
S NASH G 42 6-10 5-5 0 4 4 12 2 2 2 17
S HUNTER 14 2-2 0-0 1 0 1 0 3 0 2 4
J JACKSON 21 3-3 0-0 0 2 2 2 3 0 1 8
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
L BARBOSA DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 44-77 14-16 7 30 37 23 21 5 14 111
(.571) (.875) TEAM REBS: 3 TOTAL TO: 14 (16 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 44 6-11 0-0 0 5 5 1 4 1 0 15
T DUNCAN F 39 6-12 3-12 7 9 16 3 2 0 3 15
N MOHAMMED C 24 4-8 0-0 6 2 8 0 3 1 0 8
T PARKER G 35 5-17 3-4 1 2 3 5 1 2 6 13
E GINOBILI G 37 11-22 3-4 0 4 4 7 2 1 0 28
B BARRY 15 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 1 1 3
R HORRY 33 5-13 2-3 6 1 7 4 1 2 0 15
B UDRIH 13 4-9 0-0 0 1 1 2 1 1 1 9
T MASSENBURG DNP - COACH'S DECISION
G ROBINSON DNP - COACH'S DECISION
R NESTEROVIC DNP - COACH'S DECISION
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 42-95 11-23 20 25 45 22 18 9 11 106
(.442) (.478) TEAM REBS: 15 TOTAL TO: 12 (16 PTS)
PHOENIX 26 26 35 24 - 111
SAN ANTONIO 23 36 21 26 - 106
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - S MARION 3, S HUNTER 2, A STOUDEMIRE. SAN ANTONIO -
T DUNCAN 2, B BARRY, N MOHAMMED, B UDRIH.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 9-18 (.500), Q RICHARDSON 3-7, S MARION 1-
2, J JOHNSON 3-6, S NASH 0-1, J JACKSON 2-2. SAN ANTONIO 11-25 (.440),
B BOWEN 3-6, T PARKER 0-2, E GINOBILI 3-6, B BARRY 1-3, R HORRY 3-
4, B UDRIH 1-4.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE. SAN ANTONIO - E GINOBILI.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: BERNIE FRYER, JOE DEROSA, MIKE CALLAHAN.
A - 18,797. T - 2:30.
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