TucsonDevil
Good to be back!
1. Suns lost this game due to poor shooting by Bell, LB and Nash. If either one of the three made a couple of more shots behind the arc, it would have been enough to put them over the top.
2. Manu is just a smart player. He is a gamer, and as much as I hate to play against him, I respect him. He had a horrible first half, and made some big shots in the second to help them pull out the win. How he continues to miss the All-Star team is a mystery to me - Shawn Marion thinks he got snubbed, Manu is the second best player on the Spurs 3-time championship team... zero appearances.
3. LB needs to learn one thing - against the Spurs, he can't drive into the lane. They know what he is about, and he gets into trouble nearly every time. LB is a talented, fast guard, however he still lacks the court vision and maturity to play big against tough defense. Unless the lane is open, I wish they would make it a rule for him not to cross into the paint with the ball.
4. Nash is still clutch. I really thought after his 3-pt shot with 2 min to go we would be able to hang onto the lead. He has a superstar quality that the team relies on in big games. Marion and Amare could learn a lot from Nash. I trust Nash to make the right plays - and so do the Spurs. That is why you see Bowen in his shorts in the last 3 min of each game.
5. I was disappointed in Grant Hill's lack of production. He seemed to be the missing piece to beat the Spurs. When the pace slowed down in the past, we needed a person to be able to create their own shot besides Nash. Grant did that a couple of times, but not as much as I would have liked to have seen. Instead, the ball stayed in LBs hands during those stretches. That was disappointing.
6. Why isn't Sean Marks seeing floor time in this type of game? Oberto saw 18+ min - surely Marks can negate his length and outperform him on the boards. Right? Isn't that was D'Antoni and Kerr promised this off season?
All-in-all, just a poor shooting night against the best team in the league (I don't care what the records say). Phoenix played good defense at times, but the Spurs also missed open shots. If the 'undersized' Suns hope to beat the Spurs in 7 games, the backcourt must shoot at least 40% from 3-pt land, and 48%+ for all players.
2. Manu is just a smart player. He is a gamer, and as much as I hate to play against him, I respect him. He had a horrible first half, and made some big shots in the second to help them pull out the win. How he continues to miss the All-Star team is a mystery to me - Shawn Marion thinks he got snubbed, Manu is the second best player on the Spurs 3-time championship team... zero appearances.
3. LB needs to learn one thing - against the Spurs, he can't drive into the lane. They know what he is about, and he gets into trouble nearly every time. LB is a talented, fast guard, however he still lacks the court vision and maturity to play big against tough defense. Unless the lane is open, I wish they would make it a rule for him not to cross into the paint with the ball.
4. Nash is still clutch. I really thought after his 3-pt shot with 2 min to go we would be able to hang onto the lead. He has a superstar quality that the team relies on in big games. Marion and Amare could learn a lot from Nash. I trust Nash to make the right plays - and so do the Spurs. That is why you see Bowen in his shorts in the last 3 min of each game.
5. I was disappointed in Grant Hill's lack of production. He seemed to be the missing piece to beat the Spurs. When the pace slowed down in the past, we needed a person to be able to create their own shot besides Nash. Grant did that a couple of times, but not as much as I would have liked to have seen. Instead, the ball stayed in LBs hands during those stretches. That was disappointing.
6. Why isn't Sean Marks seeing floor time in this type of game? Oberto saw 18+ min - surely Marks can negate his length and outperform him on the boards. Right? Isn't that was D'Antoni and Kerr promised this off season?
All-in-all, just a poor shooting night against the best team in the league (I don't care what the records say). Phoenix played good defense at times, but the Spurs also missed open shots. If the 'undersized' Suns hope to beat the Spurs in 7 games, the backcourt must shoot at least 40% from 3-pt land, and 48%+ for all players.