Great Series Phoenix

[wsupkid]

Like i said, i doubt we will ever see eye to eye on this. Without getting into another 10 page debate on something we won't ever agree on, ill say i think the Spurs and the Suns both are playing very aggressively in this series because of the magnitude of it. There have been some hot-headed fouls / no calls on both sides of the ball, but these guys are also human being with emotions that get the best of them.It has been happening since the NBA has been around. Once again, may the best team win.

Welcome Patch, one of my good friends is also a SA fan but although we agree on alot he refuses to look at SA for who they are.( some players dirty and some well you know what I am talking about ) I like your orig. post for the most part. We are a team (SUNS) that for some reason has to overcome something that gets in our way in a big way! We know we are a good..... GREAT team. I believe the only way to let the best team win is a game seven. Tell me you are hoping for a game seven?

 

[frdbtr]

I am a huge Spurs homer, i will admit that 100 times over...But i have to say this has been one helluva series.Phoenix is a fantastic team, and last nights game took my respect for your team to a whole new level. Regardless of my disdain for Amare, i think the rest of your team are scarily good, and i am still very worried about the rest of the series.Although i doubt we will ever see eye to eye regarding the suspensions, i really hope you guys can look past it to see that this is a hard fought, very emotional series on and off the court. These guys are all human and subject to mistakes. I wish it didn't turn out the way it did, but we live with it. You guys didn't seem to be missing Amare and Diaw too much last night.I will say this one, semi negative statement. Stop giving up on your team. Stop making excuses for them. They have enough talent that they don't need your excuses to justify their actions. I've seen countless suns fans saying "congrats spurs on your trophy" "stern gave the spurs the series", nothing has been won or lost yet. There are still 2 games of basketball to be played most likely, and i for one look forward to them.GO SPURS GO!

Other then scoring -20 off our average, having a field goal percentage that was -10% less then our average, not having a go to guy in crunch time, I would agree that the Suns don't need Amare Stoudemire.

 

[Soul_Patch]

arghh..yea a game 7 would be absolutely insane...id pay very good money for seats to be there live...its really hard for me to say i want that to happen though, considering i think the spurs would HAVE to be the dog in that game. I am secretly crossing my fingers we close it out friday, because my heart is gonna give out during a 7th game.



Ok please don't hang me...this is just one spurs homer's take.

I can't really explain my dislike for Amare. I just feel like he is overrated. I think if you take Steve Nash away from him, he is an average big man. Ive seen him make more boneheaded plays than anyone ive ever seen in basketball. Wether you like it or not, him getting up from the bench after Horry's knock, was not bright, and i think he even admits that. Him picking up fouls when he is beat, just because he isn't thinking isn't bright...

Thats just my take, i can't say i hate the guy, i dont know him, im sure he is a great guy and probably does a lot for your city, as do a lot of pro athletes...i just think Steve Nash does way more for how good he is, than he does himself.

I am a big steve nash fan. I think this guy is absolutely amazing, and would kill to have him on the spurs. I think Dallas lost their freaking mind letting him go. I, even though his flopping is absurd, think Raja Bell is awesome. I love his intensity, he is usually fairly clutch...It hurts watching him get an open look at a 3 when you are a spurs fan...because its going in most of the time.

hrmm anyway..im exhausted from staying up till 1am watching the game last night..gonna go catch a nap.

go spurs go.

 

[Soul_Patch]

Just to add my take on whether i think not having your 2 guys lost you the game.


I think having stoudamire and diaw would have made it an entirely differnt game. There is really no comparison to say if they would have been there, you guys would have scored your average, because the game would have been played entirely different. For instance, Marion wouldn't have went off for 20 and 11 in the first half. Also the Spurs are keyed in on how to play against you full squad, they were completely lost for the majority of the game against your b team. It threw every aspect of their game off, and it wasnt untill very late they caught on and brought it back close.

2 things to consider. Barbosa stays out of foul trouble, you guys may have had a different outcome. Marion doesn't completely disapear in the second half, and keeps with the intensity he gives in the first half, and you guys would have had a totaly different outcome. I expected marion to end with at least 35pts 20 rebounds. but only 4pts in the second half?? ouch that hurts.


I really wish we could have seen a game against full squads, because the outcome will never be known. This series has obviously shown it could have went both ways.

 

[frdbtr]

Just to add my take on whether i think not having your 2 guys lost you the game.


I think having stoudamire and diaw would have made it an entirely differnt game. There is really no comparison to say if they would have been there, you guys would have scored your average, because the game would have been played entirely different. For instance, Marion wouldn't have went off for 20 and 11 in the first half. Also the Spurs are keyed in on how to play against you full squad, they were completely lost for the majority of the game against your b team. It threw every aspect of their game off, and it wasnt untill very late they caught on and brought it back close.

2 things to consider. Barbosa stays out of foul trouble, you guys may have had a different outcome. Marion doesn't completely disapear in the second half, and keeps with the intensity he gives in the first half, and you guys would have had a totaly different outcome. I expected marion to end with at least 35pts 20 rebounds. but only 4pts in the second half?? ouch that hurts.


I really wish we could have seen a game against full squads, because the outcome will never be known. This series has obviously shown it could have went both ways.

I am not talking about Amare being a 20pt per game scorer translating into Phoenix getting 20 more points last night. Look at Phoenix's playoff and more appropriately Against the spurs playoff scoring averages. they average 106pts per game in the playoffs, last night they got 85, they average 50% fg percentage, last night they were closer to 40%. Amare has a lot to do with that. Amare does make boneheaded plays sometimes (he is only in his 4th year in the NBA with 1.5 of those being injured. But frankly he makes far more spectacular plays then boneheaded ones and the Spurs have absolutely no answer for him. He scores at will on anyone on the Spurs. The only thing that has slowed him down in this series is his foul trouble (part of his boneheadedness as you would put it). Bottom line, if Amare had been in the game, different story, probably a Suns win if not a Suns blowout.

