Western Conference Finals Game 1- Spurs @ Suns Game Thread

[jibikao]

Game 2 is our only chance to get our confidence back... unless we see another Rocket VS Mavs series. LOL



I have no problem not having fast break games. Suns has proven that we can win half court game. Amare/Nash can play but the problem is we can't make any stops and Barry was freaking hot.

We need to stop double team on Duncan. Let Duncan have his game. Our defense rotation is so bad that whenever Duncan passes out, our guys were running like chickens...all over the court and couldn't make any stop.

Let Spurs play one-on-one game. I think that's our only chance to defend Spurs. Sonics did it in game 3. They let Duncan have his game but shut down all the other guys.


Duncan is good at passing and him passing out will only disturb our defense which we don't really have much to begin with.

 

[Billythekid]

Sounds like the Suns had a TOTAL meltdown in the 4th qtr. Some positives though can be taken out of this one. We were in it and had control briefly, with 2 key guys doing absolutley nothing. Nash and Amare has big numbers but fatigue got the better of us.

I think the suns have a right to be extremely pissed off at the NBA for this scheduling. 1 and 1/2 daying LATER!!!! to play a game 1 Western Conference Final after playing in OT at Dallas!! We're the best team in the league! Surely they give us a break more than anyone else considering every previous series had finished before ours! And for fatigue to be a massive factor in the 4th qtr where we had our letdown... that is a serious injustice right there!

Also... It's time for Joe Johnson to step up! He's medically cleared, so he should be out there in game 2! Toughen and get out there and help because you don't get these chances very often at all so it's time to put it all out there. As much as we need JJ, we need Q! And having JJ back will relieve some pressure of Q.


Go SUNS!!!

 

[SportFan]

Q did a great job on Ginobili, but I wonder if Barry would have been as open as he was had JJ1 been in the game.

Q did ok, but he is still a liability on Ginobili. JJ (to some extent) and Marion are the only players even capable of trying to defend Ginobili.

20 pts / 6 reb / 5 ast / 5-10 (.500 FG%) / 1-2 (.500 3PT%) / 1 stl

This is a pretty good line to me. I can only dream of Q having a 20/6/5 line with efficient shooting.

 

[sly fly]

Not the end of the world by any means. This is called adversity, and we'll see how this team bounces back. They've done it all year, so I wouldn't be surprised by a kick-ass performance on Tuesday.

I actually thought this game was ripe for the taking. Defensive lapses late put an end to this. Obviously, the two 3's by Barry hurt bad... and the open lane for Parker was the dagger.

- Q didn't play bad, but the lack of his X factor has rendered him useless.

- Marion simply didn't get enough touches, and his wasn't aggressive enough in demanding it.

- Amare needs to be our monster rebounder. Quite simply, we can't have Nash leading the way on this. That might get you by Dallas, but not SA. I'll gladly give up Amare's 30 PPG in exchange for a 15 spot on the boards.

- PHX needs to come out and take the game to SA on Tuesday. Forget who they are, and what they've done. Just go out and get the hands in the passing lane and RUN. Screw Duncan... make him guard you.

- Once again Popovich was a wizard with the time-outs. He knows what he's doing. Damn good coach.

- PHX comes back and wins Game 2. Loses Game 3. Wins Game 4. Loses Game 5. Wins Game 6 in SA. And, shocks the world in Game 7.... then everybody can say what a great series it was.

 

[jibikao]

Not the end of the world by any means. This is called adversity, and we'll see how this team bounces back. They've done it all year, so I wouldn't be surprised by a kick-ass performance on Tuesday.

I actually thought this game was ripe for the taking. Defensive lapses late put an end to this. Obviously, the two 3's by Barry hurt bad... and the open lane for Parker was the dagger.

- Q didn't play bad, but the lack of his X factor has rendered him useless.

- Marion simply didn't get enough touches, and his wasn't aggressive enough in demanding it.

- Amare needs to be our monster rebounder. Quite simply, we can't have Nash leading the way on this. That might get you by Dallas, but not SA. I'll gladly give up Amare's 30 PPG in exchange for a 15 spot on the boards.

- PHX needs to come out and take the game to SA on Tuesday. Forget who they are, and what they've done. Just go out and get the hands in the passing lane and RUN. Screw Duncan... make him guard you.

- Once again Popovich was a wizard with the time-outs. He knows what he's doing. Damn good coach.

- PHX comes back and wins Game 2. Loses Game 3. Wins Game 4. Loses Game 5. Wins Game 6 in SA. And, shocks the world in Game 7.... then everybody can say what a great series it was.

Agree everything you say!!! Marion only took 6 shots. I think Nash needs to find more open man. Whenever Nash penetrates, it creates a lot of open space for our shooters 'cause Spurs won't let Nash shoot that easily.

