Suns @ Spurs [Game 1] April 19, 2008, 12pm (3pm EST) ABC

[95pro]

we beat ourselves.

we had our chances to close out:

1st half
4th qtr
1st OT
2nd OT

 

[Milgod]

I still feel good about the series... we were in foul trouble most of the game and it took Spurs some miracle shots to pull this one out in 2OT at their home. How can you not feel good about the series. I just hope we come pissed in 2nd game and Amare with some intelligence.

Pretty much sums up how I feel. As somebody else said as well, everthing that could have gone wrong did, and we still nearly won it.

 

[JerkFace]

I'm going to go play with my daughter and try to convince myself that family is more important than the Suns.

 

[Milgod]

Tough loss for the Ringless Wonders. Better luck Tuesday.

Tell me, which play was your favorite?

Was it ...
(1) Finley's 3 at the end of regulation? After choking away a 9-pt lead.

(2) Duncan's 3 at the end of the first OT? After choking away a 5-pt. lead.

(3) Amare fouling out after scorching the Silver & Black all day?

(4) Manu's layup to win it, after Nash hit a clutch 3 that was sure to send it to 3OT?


You guys must feel awful.

Pretty good actually. The Spurs didn't really show me much to get me worried that we won't win the series.

 

[Bufalay]

Time to go throw up

 

[The Man In Black]

Yeah, I'm sure Pop drew up a play getting Duncan his first three of the year.

recognize, that was a completely set play. If your team was up 3, then why didn't D'Antoni account for Duncan shooting a 3? He's done that before, I admit it was quite a few years ago but he did that to tie the Hornets. And if you watched the 3 pointer that he shot during the shooting stars, you know where Reggie said, if 2 7 footers win this contest it will set the contest back. The shot that will define this is if Duncan makes that first 3. And what did he do, same thing he did to you?

 

[Bufalay]

Tough loss for the Ringless Wonders. Better luck Tuesday.

Tell me, which play was your favorite?

Was it ...
(1) Finley's 3 at the end of regulation? After choking away a 9-pt lead.

(2) Duncan's 3 at the end of the first OT? After choking away a 5-pt. lead.

(3) Amare fouling out after scorching the Silver & Black all day?

(4) Manu's layup to win it, after Nash hit a clutch 3 that was sure to send it to 3OT?


You guys must feel awful.

I particularly enjoyed seeing Kurt Thomas foul Ginobilli and the Suns get called for it. That was neat for you guys.

 

[95pro]

Wow..D'Antoni got his ARSE out coached. Out of about 6 calls he made down the stretch only one of them was good. Boris just missed it. Even on that play I don't get why we didn't go to Shaq. WTF would you have Barbosa in on a crucial defensive stand then after he screws that up, have him in a crucial offensive play 1 minute later?

My hat goes off to Nash. That freaking guy did everything he could to will us to a win. This loss is on D'Antoni IMO. Yes we gave up way to many layups but we never should have gone to OT and down the stretch the bad play calling killed us.

It's only one game. So if we win the next one no biggie. However, I don't think the Suns want anymore close games with the Spurs. The Spurs have proven time and time again in close games with the Suns that they have a mental edge.

Suns need to go out next game and destroy the Spurs.

agreed.

freaking barbs gives up the shot to finley. dumbtoni could have made a defensive substitution
but/also
they had a foul to give, blame dumbtoni for that too.

and then, they give barbs the ball and we know how clutch he is.

not to mention 3D, he could have gone right at TD, but he blows the layup of the back board.

 

[AfroSuns]

outcoached or not this is a good game and it shows Phoenix can win this series. Playing away they took a large lead and i believe the only reason the spurms got back in it is due to foul trouble with Amare and especially Shaq. We have to give credit to the bench players who stepped up.


But men is Nash Clutch or what

Game 2 will be interesting

 

[az1965]

You guys must feel awful.

