Suns vs. Spurs 12/28

[Chaz]

Spurs did a good job of using clock and limiting Suns possessions.

They really didn't have many open looks at threes.



Funny, in a game where all the focus was (and is) on the Spurs bigs their smallest player did the most damage.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

The Spurs were the better team, just as they will be the rest of the season no matter what the record says. They play defense, rebound, and have an efective bench which is three things more than the Suns have exhibited.

 

[SirStefan32]

One friggin game and you're ready to diminish the 24-4 start.

Not diminishing anything. Where did you get that idea? Suns are playing great basketball against inferior teams. However, they lost to T-Wolves and they got demolished by the Spurs. They also lost two other games. All 4 loses come from teams who have some kind of inside presence. That should tell us something.

Typical crap you hear spewn from people who rarely watch this team.

How many games have you watched this year?

All but two, thanks for asking. Washington was one and I can not remember the other one I missed right now. How about you? How many have you watched?

I've got news for you. PHX will lose again. NEWSFLASH.

Of course they will. They still have to play San Antonio, Minessota, Miami, Detroit, etc a few times. Did I say they weren't going to lose?

I'll remember your comments as the season progresses. And, don't come back saying you thought they could do it.

Nope, I don't believe they can win it all right now. No defense, no big men, no bench... no chance in hell they will win it all this way. I do believe that if they start playing defense, if they actually try playing with two players taller than 6'8, etc, they can get to the conference finals.

 

[Card Trader]

The Spurs were the better team, just as they will be the rest of the season no matter what the record says.

I don't follow that logic.....you might say the Spurs match up better against the Suns, yadda yadda, but at the end of 82 games, if the Suns have the better record, why wouldn't they be the better team? We play the same schedule San Antonio does...do we not?

 

[jbeecham]

The Suns were rocking and rolling in the 1st qtr until Popovich blew up and got a technical. He should've been thrown out of the game, but instead the Spurs got every call and hardly any calls against them for the rest of the game. I know the Suns shot more free throws, but it's the fouls that weren't called and the obvious bad calls against them that took the Suns out of the game mentally. When was the last time the Suns barely have 2 players in double figures in scoring? I don't think that's happened in any other game this season. I'm not sure if that happened in many games last season.

 

[SirStefan32]

So, how did Seattle beat San Antonio, Coach Wooden?

By outrebounding them 38-37 as oposed to getting outrebounded 39-52 maybe.


Pehaps by playing Evans, Collison, James and Fortson for 68 minutes combined as oposed to Phoenix playing Stoudemire, Hunter and Outlaw (also undersized) for 50 minutes combined.

Maybe by not allowing 60 points in the paint?

Maybe that's how, coach Jackson.

 

[sly fly]

The Spurs were the better team, just as they will be the rest of the season no matter what the record says. They play defense, rebound, and have an efective bench which is three things more than the Suns have exhibited.

Ha, our resident pessimist chimes in and declares the season over.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Ha, our resident pessimist chimes in and declares the season over.

When did I ever declare the season over? I only said San Antonio is the better team, which if you could tell by tonight's game, might have some truth to it.

 

[SirStefan32]

The Spurs were the better team, just as they will be the rest of the season no matter what the record says. They play defense, rebound, and have an efective bench which is three things more than the Suns have exhibited.

You're exactly right. I would just add "moving the ball well" to that list.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I don't follow that logic.....you might say the Spurs match up better against the Suns, yadda yadda, but at the end of 82 games, if the Suns have the better record, why wouldn't they be the better team? We play the same schedule San Antonio does...do we not?

we haven't so far.

The Spurs ARE the better team - but we're young - thius league willbe ours in a couple years but every great team goes through growing pains. Luckily for us - there aren't that many teams that are laready better than us - so we're ahead of learning curve. The difference between San Antonio and Minnesota is plaina nd simple - Garnett and Duncan - when Amare can play at their level on BOTH ends of the court, this team will rock and roll. Until then - they overcome our greatest advantage over most teams. Same goes for Cassel and Parker versus Nash (that one ain't gonna get better unfortunatelt - he's always had problems with those guys).

Can't wait for Sanders to go off on some people hee. You asked for it Chris - you got it.

This ISN'T a bad loss - Who the hell would have thought we'd be 24-4 coming into the season. We're not as good as San Antonio yet - and we might not be this year, butlike I said - this team is WAYYYYY ahead of the learning curve and that is something to be VERY happy about.

