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San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker of France, right, defends Phoenix Suns' Joe Johnson during the third quarter of game 4 of the Western Conference finals in San Antonio, Monday.
Suns stave off elimination with win over Spurs
May 30, 2005
By Mike Tulumello, Tribune
SAN ANTONIO - Joe Johnson looked as good as new. Shawn Marion arose from a serieslong slumber. The Suns got back to running. And Amaré Stoudemire played the fiercest defense of his career in the Suns' most frantic minute of the season.
The result: The Grim Reaper has receded into the graveyard for at least two days.
The Suns pulled out a thriller, a 111-106 win over the Spurs Monday night to pull within 3-1 in the Western Conference finals.
They'll make one more trip back here to the SBC Center on Friday only if they can win again at home Wednesday night.
"They put together the perfect game," said Tim Duncan, the Spurs' disappointed superstar, who saw his free throw shooting woes return.
Maybe so, but, "There is no telling what can happen if you just go out there and keep on fighting," said Johnson, who had a career-playoff high with 26 points. He took only 15 shots (hitting 10), including 3-of-6 on 3-pointers.
Stoudemire had 31 points and two huge defensive plays to seal the win.
Marion, once again lethargic in the first half, hit some big baskets to push the Suns — who trailed 59-52 at the break— ahead to stay. He finished with 11 points and 14 boards. "We took it up a notch," said the beleaguered Marion. "They can't run with us."
"They just ripped our transition defense apart," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. On defense, they tried to stay close to the basket. That gave the Spurs open jumpers, but cut down on drives to the rim.
The Spurs "getting to the basket will kill us," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We're trying to choose the lesser of two evils."
They also used the 240-pound Johnson on double-team coverage of Duncan.
"It worked well for them," said Duncan, who said he didn't pass the ball away quickly enough.
"It's an adjustment I'll have to make for the next game." But the bottom line was less strategy than energy.
"We had a lot more determination," D'Antoni said.
That was obvious at the outset.
The Suns, though they once again lost the opening tip, actually managed to prevent a layup in the opening seconds.
And they only trailed 29-25 after one quarter.
Meanwhile, Duncan — who hit a career-best 15-for-15 from the line on Saturday — was off target in this one, so the Suns kept fouling him. He hit just 3-for-12; one shot fell about two feet short. Here's the sequence of events that kept the Suns alive:
With their fast-break clicking, they pushed to a 102-95 lead with 3:00 left. But Steve Nash (17 points, 12 assists) was called for an offensive foul, Bruce Bowen hit a 3-pointer from the left corner, then Stoudemire came up empty underneath.
Robert Horry nailed a 3-pointer from up top, and — all of a sudden — the Spurs trailed only 102-101 with 2:24 left.
Then Johnson made the Suns' biggest shot of the series, an impossibly high arching shot from 18 feet out on the left side under heavy pressure from Bowen with 2:03 left.
"Bruce Bowen played fantastic defense when he made that shot," Popovich said. "Just an unbelievable shot."
"He is a great player," Bowen said. Manu Ginobili answered with a drive, then Stoudemire scored to make it 106-103, though the Suns' pleas for a foul and a 3-point play went unheeded.
But things would even up soon.
Stoudemire stole the ball from Duncan with 1:11 left under the Spurs' basket, and Ginobili fouled him from behind and refused to let go. Stoudemire shook him loose.
Both were called for technicals.
Stoudemire hit 1-of-2 free throws to give the Suns a 107-103 lead, but Bowen hit a 3-pointer to draw the Spurs within one.
Then, Nash found himself falling out of bounds with the ball but managed to get it to Stoudemire, who drove to the hoop and collided with Tony Parker. The Spurs screamed for a foul, but the whistles were silent; Stoudemire scored to make it 109-106 with 46 seconds left.
Moments later, Duncan rose up for a slam. Stoudemire leaped as high as he could go and blocked it with 35 seconds left.
"A spectacular play," Nash said.
Then, at the other end, Stoudemire tracked down Johnson's miss and grabbed the ball to seal the Suns' big win.
"Those were plays that needed to happen," said Stoudemire, who said he believes he can become a steadier defensive player.
"It was an unbelievable two minutes, or whatever it was, for him," Nash said. "He really raised his game a level."
And that's why the Suns live to play another game.