Sure. No one feels good about a loss especially when we had full control of most of the game. But, if I'm Spurs fans, I should be very concerned about the rest of the series. Enjoy this win as you may not see many of these

 

[cobbler]

What a game. Suns play horrible, refs favor the spurs 3:1 on calls and let them complain and complain without calling techs, the ball bounces the spurs way in so many ways, the ball bounces the other way in so many ways, duncan hits a three....
Go Suns

Huh?? 3:1 Fouls phx 27 spurs 30

The refs had nothing to do with this game. Im a nutral observer and actually am hoping the suns win and i can say it was an evenly called game. Yes there were some bad calls, show me a game where there isnt. I felt they went both ways with the bad ones. For all who continue to blame the refs for losses.... you really need to let it go. It sounds like a broken record and makes you look bad.

It was a good game and i was a suns fan i would not be so dissapointed. You basically outplayed the spurs the whole game on their floor. You made some silly decisions down the stretch. That's all.

I think personally Nash has to be

 

[green machine]

Sure. No one feels good about a loss especially when we had full control of most of the game. But, if I'm Spurs fans, I should be very concerned about the rest of the series. Enjoy this win as you may not see many of these

I tend to agree.

I mean, of course we'd prefer the Suns have won this game. But, I don't think anyone predicted a sweep, and at the end of the day this is just one loss. The Spurs need to win three more games, and given what it took for them to win just one, I feel confident.

 

[green machine]

Huh?? 3:1 Fouls phx 27 spurs 30

The refs had nothing to do with this game. Im a nutral observer and actually am hoping the suns win and i can say it was an evenly called game. Yes there were some bad calls, show me a game where there isnt. I felt they went both ways with the bad ones. For all who continue to blame the refs for losses.... you really need to let it go. It sounds like a broken record and makes you look bad.

It was a good game and i was a suns fan i would not be so dissapointed. You basically outplayed the spurs the whole game on their floor. You made some silly decisions down the stretch. That's all.

I think personally Nash has to be

The refs could have been plenty worse, that is true.

I think where Suns fans are complaining is about who the fouls were called on: Shaq, Amare, Diaw. Shaq, especially, was taken out of the game because of the fouls, some of them looking like flops.

But again, the refs could have been plenty worse.

 

[Bufalay]

For all who continue to blame the refs for losses.... you really need to let it go. It sounds like a broken record and makes you look bad.

Your perception of me as a basketball fan is unimportant. Go away.

 

[The Big Cactus]

Huh?? 3:1 Fouls phx 27 spurs 30

The refs had nothing to do with this game. Im a nutral observer and actually am hoping the suns win and i can say it was an evenly called game. Yes there were some bad calls, show me a game where there isnt. I felt they went both ways with the bad ones. For all who continue to blame the refs for losses.... you really need to let it go. It makes you look bad.

It was a good game and i was a suns fan i would not be so dissapointed. You basically outplayed the spurs the whole game on their floor. You made some silly decisions down the stretch. That's all.

I think personally Nash has to be

You must not have seen Shaq missing the entire first half, and Amare, Shaq, and Diaw being hampered the entire second half by multiple fouls which limited the defense that they could play in the paint. No one is blaming the refs, but fouls did contribute to the defense played in the paint. Of course, what do I know, I'm not a "neutral" observer



Edit: Also, I am irritated with the NBA as a whole. Both the Spurs and the Suns flopped way too much, and players are rewarded for doing so. It is making basketball look more like a ballet with players flying all over the court. It is irritating to watch, and it is a problem with every team.

 

[cobbler]

recognize, that was a completely set play. If your team was up 3, then why didn't D'Antoni account for Duncan shooting a 3? He's done that before, I admit it was quite a few years ago but he did that to tie the Hornets. And if you watched the 3 pointer that he shot during the shooting stars, you know where Reggie said, if 2 7 footers win this contest it will set the contest back. The shot that will define this is if Duncan makes that first 3. And what did he do, same thing he did to you?

It WAS NOT a set play and if you listened to the post game interviews Duncan even said so.