And for anyone who wants to say it's an aberration and we all give San Antonio fits - the key missing ingredient in that equation is Marbury - who KILLED thaat team and bullied Parker all over the court. That was the biggest difference. Not saying I want Marbury back(FAR FROM IT), just cutting that argument off at the knees before it begins. The team that gave the Spurs fits AIN'T THIS TEAM(Thank God - that team couldn't get out of the first round - this one will).

 

[sly fly]

By outrebounding them 38-37 as oposed to getting outrebounded 39-52 maybe.


Pehaps by playing Evans, Collison, James and Fortson for 68 minutes combined as oposed to Phoenix playing Stoudemire, Hunter and Outlaw (also undersized) for 50 minutes combined.

Maybe by not allowing 60 points in the paint?

Maybe that's how, coach Jackson.

Wow. So, this loss defines this team?

You can throw away those stats as this game was decided after 2.5 quarters. Any minutes after that was simply garbage time.

Does this team have work to do? Yep. Do they need a backup PG who can defend and shoot w/experience? Yep. Do they need help for Amare? Yep.

But, to sit here and declare the season a wash because they lost this game is silly.

Might as well not even compete if you and Mao had anything to do with it.

You're severely underestimating the strengths of this team.

 

[AZZenny]

You guys are pretty funny. Guess there's some truth to the old saw that good chemistry comes from winning - at least in terms of message boards.

It was an ugly loss, and it may have highlighted some weaknesses of ours vs. strengths of the Spurs - but seems like a few of our players are cold at the moment, all at one time, the officiating looked uneven after the first Q, and basically - I don't believe they're THAT much better than us, or that we're THAT much worse than them, played out over several games.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Might as well not even compete if you and Mao had anything to do with it.

the Over-reaction to warranted criticism is gonna make this place a BLAST!

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I'm the moron because I suggested the Spurs, a longtime playoff competitor and co-bully of the Western Conference for the past six years along with the Shaq/Kobe Lakers are a better team than the Suns. Give me a break.

We're a good team, just not on their level yet.

 

[sly fly]

When did I ever declare the season over? I only said San Antonio is the better team, which if you could tell by tonight's game, might have some truth to it.

SA is better. Duncan and Parker pretty much cover that scenario.

Let's just let the season shakeout a bit more before we declare PHX has no chance against SA in a 7 game series.

 

[sly fly]

the Over-reaction to warranted criticism is gonna make this place a BLAST!

you suck.

 

[SirStefan32]

Who declared this season over??????? What in the hell are you talking about???

Nobody declared this season over, we are just pointing out Suns weaknesses. Look at any of their four losses- they get killed on the inside and on offensive rebounds.

I love Shawn Marion as much as the next guy, but he is an undersized small forward and not a power forward. Amare is a power forward and not a center.
Against some teams, it does not matter, because Phoenix can simply score more points than they can, but against good teams who play defense, who have legit centers/ power forwards, it will not work.

Stats would look the same if you took them for 1 quarter, 2 quarters, 3, or 4- Suns don't play their centers and when they do, they take their power forward out. They can't get rebounds and they give too many away on the defensive end.

It's really not that complicated.

Yes, they will crush New Orleans tomorrow, but they will not be playing New Orleans, or Denver, or Memphis, or bloody Atlanta and Chicago. They will be playing Sacramento, Minnesota, San Antonio, and so far they lost every single game to those teams. Seasons is not over, but we do need a reality check.

Stefan

 

[SirStefan32]

I suggested the Spurs, a longtime playoff competitor and co-bully of the Western Conference for the past six years along with the Shaq/Kobe Lakers are a better team than the Suns..

Silly you, what the hell were you thinking about when you made such an insane statement.

 

[Cheesebeef]

you suck.

just doing my best to play peace-maker here.

Funny thing was - after the first, I was thinking - man we have them right where we want them - even still at the half - thiking - they'r eplaying our tempo - they're toast.

Then I realized - oh - crap - they're young, they have gusy who can run and cna rebound - CRAP - THEY CAN PLAY AT OUR TEMPO - POOP!

We will kill NO tomorrow and begin a new winning streak but I think this place is gonna get ugly over thenext month when we fall back to earth a little bit - our schedule finally gets tough - with alot of roadies. Should be interesteing to see how they respond.

 

[Joe Mama]

Does this team have work to do? Yep. Do they need a backup PG who can defend and shoot w/experience? Yep. Do they need help for Amare? Yep.

But, to sit here and declare the season a wash because they lost this game is silly.

Might as well not even compete if you and Mao had anything to do with it.

You're severely underestimating the strengths of this team.

First of all I just want to say that I was expecting to come to the messageboard and find an overreaction to this loss. Instead I found an overreaction to what I would consider a normal reaction. I have yet to read where anyone wrote that the season is a wash or is going to be a wash.

