Keys to beating the Spurs

[devilalum]

#1 Amare needs to quit jumping every time someone pump fakes. For every blocked shot he gets he picks up at least 3 fouls. He'd be better off just making up his mind that he will only jump at the defensive end to get a rebound.

Duncan never jumps (actually I don't know if he can) and he blocks lots of shots.

#2
#3
#4

 

[jibikao]

I think the key is NOT to double team Duncan.

Please don't double team him....

I know it may sound stupid but Sonics did in Game 3 by NOT doubling Duncan and choose to shut down other guys.

Duncan will have his game whether you double him or not but when all 3 (Duncan, Parker, Manu) are playing well, we are doomed.


I think the key is also to set the pace of the game. Duncan's ankle is hurt now and fast-break game is the last type of game they want to play. Nash needs to push the ball really hard and Amare needs to out-run Duncan any chance he has until Duncan wears down his ankle.


Now that JJ won't play on Sunday, I really don't know how our defense is going to look. I don't want to put Nash on Parker defensively.... JJ did a much better job.

 

[George O'Brien]

The Suns are vulnerable to pump fakes because they are relatively short. If they don't jump, opponents can often just shoot over them. None the less, the Mavs figured out that a pump fake and then jumping into the defender was their easiest way of scoring.

I wish there was at least another day for D'Antoni prepare them for the Spurs. Getting the Suns to not bite on pump fakes is going to be even more imortant against Many and Parker since they really like to go to the basket.

 

[fordronken]

I think the key is NOT to double team Duncan.

Please don't double team him....

I know it may sound stupid but Sonics did in Game 3 by NOT doubling Duncan and choose to shut down other guys.

Duncan will have his game whether you double him or not but when all 3 (Duncan, Parker, Manu) are playing well, we are doomed.


I think the key is also to set the pace of the game. Duncan's ankle is hurt now and fast-break game is the last type of game they want to play. Nash needs to push the ball really hard and Amare needs to out-run Duncan any chance he has until Duncan wears down his ankle.


Now that JJ won't play on Sunday, I really don't know how our defense is going to look. I don't want to put Nash on Parker defensively.... JJ did a much better job.

Marion is simply not tall enough to "not double team". The only player on the Suns who could do it would be Hunter.

 

[jbeecham]

Hunter is going to be huge in this series. How well he can defend Duncan 1-on-1 will be a major key to the series.

I also think we've found out that Marion can be just as effective (if not more) as Amare running the pick and roll with Nash. Jim Jackson can also initiate the pick and roll effectively while Nash is out.

 

[PhxGametime]

Jake Voskuhl will probably be needed for a few minutes as well and he's played him pretty well in the past before...

 

[Amare32]

to think Jake was a starter not long ago. Don't know why he doesn't get more burn.

 

[seattle_sunsfan]

...maybe because he's a freeking fouling machine!
That said, I think Jake did a pretty good job two years ago in the playoffs against the Spurs.

 

[George O'Brien]

to think Jake was a starter not long ago. Don't know why he doesn't get more burn.

Jake was well suited to the scramble/trap defense that Frank Johnson used. The Suns don't play that style anymore, which is why Jake and Bo aren't used much.

 

[az1965]

We may see increased playing time from Hunter and maybe some Jake as well... It is all matchups and we would need our big men to play a lot.

 

[TJ]

I want to see more Bo Outlaw in this series. A couple of times against the Mavs, his hard nosed style of play would have helped us tremendously, like when we were giving up boards left an right to a smaller Josh Howard.

 

[Joe Mama]

Jake was well suited to the scramble/trap defense that Frank Johnson used. The Suns don't play that style anymore, which is why Jake and Bo aren't used much.

And thank God they don't play that style of defense anymore. I hated it. I really hope we see Hunter for at least 20 minutes per game. He guards Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnet one-on-one as well as anybody in the NBA. I also think we need to see little Jake for a few minutes per game. That's probably all he'll get before he fouls out.

