This fascinating series came to a heart-breaking end in game 6. The once promising season for the Phoenix Suns ended today in San Antonio in near-tears for MP3 Steve Nash. In all honesty, this series ended a few days ago when the Commish and Stu Jackson decided to suspend Amare and Boris for game 5. I was just wondering watching this game how life is all about timing. The Suns could have easily handled those suspensions if only it had happened a game later and they didn't have Amare for game 6 on the road. It would have still been a different series if the suspensions had happened for the road game instead of the home game. But now it has become the biggest story in the history of Phoenix sports and it will be that way until the Suns win one. I don't think David Stern can ever go into Phoenix without getting booed. This pretty much establishes a "curse" for the Phoenix Suns. All thats missing is a name for the curse and I am sure someone will come with it pretty soon.
This game started as all the other games did in this series as "both teams played hard", to borrow a phrase from Rasheed Wallace. But it was obvious early that it was probably not going to be a "god blessing good night" for the Suns (to quote another Sheed phrase from the same press conference). The game was too close, too physical and played too much at Spurs pace for the Suns to feel comfortable. The 3's were still not falling for the Suns, LB was missing in action and so was Boris. The Suns were basically riding Amare who was playing real well. Nash was finding people though he was being harassed by Bruce and took very few shots. On the other side, you could see that the big 3 were ready today. Timmy, Tony and Manu were on fire. Parker decided to take a lot of shots for some reason and a lot of them went in for him in the first half. Suns alternated between doubling and singling Timmy and it didn't seem to bother him either ways. The guy was amazingly efficient as always, but more importantly was dominating the defensive end. He had like 5 blocks in the first quarter or something and was bothering everybody in the paint including Amare. Duncan dominated this game on the defensive end from the opening whistle to the buzzer.
All of this resulted in a 53-51 half-time lead for the Spurs. The Suns were still in a great spot. They were scoring well despite Timmy's D, but you could see 2 issues. First, not all the Suns were contributing and secondly, they couldn't stop the Spurs as the big 3 was rolling. Manu continued his great game 5 performance with another strong, all-around game and that spelt trouble for the Suns. Then came the third quarter when things got ugly for the Suns. They just could not stop the Spurs as Manu hit some clutch 3's and the other Spurs joined him in the fun. Timmy had to be double-teamed every possession and he found the right guy and the ball moved around the perimeter as the Spurs found the best shot every time. The Suns got cold at the same bad time and they also had to rest Nash at the end of the 3-Rd. Quickly and suddenly this game got out of hand. The Suns just scored 16 as they ended the third trailing by 14. The game was almost over.
Jeff Van Gundy joined the ESPN crew for this game and made several insightful observations. One of the things he pointed out during that second half Spurs run was how coach Pop adjusted to the Suns leaving open Jacque Vaughn as they went to double-team Timmy. Vaughn can't or didn't want to shoot the perimeter jumper. So the Suns left him open, but Pop made him the cutter to the hoop when Timmy had the ball. This meant the Suns had to respect him since you can't leave anybody open 2 feet from the hoop. This opened up the 3-point shooters on the perimeter. The ball went from Timmy to Vaughn to the perimeter. Great coaching by Pop and great point by Van Gundy.
The pain continued for the Suns in to the fourth as the lead ballooned to 20. Then Nash came in to the game and started playing crazy. They got in to this frantic, desperate pace and nobody plays better and more under control in that mode than Nashty. It's amazing to see him dominate stretches of games like this despite the great D by Bruce Bowen. He scored 15 points in the 4-Th and didn't miss a shot as the 20 point game became a 6 point contest. Once more, the Suns showed just how tough and how unbelievably determined they are. But the problem was, as always, getting stops. Timmy, Tony and Manu on offense could pretty much get what they wanted. The Suns tried hard and played tough, but they felt a little short again. Amare and Nash were amazing in this game. Amare had 38 reminding us of his series against the Spurs 2 years back.
The season is now done and Nash looked really despondent and couldn't stop talking about the suspensions. It should be really disappointing to a determined guy like him who has worked like a dog for 8 months and all that has gone down the drain now. He is focussed on one thing and thats a championship. He is 33 years old with 2 MVP trophies in his shelf and has nothing else to play for. A ring will absolutely cement his legacy. Unfortunately the stupid suspensions came in the way this year.