 

[jandaman]

Stoudemire had a few silly fouls... very silly. Im sure he knows he cost the Suns a lot in the end.


Popovic just shows how much better he is than D'Antoni.


Duncan showed why he is an All-time great....


Suns should answer Game 2 with a blow out.... SHOULD anyways.

 

[Andrew]

Not the end of the world...but heart breaking...

 

[cobbler]

Your perception of me as a basketball fan is unimportant. Go away.

NO

BTW... I pay very little attention to your silly posts and have no perception of YOU!

 

[Cheesebeef]

we had a three point lead with 40 second left and the ball in regulation and we lost. We had a 5 point lead with a minute left in OT and lost. This loss is SQUARELY on our shoulders. I just don't get how anyone can look in the mirror and not see we're just not tough enough/smart enough to beat this team.

I'm calling it right now. Suns get their doors blown in in Game 2. Lose the series in 5, DA doesn't get fired and we do this whole dance over again next year.

beyond pathetic. beyond pathetic.

 

[jbeecham]

Huh?? 3:1 Fouls phx 27 spurs 30

The refs had nothing to do with this game. Im a nutral observer and actually am hoping the suns win and i can say it was an evenly called game. Yes there were some bad calls, show me a game where there isnt. I felt they went both ways with the bad ones. For all who continue to blame the refs for losses.... you really need to let it go. It sounds like a broken record and makes you look bad.

It was a good game and i was a suns fan i would not be so dissapointed. You basically outplayed the spurs the whole game on their floor. You made some silly decisions down the stretch. That's all.

I think personally Nash has to be

There's 2 things your missing, non-calls are the biggest complaint. Duncan played 51 minutes and had 3 fouls called against him......he probably comminted 40+.

Look at the distribution of those fouls too.....6 on Amare, 5 on Shaq & Diaw, 4 on LB & Bell....they're all on our best players and all of our post players. Parker was the only critical player for the Spurs in foul trouble. KT isn't critical for them and probably committed 20+ fouls himself. Oberto had 3 fouls but they were hack-a-shaq intentional calls and so was one of Barry's fouls.

If the refs are going to put lots of fouls on all of our post players and not call Duncan for fouls then we are going to struggle in every game of this series. Once we get into foul trouble then Ginobili, Parker & Duncan just attack the basket every play trying to get even more fouls called on us and we have to play soft to avoid those fouls......which gets them easy baskets. Even if they miss those Layups then Duncan usually cleans them up because our defenders backed off to avoid the foul and got out of position to get the rebound.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Right on. At the end of the day we're probably better than the spurs but may just be too stupid to win.

then we're not better. the mental aspect is 50% part of the game.

 

[cobbler]

The refs could have been plenty worse, that is true.

I think where Suns fans are complaining is about who the fouls were called on: Shaq, Amare, Diaw. Shaq, especially, was taken out of the game because of the fouls, some of them looking like flops.

But again, the refs could have been plenty worse.

I understand, but really, the refs had nothing to do with the outcome. It was poor decisions and execution down the stretch of regulation and both overtimes.

I think you gius will spank the spurs by 15+ in game 2.

 

[Mr_White]

Owned

we had a three point lead with 40 second left and the ball in regulation and we lost. We had a 5 point lead with a minute left in OT and lost. This loss is SQUARELY on our shoulders. I just don't get how anyone can look in the mirror and not see we're just not tough enough/smart enough to beat this team.

I'm calling it right now. Suns get their doors blown in in Game 2. Lose the series in 5, DA doesn't get fired and we do this whole dance over again next year.

beyond pathetic. beyond pathetic.

Yes, I'm sure you feel awful.

 

[jbeecham]

I understand, but really, the refs had nothing to do with the outcome.

Then maybe you don't understand basketball.....your key players can't play aggressive defense when they're in foul trouble (especially when the other team isn't in foul trouble). Especially when you're getting called for ticky tack crap and people are flopping to draw more fouls on you.