If you are a Suns fans, nothing makes you sadder than the sight of the San Antonio Spurs team executing like a machine. Thats exactly what we saw in game 1 as the Spurs were just as efficient as ever. The playoff intensity, tough in-game situations, challenges of playing on the road, nothing seems to really bother this robotic Spurs team. They have had the Suns number the last 3 years and the Suns just can't figure them out. They can't run at them and sometimes they can't even run with them as the Spurs have no problems scoring on the Suns. Tim Duncan is unstoppable across the NBA, but he is just a little bit more effective against the under-sized Suns.
But the Spurs real match-up edge comes not from Timmy, which is something the Spurs have against every team, but it's Tony Parker. This guy kills the Suns and exposes the MP3's one weakness, defense. Also he gets more of a green light from Pop against the Suns because of the style of the game and that lets him do more and make it harder for the Suns. This guy can probably dominate a lot of teams, but he gets the chance against the Suns. This game started off just as the Suns had feared with Tony on fire. The Suns strategy on him is to play Marion and also give him the jump shot. The problem is, this guy has gotten better as a jump shooter every year and is now a pretty good one. But the Suns can't defend the paint and they have no choice but to give him the jumper.
Nash started well himself with Bowen's defense on him not bothering him all that much. But the Spurs stuck to their guns. They stay home on the 3 point shooters, defend the paint with their bigs and let Nash enjoy more opportunities to score. It's interesting how they think cutting off the 3 kills this team more than shutting Nash on his pick and rolls. This is one of the rare situations where a team, especially a great defensive team like the Spurs, worry more about stopping the 3 than potential layups. Thats just a great coach understanding what drives this Suns team. So the Suns did not get open 3 point shots and they just rode Nash's back in this game. Barbosa was good in spots and the rest of the team was not really effective.
Suns actually scored enough to win this game. They did take the lead in the second quarter, but then the third foul on Amare derailed them. The call was a bad one, but the Suns over-reacted. Clearly this changed the way Amare played, but more importantly the Suns got all agitated and they started focussing more on the refs than the game itself. They gave most of the lead back and went into the half just leading by 2 and that was cut to 1 as Marc Iavaroni got a T to start the third still arguing about that Amare call.
It was clear by now the Suns were in a dog fight. Tony was having his way and by now Timmy was getting in the game too. The Suns put Marion on him to protect Amare and that opened the game up for Timmy. The Spurs went to him consistently and when they didn't, Parker was always there to hit the wide-open jumper. It felt like the Suns had to score just to keep pace as their defense could not stop the Spurs and if they did stop them, then the Spurs were there to get the offensive board. But still the Suns were very much in it.
The see-saw battle went in to the fourth and then late in to the fourth when Nash kept them alive on offense. They scored on 4 consecutive pick-and-rolls late in the fourth. Once with Amare, twice with Marion and the fourth time, Nash took it himself as the defense shaded towards Marion. But they couldn't get stops at the other end. By now Amare was back on Timmy and he actually played him real well. But Timmy showed why he is a hall-of-famer as he made some tough shots.
This is when the big event happened. Nash reached in and fouled Tony Parker and they butted heads. Parker fell on the ground in a heap and Nash looked OK. He checked up on Parker and then suddenly Nash started bleeding as his nose was cut open. Both of them were fine, but the problem was they couldn't stop Nash from bleeding. He came back in and hit a ridiculous 3. I can't believe how tough this guy is. Just imagine the pressure of a second round playoff game against your rival. You are late in the fourth quarter and are bleeding from your nose. How do you have the composure to take and make a 3? He is just special. But the blood kept pouring and they had to take him out per NBA rules. The Suns actually got a couple of good shots even without Nashty, but just couldn't finish. Amare could have actually dunked on a drive to tie the game late, but he took a tentative shot that rimmed out. It's both a tribute to Timmy's defense who was right there to scare him though he didn't want to foul, and also a case of that 3-Rd foul making Amare tentative the rest of the game. Suns never scored after Nash went out and the Spurs closed it out.
Both Amare and Barbosa had a horrible 4-th quarter and if they had made a few more shots, the Suns could have actually won. Luckily Marion came alive in the fourth to help Nash out. In any case, tough loss for the Suns. The good news is, they could have won this game and they did score enough to win. Nash is playing well and the others might follow soon. The bad news is, they can't stop Timmy. They still can't stop Tony. They can't clear the boards and the real bad news - Ginobli had a bad game. This guy once scored 50 on the Suns and that can easily happen again. Now the Suns have to come back in game-2 and play with effort and energy. They have to somehow get their running game going. I don't know how, but they have to do it.
As a side note, one of the most amazing things you'll ever see on the court is Shawn Marion guarding Tim Duncan on one play and guarding Tony Parker on the next. How this guy not win the defensive player of the award and didn't even make it to the first or the second all-defensive NBA team is beyond me. Marion says that's BS and me think he is right.
Teams 1 2 3 4
San Antonio 27 24 26 34 111
Phoenix 26 27 22 31 106
San Antonio
SHOOTING REB
name fg ft 3pt o-t ast to stl blk pf pts
Bruce Bowen 1-2 0-0 1-1 1-7 1 1 0 0 4 3
Tim Duncan 12-24 9-15 0-0 8-16 1 1 0 3 2 33
Francisco Elson 1-3 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 2 0 1 3 2
Michael Finley 6-11 4-5 3-7 0-3 1 1 0 0 2 19
Tony Parker 14-22 4-5 0-1 0-1 8 6 3 0 2 32
Manu Ginobili 2-9 3-6 1-3 1-9 4 0 0 0 4 8
Robert Horry 3-5 2-2 2-3 2-7 1 0 1 2 2 10
Jacque Vaughn 1-3 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 4 0 0 4 2
Fabricio Oberto 1-2 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 1 2
Brent Barry 0-1 0-0 0-1 0-2 1 0 0 0 1 0
Melvin Ely - - - -
Jackie Butler - - - -
Matt Bonner - - - -
Beno Udrih - - - -
James White - - - -
TOTALS 41-82 22-33 7-16 14-49 18 15 4 6 25 111
FG %:.500; FT %:.667; 3PT %:.438
Points of TO:10
Team rebounds:13
Technical fouls:
Illegal defence:0
Phoenix
SHOOTING REB
name fg ft 3pt o-t ast to stl blk pf pts
James Jones 0-2 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Shawn Marion 7-12 1-2 1-2 0-6 1 0 0 0 3 16
Amare Stoudemire 6-19 8-11 0-0 5-18 0 1 1 5 4 20
Raja Bell 3-8 2-2 2-4 1-3 3 0 2 0 6 10
Steve Nash 11-18 7-7 2-4 0-3 8 3 0 0 2 31
Boris Diaw 3-5 1-1 0-1 1-2 2 2 0 0 2 7
Leandro Barbosa 7-17 3-4 1-2 0-1 3 1 0 0 4 18
Kurt Thomas 2-3 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 0 1 4
Jalen Rose - - - -
Pat Burke - - - -
Jumaine Jones - - - -
Marcus Banks - - - -
Eric Piatkowski - - - -
Sean Marks - - - -
TOTALS 39-84 22-27 6-14 8-35 18 7 4 5 24 106
FG %:.464; FT %:.815; 3PT %:.429
Points of TO:16
Team rebounds:5
Technical fouls:
Illegal defence:0
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