STAT calls Spurs "dirty"

[azirish]

You apparently missed the point, which is that the Suns have been as successful on the road against the Spurs as they have been at home. They haven't done well in either venue, but there's no particular reason for the Suns to fear road games more than home games in this series. And, among elite teams, the Spurs' home-court advantage is below average anyway.

I agree. BTW, Phoenix is one of the best road teams in the NBA.

Phoenix

H 33-8
A 28-13

San Antonio

H 31-10
A 27-14

Dallas

H 36-5
A 31-10

Utah

H 31-10
A 20-21

Detroit

H 26-15
A 27-14

Cleveland

H 30-11
A 20-21

(The Warriors personnel changes make their record irrelevant and both Chicago and New Jersey are out of it).

 

[The Man In Black]

I'll answer the regular season talk with this quote from the best PF in the game today.

"For whatever reason people don't expect people to play hard," Duncan said. "It's not the regular season and we're not going to let people walk through us and everything else.

 

[elindholm]

I'll answer the regular season talk with this quote from the best PF in the game today.

What "regular season talk"? Both "recent" Suns victories in San Antonio have been in the playoffs.

 

[azirish]

The Suns have won only two of their last five games against the Spurs, but both were blowouts. What is remarkable is that while the Suns offense has been inconsistent, Game 1 was their only bad defensive game

Suns Wins
Feb 1 103-87 Spurs shot 38.2% and 6 of 24 for three. Suns shot 44% and 6 of 16 for three; but the Suns outrebounded the Spurs by 10
May 9 101-81 Spurs shot 42.9% and 6 of 18 for three. Suns shot 52.6% and 4 of 10


Spurs Wins
Nov 8 106-111 Spurs shoot 42.0% and 5-11 for three. Suns shot 49.5% and 10 of 23 for three, but took only 6 FT
Apr 5 85-92 Spurs shoot 41.8% and 6 of 14 for three. Suns shot 38.6% and just 2 of 11 for three.
May 6 106-111 Spurs shot 50% from the field and 43.8% for three Suns shot 46.4% and 6-14 for three

As a general rule, the Suns have proven they can score against anybody with only the Apr 5 game a total offensive breakdown. The 106 points scored in Game 1 should have been enough if the Suns defense had been better. The swtich to starting KT made a big impact on the defensive side in game 2, but the Suns have done it before without him.

The April 5th game was one of the worst games the Suns played this season, but still they had the margin down to 3 with under two minutes to play. For the Spurs to win another that way, they need Amare to shoot only 7 of 19 including just 1 of 5 from the line and for Barbosa to shoot only 5 of 18. On Apr 5, KT played only 14 minutes, but had 5 rebounds.