Spurs @ Suns Game Thread

[Amare32]

San Antonio Spurs (26-7 ) @ Phoenix Suns (21-11)​

When Saturday 7th January
Time: 6.00 PT
Location: AWA, Phoenix
TV: UPN 45

Probable Starting Lineups:

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PG-Tony Parker
SG-Manu Ginobili
SF-Bruce Bowen
PF-Tim Duncan
C-Rasho Nesterovic

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PG-Steve Nash
SG-Raja Bell
SF-Shawn Marion
PF-Boris Diaw
C-Kurt Thomas

Game Preview


Phoenix point guard Steve Nash is the league's reigning MVP. San Antonio's Tony Parker is gaining consideration for this season's award.
Nash and Parker will square off for the second time this season when the Suns try to stop the Spurs' five-game winning streak.

Both point guards are turning in stellar seasons. Nash, averaging a league-leading 11.0 assists per game, has used his strong all-around play to keep Phoenix atop the Pacific Division despite the absence of injured All-Star power forward Amare Stoudemire.
Parker is having his best season, averaging career highs of 19.5 points and 6.3 assists to help San Antonio to the best record in the Western Conference. He is leading the NBA in points scored in the paint, and is shooting 53.2 percent from the field to lead all point guards.

San Antonio beat Phoenix 97-91 on Nov. 19 at the SBC Center as Parker came through down the stretch with a soft runner over Nash with 35 seconds left to give the Spurs a three-point lead.


The play impressed coach Gregg Popovich, who is notorious for being tough on his point guard.

"The play we called broke down. He made the play on his own. That was all him," said Popovich after the game. "Tony finally woke up and competed his butt off. He got a couple of loose balls and had a good play on Steve Nash."

This will be San Antonio's first trip to Phoenix since it eliminated the Suns in the Western Conference finals last season. The Spurs won all three road games in that series.

San Antonio has won 10 of its last 11 games against Phoenix, including last year's playoffs, with two-time league MVP Tim Duncan in the lineup.
Parker had 23 points and seven assists to lead San Antonio to an 83-77 victory over Minnesota on Friday.

His effort helped the Spurs overcome a rough night from Duncan, who had 12 points on 5-of-19 shooting.

The Suns won for the sixth time in seven games, 111-93 over Miami on Friday. Nash handed out 12 of his 19 assists during a 47-point first quarter for Phoenix, setting a franchise record for assists in a period.

"It was just one of those freaky quarters," Nash said. "We got hot and kind of got on a roll. We were unconscious. We didn't realize we were on such a roll. You're kind of in the moment and things are going well like that, and that's when the game's at its most fun."
Phoenix also tied a franchise mark with 11 3-pointers in the first half, and finished 13-of-26 from long range.

Spurs Game Notes

F Bruce Bowen scored a season-high 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. ... The Spurs are 5-0 since G Manu Ginobili returned from an eight-game absence due to a sprained foot. He has come off the bench in every game, a role he had before becoming an All-Star last season. Ginobili picked up the slack for G Michael Finley, who made just 1-of-7 shots. ... F Robert Horry had a very quiet game. In 14 minutes, he did not take a shot and grabbed just one rebound. ... The Spurs held a 54-30 advantage in points in the paint and a 15-8 edge in fast-break points.

Suns Game Notes

The Suns set a new NBA season high with 47 points in the first quarter. ... Phoenix, which has won 11 of its last 13 home games, also improved to 10-3 against Eastern Conference opponents. ... The Suns have won seven of their last eight home meetings with the Heat. ... The previous building high for points in a first quarter was 46, set by the Suns on November 23, 1994 against the Los Angeles Clippers. ... G Steve Nash's 12 first-quarter assists were two shy of the NBA record for assists in any quarter, set by John Lucas for San Antonio against Denver on April 15, 1984.

 

[zett]

the last few games the other teams keep showing up with out all there starters, is timmy gonna have a fractured eyebrow and sit out
I picked SA in this game but I hope they knock the spurs silly!

 

[Amare32]

42-40 HT

Suns

Diaw playing well

 

[Amare32]

So nice Raja decided to hit a shot.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

So nice Raja decided to hit a shot.

Huh sounds like you have selective memory, raja has been nails the last couple of weeks.

I guess we only remember when Diaw makes shots on this board.

 

[Amare32]

Huh sounds like you have selective memory, raja has been nails the last couple of weeks.

I guess we only remember when Diaw makes shots on this board.

I'm talking about TONIGHT

Raja is one of my favourites Sun's. I'm more than aware how well he has played recently.

 

[Amare32]

can't believe nash missed those two FT's

gave S.A a chance

but hey SUNS WIN

SUNS WIN

SUNS WIN

 

[Sundance]

Gutsy win.

Nash was huge in the 4th. 2 clutch 3s, a couple of sweet assists to Marion, a steal.

Those 2 free-throw misses... I blame Violet Palmer. She must have gave him the evil eye before he shot.

 

[George O'Brien]

This was one of the best games the Suns have played in a long time. This was no case of "well the Suns won because Duncan's injured" thing, just tough hard nosed 48 minutes of effort.

The Spurs were intent on stopping the Suns from hitting threes and it wasn't until Nash buried a couple in the 4th quarter that any went in. But while the Suns could not shoot threes and struggled to get shots off at all, they went inside with cutters (19 assists) and played very smart basketball. Shooting 48.5% without Amare against the Spurs is pretty impressive.

The Suns inside attack resulted in them taking 29 foul shots.