 

[wsupkid]

arghh..yea a game 7 would be absolutely insane...id pay very good money for seats to be there live...its really hard for me to say i want that to happen though, considering i think the spurs would HAVE to be the dog in that game. I am secretly crossing my fingers we close it out friday, because my heart is gonna give out during a 7th game.
go spurs go.

In my comments I believe we wont find out if the best team will win without a game seven. I want a pure series if possible? I believe a game seven will be as close to pure as could be with all the crap in this series.

 

[Gaddabout]

I can't really explain my dislike for Amare. I just feel like he is overrated. I think if you take Steve Nash away from him, he is an average big man. Ive seen him make more boneheaded plays than anyone ive ever seen in basketball. Wether you like it or not, him getting up from the bench after Horry's knock, was not bright, and i think he even admits that. Him picking up fouls when he is beat, just because he isn't thinking isn't bright...

Amare's a man-child because his father abandoned him and his mother continues to have uncontrollable urges to break the law. Her son's a millionaire and she still can't help herself to shoplift. His brother's serving time for drugs and other stupidity. People took advantage of him because he could play basketball. He's emotionally not where he should be. The fact he has come this far and kept his life together is pretty amazing. No one should doubt the man's toughness.

That said, he's 24, a grown man, and I get tired of people making excuses for him. He's an emotionally-driven person and at 24, you should have enough maturity about you to know you can't function in this world if your emotions are always making decisions for you.

As for his basketball skill, I've mentioned in a different thread that playing for the Suns has hampered his overall growth while accelerating his climb to stardom. From day one, the Suns simply asked him to do what he does best: face the basket, catch the ball with those pilllowy-soft hands, and finish with authority. On some other team he'd just be coming around with his back-to-the-basket skills, and he'd be playing power forward next to some stiff -- which would allow Amare to guard players of his size and stay out of foul trouble, while becoming a brilliant weak-side defender.

Amare would be a better player on a more conventional team. He just wouldn't be on a better team, because what he does for the Suns is turns a gimmick into something substantial: a quick, fast-breaking team that can score in the paint in the half-court against anyone. Period.

 

[azirish]

How many guys coming out of college to play as a center in the NBA have better developed skills? I guess Dwight Howard is the closest, but I'd never trade Amare for Dwight even though he's a great talent.

Overall, the Suns have spent more time on Amare's jump shooting and pick n roll timing than back to the basket stuff. All NBA Center would suggest that wasn't a bad move.

However, I think after watching Duncan play, Amare may take more interest in developing some of those back to the basket moves like Duncan's turnaround bank shot. But Duncan had four years of college and an NBA career since 97 to get to where he is.

In any case, the area I'd like to see Amare work on is how to play defense without fouling. He's vastly improved over two years ago, but needs to get a lot better.

 

[D-Dogg]

Amare would be a better player on a more conventional team.

Like, say...the Lakers?

 

[azirish]

Like, say...the Lakers?

Actually, I think Gad was talking about a team which passed the ball.

 

[Linderbee]

Like, say...the Lakers?

I'd have to hurt someone...often & violently.

 

[Gaddabout]

Like, say...the Lakers?

Heh. Kobe and Amare may be buddies, but I'd predict a Kobe-Shaq-type meltdown if they were on the same team. Amare wants to be alpha male. Kobe is alpha male.

 

[cly2tw]

As for his basketball skill, I've mentioned in a different thread that playing for the Suns has hampered his overall growth while accelerating his climb to stardom. From day one, the Suns simply asked him to do what he does best: face the basket, catch the ball with those pilllowy-soft hands, and finish with authority. On some other team he'd just be coming around with his back-to-the-basket skills, and he'd be playing power forward next to some stiff -- which would allow Amare to guard players of his size and stay out of foul trouble, while becoming a brilliant weak-side defender.

Amare would be a better player on a more conventional team. He just wouldn't be on a better team, because what he does for the Suns is turns a gimmick into something substantial: a quick, fast-breaking team that can score in the paint in the half-court against anyone. Period.

Truer words have never been spoken!

For the longterm outlook of the Suns franchise, they better work him into a true low post threat too. All they have to do is to reduce Nash's ballhandling duty by half in the regular seasons and give 1/3 of it to each of Amare, Diaw and LB. Only practise makes perfect. In playoffs, they could switch to 100% Nash-led offense anytime if it was the winning recipe in a particular series. Yet, against the likes of the Spurs, we have enough alternaties to make it difficult for them.

 

[D-Dogg]

Heh. Kobe and Amare may be buddies, but I'd predict a Kobe-Shaq-type meltdown if they were on the same team. Amare wants to be alpha male. Kobe is alpha male.

Honestly, I think they would get along just fine. The main issue from Kobe's view of Shaq was his lazy attitude. Shaq's poor treatment of Kobe from day one was another. Shaq disliked Kobe from jump because not only is he alpha male, he feels he is supreme alpha male of all alpha males. It's all pretty much documented, and Kobe's rant to Jim Grey is pretty clear.

Kobe & Shaq couldn't get along for the long term, but any emotional, fiery hardworking guy the Lakers brought in Kobe would love. He had no respect for Shaq. Funny thing is, even through it all if Shaq had been a gym rat Kobe would have put up with his crap and the whole thing would have been cool. But Kobe didn't respect Shaq and Shaq didn't respect Kobe.

Kobe's a little bit insane when it comes to work ethic, and how he feels about lazy people. He'd kick the crap out of me because I'm lazy and like to coast.