Now it's all about the off-season. First off, we hope this team is not broken up because of luxury tax reasons. Thats the biggest fear for the Suns fan. Next, they have a pick or two coming in this year's draft that they have to use smartly. But the real question is, how do they get past this dreaded Spurs team? This series made it obvious that the Spurs are better and their style wins in the playoffs hands down. I hate to admit that defense wins championships, but it just does. Look at the Spurs and the Pistons. They are built for the playoffs. Mike D'Antoni better accept the reality that the Suns have to get better defensively. They just have to do what the Spurs did a couple of years back, but in the reverse. The Spurs were always awesome defensively, but when Sean Elliott retired and David Robinson slowed down, and the Lakers got Kobe and Shaq going, the Spurs actually hit a speed bump. Thats when they got Tony Parker and Man Ginobili and got some athleticism and offensive creativity on the perimeter. Defense was still their calling card, but they got good offensively to continue their dynasty. They also got young guys who they coached to play their style of defense which Pop was never going to compromise on.
This is why the Spurs win against the Suns so easily. Manu and Tony can kill the Suns because they can play that style as well as the Suns. In addition, Bowen and Timmy also stop the Suns at the other end and thats how they beat the Suns. The Suns have to do the same in the reverse. They don't have to change their philosophy or give up on their style, but they need to get some players who can defend and block shots in addition to playing their offense. They can't get over the Spurs with this team. Van Gundy made this point that the Suns are a great team, but they may be stuck in the wrong time-frame in the NBA when the Spurs dynasty is firmly entrenched. I am afraid about this too. Malone, Ewing and Barkley had a MJ to deal with and I don't want these Suns to have the Spurs in their way forever. Bill Simmons on ESPN suggests that the Suns should trade Amare for KG. His point is, KG is hungry, very good defensively and is the only guy in the league who plays Duncan to a draw. I think it's an interesting idea, though John Gambo in the Arizona republic called it the worst idea ever. All these wild ideas apart, the Suns need to respond quickly and effectively to this Spurs threat.
Teams 1 2 3 4
Phoenix 23 28 16 39 106
San Antonio 23 30 28 33 114
Phoenix
SHOOTING REB
name fg ft 3pt o-t ast to stl blk pf pts
Shawn Marion 5-12 1-2 0-1 5-11 1 2 1 4 2 11
Kurt Thomas 2-6 1-2 0-0 2-3 3 2 0 0 4 5
Amare Stoudemire 14-28 9-10 1-1 5-12 0 0 0 4 2 38
Raja Bell 5-9 2-2 1-4 0-4 1 4 1 1 6 13
Steve Nash 7-10 1-2 3-4 1-6 14 5 1 0 3 18
Leandro Barbosa 5-15 3-4 0-5 0-5 3 2 1 0 3 13
Boris Diaw 0-1 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 2 1 0 1 1
James Jones 3-4 0-0 1-1 0-1 0 0 0 0 2 7
Jalen Rose - - - -
Pat Burke - - - -
Jumaine Jones - - - -
Marcus Banks - - - -
Eric Piatkowski - - - -
Sean Marks - - - -
TOTALS 41-85 18-24 6-16 13-43 22 17 5 9 23 106
FG %:.482; FT %:.750; 3PT %:.375
Points of TO:18
Team rebounds:11
Technical fouls:
Illegal defence:0
San Antonio
SHOOTING REB
name fg ft 3pt o-t ast to stl blk pf pts
Bruce Bowen 3-10 0-0 2-7 0-6 3 2 2 0 2 8
Tim Duncan 11-19 2-6 0-0 8-13 1 4 0 9 3 24
Fabricio Oberto 1-1 0-0 0-0 1-3 1 0 0 0 4 2
Michael Finley 3-6 4-4 1-4 0-3 1 0 1 0 2 11
Tony Parker 11-27 8-11 0-3 0-2 6 1 0 0 0 30
Francisco Elson 1-3 0-0 0-0 3-5 1 2 1 0 4 2
Manu Ginobili 11-17 7-9 4-7 4-11 6 3 4 0 4 33
Brent Barry 0-2 0-0 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 0 1 0
Jacque Vaughn 2-3 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0 1 4
Matt Bonner 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Melvin Ely - - - -
Jackie Butler - - - -
Robert Horry - - - -
Beno Udrih - - - -
James White - - - -
TOTALS 43-88 21-30 7-22 16-43 22 12 9 9 21 114
FG %:.489; FT %:.700; 3PT %:.318
Points of TO:17
Team rebounds:7
Technical fouls:
Illegal defence:0
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