On defense, the Suns held the Spurs to only 41.3% shooting (the Spurs have a season average of 47.9%) and did it while only permitting 21 fouls shots and forcing 17 turnovers. The Spurs had only 10 assists as the Suns held the Spurs to 10 points under their season scoring average.

What makes this whole deal so amazing is that the Suns were on the second of back to back games. The Spurs got very physical and yet the Suns kept their composure. This was playoff intensity and the Suns passed a huge test.

Prior to this evening, the Spurs had won 7 of their last 8, their only loss being in Detroit. This was an impressive win.

 

[elindholm]

Great game! I just finished watching it on TiVo, but I'll bet it was thrilling to be at the arena.

The Suns have been dominated by the Spurs the last few years. I think it was something like 2-12 before this game, with one of the wins coming with Duncan and Ginobili sitting. This was an important step forward for them. And I really like how Thomas, Jones, Bell, and Diaw -- all new additions -- made big plays down the stretch.

Still, it would have been a bit easier with Stoudemire's 37 points...

 

[jandaman]

Huge win!

Hopefully more people wake up and realize the suns play D, and can outscore anyone at the same time when they have to... Very balance right now... Just a very solid and a very good team.

Hopefully Amare blends in and help the suns improve at both aspects.

 

[scoutmasterdave]

Great game. I love how the Suns blow out two straight teams playing their own style, then find a way to get a tough win against a great Spurs team, playing the Spurs half-court game.

On another note, Manu Ginobili is officially my least-favorite NBA player.

 

[arthurracoon]

Went to the game tonight.

AWESOME!

The only thing that sucked was that the only seats we could get were in the corner in the upper deck at the VERY top.

The last 5 minutes were intense.

It wasnt the prettiest game, but it was close all game long!

 

[jibikao]

Wow!!! I couldn't watch the game 'cause it was on NBA TV.

Man, what a huge win!! I was so ready for a loss tonight...thinking that it was back-to-back for us...but Spurs had back-to-back too.

The FIRST thing stands out is we only took 6 3pt!!!!! Did we change our strategies or what? If that's D'Antoni's game plan, then give credits to him.

Nash missed two FTs in the same game? WTF?

Diaw/Marion/Nash have great stats. Kurt shot very well too.


GREAT WIN GUYS!!! Now I don't care if we lose one. Winning Spurs is much more important.

 

[arthurracoon]

The FIRST thing stands out is we only took 6 3pt!!!!! Did we change our strategies or what? If that's D'Antoni's game plan, then give credits to him.

Nash missed two FTs in the same game? WTF?

We just didnt have many open 3pters. They covered the 3pt shot really well.

Nash missed those 2 Ft's during the same trip to the line with under a minute left. The game was already pretty much over at that point though.

 

[goldseraph]

Great win - Miami and SA on back to back nights? AWESOME!
We should def be soaring in the power rankings this week - I would expect number 5 or so. I have to say I really had no faith that the Suns could be this great without Amare and JJ - just goes to show I was wrong about trading Nash.

 

[jibikao]

We just didnt have many open 3pters. They covered the 3pt shot really well.

Nash missed those 2 Ft's during the same trip to the line with under a minute left. The game was already pretty much over at that point though.

Sorry, I didn't/couldn't watch the game. Spurs must have done a great job covering the 3pt...after watching last night's game against Heat? lol

Well, Nash missing 2 FT is just weird... making two more won't hurt. hehe

 

[CaptainInsano]

Man this game has got me pumped, we not only played the spurs style and beat them at it, but in an instance where the advantage was to the spurs because of back to back nights. Having both the spurs and suns tired would allow the spurs to play a slower game and yet we showed them up on it. We also didn't win by bombing lucky 3's or anything of that sort, we played the spurs tough and grinding inside game and came out with the W.

Extremely impressive!

 

[jibikao]

Man this game has got me pumped, we not only played the spurs style and beat them at it, but in an instance where the advantage was to the spurs because of back to back nights. Having both the spurs and suns tired would allow the spurs to play a slower game and yet we showed them up on it. We also didn't win by bombing lucky 3's or anything of that sort, we played the spurs tough and grinding inside game and came out with the W.

Extremely impressive!

I agree. I think I read it somewhere that Nash/Marion both agreed that last year's team probably couldn't win this type of game. lol

I saw the clip on espn... Diaw has some nice shooting!!! Finally. He was terrible last night..shooting even worse % at foul line than Shaq!

 

[az1965]

What makes this whole deal so amazing is that the Suns were on the second of back to back games.

So were the Spurs and they had to travel to Phoenix for the game. But, hey, who cares... We won and won big!

 

[az1965]

On another note, Manu Ginobili is officially my least-favorite NBA player.

Oh, how I hate him... Him and Horry!

 

[az1965]

Nash missed those 2 Ft's during the same trip to the line with under a minute left. The game was already pretty much over at that point though.

No, we were only up by 4 pts and then Ginobili hit a 2 pt shot to make it only 2 pt lead, 88-86. These were key free throws. We were lucky that SA did not hit a 3 pt or any shot for that matter after that.

 

[fordronken]

I picked a good week to come to town and watch three games. Philly, Miami and San Antonio. My drive home will be pretty happy.

 

[nathan]

http://www.nba.com/games/20060107/scoreboard.html

The nba.com highlights video of the game has Amare shooting around a little bit.

 

[arthurracoon]

No, we were only up by 4 pts and then Ginobili hit a 2 pt shot to make it only 2 pt lead, 88-86. These were key free throws. We were lucky that SA did not hit a 3 pt or any shot for that matter after that.

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