I'll say the same thing about this defense that I did back in the 2003 playoffs. I don't care if they double-team Tim Duncan, but they cannot do it every single time and expect to win. It's just too predictable. The Suns allowed more penetration than a Tijuana ********** tonight because they were constantly out of position just running at perimeter offensive players.

The San Antonio perimeter defenders also did a fantastic job on Shawn Marion, JJ, and Q. Those guys rarely had an open shot tonight. They played that incredibly annoying, hands waving, frantic defense that can drive a player crazy.

Perhaps the Suns can hope that somebody else like Minnesota or Sacramento takes out San Antonio in the playoffs.

Joe Mama

 

[playstation]

this was a trial game, and the trail was a failure. next time its plan b, no biggie, you move on...

 

[elindholm]

What bothered me the most about this game is that, in the third quarter, the Spurs did exactly what several of us recommended in George O'Brien's "How would you beat the Suns?" thread. They made no attempt to get offensive rebounds (unless one fell right into their laps) and instead ran back to get set up on defense. It worked perfectly. I haven't looked at the stats, but I'd guess that the rebounds were pretty even in the third quarter. It didn't matter, because the Suns got nothing out of the half-court offense.

In the other three quarters, the Spurs did not follow that strategy as consistently (thus Popovic's frustration), and those were pretty much a wash. But the third quarter is going to find its way into the library of every other coach in the league, and fast. By playing small, the Suns tempt their opponents to gamble, knowing that in the long run they have the best athletes. The Spurs, in the pivotal third quarter, were too smart to take the bait, and the Suns had no cards left to play.

Unless the rest of the league is stupid, I expect to see many other teams adopt this strategy. How the Suns respond will define the remainder of their season.

 

[jibikao]

Oh #### (mispelling the F-word does not make it okay here. Please watch the language) ... I post a pretty long message and it didn't get post for some reasons. Dang.

Anyway, I just got back from a rock concert. On the way back home, I had a feeling that Suns lost the game but I didn't quite expect a 21pt loss.

I honestly don't think Suns is 21pt worse than Spurs but this game will make people doubt Suns' ability in the playoffs.

Well, I'll try not to read those message boards 'cause I know I'll go mad.


Honestly, I don't think Suns is worse than Spurs. The problem is Duncan but not because he is SOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. It's more because we choose to double Duncan and free up too much space for Manu and Parker. Parker isn't really good but he seems to have his all-star game when playing against Nash. I am not sure why but Nash only had 4 assists today...well, he can't get assists if all the other shooters are so COLD. LOL

It's a good loss I have to say. Nash keeps saying that they are bound to hit a dead end along the way and they did tonight. I wish it didn't happen at SA but it did. Harsh lesson learned.

One thing I have to say is that Suns players put too much pressure on them. I didn't watch the game but I don't think any team is capable to guarding Suns' offense. I bet it's the problem in their "heads" rather than "skills". The more they want to prove, the more they get frustrated. I guess Suns still needs to handle pressure more later on especially in the playoffs.

How come they double team Duncan so much? I really don't think Duncan is all that great. Guard Duncan's Right and make him go Left. He is not very good at going left.

Jimmy

 

[JCSunsfan]

As losses go, this is a good one.

We've got to lose sometimes, at least its to the second (or third, based upon record) best team in the league in their building. One game does NOT demonstrate a pattern. I am sorry, but for those of you that are declaring that the Spurs are better than we are--you can't. One game just doesn't give you enough information to make that judgement. In a playoff series you can easily have blowouts go both ways.

I think beating the Spurs tonight might have does this young team more harm than good. If they got the idea that they have the Spurs figured out, they would be in big troublecome playoff time.

This is not going to set well in their stomachs. Things have been a little too easy for the Suns lately. They needed this, and its best it comes against the Spurs. A little fire, a little sharpening, a little adversity--good for motivation, teaching, and ultimately development. It gives the coach something to yell about in practice.

One of the most frustrating things as a coach is to have a player who constantly does something wrong, but is successful with it. I had a player who constantly palmed the ball (my best player), but never got called for it. He would never believe that it was a violation. No matter what we said or did in practice, he still did it in games. When we got to the end of the year tournament, we finally got a ref that made the call. It took him completely out of his game, and we lost. It was too late to make adjustments. If we had a ref that would make the call earlier in the year, we could have made the adjustments with the player.

This loss is kind of like that. Better a blowout loss now, than later. We can adjust.

Now lets move on.

 

[Billythekid]

A big loss, but was only one game. We ought to learn from it and move on to our next winning streak.

Go suns!