Joe Mama

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

I think the key is NOT to double team Duncan.

Please don't double team him....

I know it may sound stupid but Sonics did in Game 3 by NOT doubling Duncan and choose to shut down other guys.

Duncan will have his game whether you double him or not but when all 3 (Duncan, Parker, Manu) are playing well, we are doomed.

I'll give you a small snipet from a real scouting report --

Spurs were single covered about the same number of times as usual but were significantly more effective at 1.03 PPP versus their usual .84 PPP.

In other words, the Spurs owned us in single coverage compared to the rest of the league.

You cannot point to the Seattle series as an example. They have the personnel to single cover Duncan with Fortson/Evans/James. The Suns on the other hand do not......

 

[elindholm]

In other words, the Spurs owned us in single coverage compared to the rest of the league.

Yeah, but that's only because D'Antoni wouldn't play Voskuhl.

The Spurs averaged only 0.84 PPP against single coverage? That's surprising. How often did they face single coverage over the regular season?

 

[JCSunsfan]

Hunter is going to be huge in this series. How well he can defend Duncan 1-on-1 will be a major key to the series.

I also think we've found out that Marion can be just as effective (if not more) as Amare running the pick and roll with Nash. Jim Jackson can also initiate the pick and roll effectively while Nash is out.

You beat me to it.

Key bench player. Steven Hunter. He has the tools to frustrate Duncan, and to make him work.

Joe Johnson has to get healthy. We need him to play d on Manu or Parker.

Keep Parker from going off. Parker seems to do well against the Suns, becasue we do not have a good defensive matchup for him. It will be interesting to see if Nash steps up defensively here. Strangely, our best defensive matchup for Parker is probably Barbosa. He could get some minutes along side Nash, with Steve taking Bowen defensively.

Make Duncan work. He's not 100% and you've got to take advantage of that. Make him run the floor. Make him move his feet for every shot. Make him jump, and land, often on that ankle.

Keep Sarver in his seat. No flapping wings etc. PLEASE!

These teams never really had a good, matchup this year.


Who will Duncan defend? He could take Amare, but that puts Nazr against Marion. Marion will eat him up.

If Duncan plays Marion, he will get drawn away from the hoop and Amare will have a field day.

Expect the Spurs to start with a sagging zone on Amare and let the Suns shoot from outside.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

The Spurs averaged only 0.84 PPP against single coverage? That's surprising. How often did they face single coverage over the regular season?

A word was left out, that is single coverage in the post numbers. They shot just under 40% from the field in single covered post moves (712 attempts).

One thing to note: If a player attempts to shoot over a double team, it is currently logged as single coverage. The double coverage means that they passed out of the double team (which most players do).

When double covered in the post, the Spurs hit 50% of their shots against the suns, and just under 54% of their shots against everyone else. These numbers would be for the spot up shooter or cutter that gets the pass out of the double team. (It also accounts for when the ball is swung around. Basically it goes into this catagory is the double team was what caused the look).

 

[devilalum]

Keep Sarver in his seat. No flapping wings etc. PLEASE!

Sorry, Sarver has totally lost any shred of dignity he once had. I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up in a full chicken costume.

I think the solution here is for Sarver to wear the Gorilla outfit. We've come to expect this kind of thing from the Gorilla.

The Suns would be the first team in the history of sports to be owned by the mascot.

 

[George O'Brien]

At this point I think we can assume the Spurs will continue to try to defense Amare one on one. They won in two of the games, but Amare tore them up:

Dec 28th: 37 points on 12 of 19 shooting
Jan 21: 35 points on 15 of 19 shooting
Mar 9: 44 points on 17 of 22 shooting

I wish D'Antoni had more time to prepare. If he did he might bite the bullet and start Hunter while bringing JJax off the bench. The Spurs are not an outstanding offensive team, so giving the Suns a tall shot blocker to limit Duncan could cause the Spurs some problems.