Q needs to shoot 1000 3pt before Game 2!!! Get his shot back please.


I actually think Hunter needs to be very physical with him. F Duncan. Don't let him get his comfort zone by standing behind Duncan. Fight for fronting him... push him or whatever. So many times Hunter just shoot behind Duncan and let him get too deep.

And please don't double team Duncan when Barry comes in..please don't. Our defense rotation is weak at best and doubling team will only disrupt our fragile defense. At least with Duncan one-on-one, we know what to anticipate.

Parker and Manu are two great slashers. Our defense rotation won't be enough to stop them.


Other than that, I really think we can beat them with our last home court. I think we just need ONE freaking win to get our confidence back. Hopefully with JJ's return, he can light up the fire in us. Not sure how much JJ can do but hopefully he can contribute a bit.... I am sure what he does, it's going to be better than Barbosa. lol

 

[az1965]

Not the end of the world by any means. This is called adversity, and we'll see how this team bounces back. They've done it all year, so I wouldn't be surprised by a kick-ass performance on Tuesday.

I actually thought this game was ripe for the taking. Defensive lapses late put an end to this. Obviously, the two 3's by Barry hurt bad... and the open lane for Parker was the dagger.

- Q didn't play bad, but the lack of his X factor has rendered him useless.

- Marion simply didn't get enough touches, and his wasn't aggressive enough in demanding it.

- Amare needs to be our monster rebounder. Quite simply, we can't have Nash leading the way on this. That might get you by Dallas, but not SA. I'll gladly give up Amare's 30 PPG in exchange for a 15 spot on the boards.

- PHX needs to come out and take the game to SA on Tuesday. Forget who they are, and what they've done. Just go out and get the hands in the passing lane and RUN. Screw Duncan... make him guard you.

- Once again Popovich was a wizard with the time-outs. He knows what he's doing. Damn good coach.

- PHX comes back and wins Game 2. Loses Game 3. Wins Game 4. Loses Game 5. Wins Game 6 in SA. And, shocks the world in Game 7.... then everybody can say what a great series it was.

Yeah, we almost took it. May be fatigue in the end and no showing by Marion and Q.

Let's take game 2!!!

 

[Joe Mama]

Q did ok, but he is still a liability on Ginobili. JJ (to some extent) and Marion are the only players even capable of trying to defend Ginobili.

20 pts / 6 reb / 5 ast / 5-10 (.500 FG%) / 1-2 (.500 3PT%) / 1 stl

This is a pretty good line to me. I can only dream of Q having a 20/6/5 line with efficient shooting.

I thought Q did a very good job on Manu for the most part. I believe Shawn Marion tried to guard he and 3-4 times, and every time Manu went to the line. Before the game I would have thought that Marion would be the best person to put on him. Not so now. And please remember that it was JJ that he continually torched in that overtime loss during the regular season. Oh yeah, Barbosa was also torched by him a couple times today.

It was Parker who really killed them today though. I don't think the Phoenix Suns can beat San Antonio if Parker has great games.

I also thought the fourth quarter of this game reminded me of that regular-season game where the Suns just looked exhausted. I swear Nash was still panting in his talk with the media 45 minutes after the game was finished.

BTW the referees were not the difference in the game. I know this, but how many times did the San Antonio Spurs blatantly travel without getting called today? It happened 4-5 times, and unfortunately it seemed like they scored on each ensuing possession.

Joe Mama

 

[Chaplin]

It's easy to get down on the refs, but I thought this was probably the best officiated game I've seen in the playoffs so far.

 

[Joe Mama]

It's easy to get down on the refs, but I thought this was probably the best officiated game I've seen in the playoffs so far.

No, I agree. I honestly can't remember one other play I could even complain about, or that I think a San Antonio fan could complain about. It was a religious kind of strange. I mean these were clear-cut traveling calls. There was one play kind of late in the fourth quarter where Tony Parker drove on the left side. He was stopped for a second about 10 feet from the basket. Then he switched his pivot foot twice and put it in for a wide-open basket. I remember that place specifically because the camera was showing it from the far end of the floor, and I watched it 2-3 times. The others occurred when a San Antonio player would catch the ball coming up the floor and take several steps without dribbling before stopping. Each time the crowd made a bunch of noise.

Again, I thought the officiating in the game was very good overall. I just thought it was strange.

Joe Mama

 

[justAndy]

...

I called Ticketbastard at 9:00 am Sunday -there were 4 single tickets left.
I got one 8th row nosebleed on the elbow for $60. Besides the Suns losing, it was a great time. My 1st conference finals...

 

[Dr. Dumas]

I actually think Hunter needs to be very physical with him. F Duncan. Don't let him get his comfort zone by standing behind Duncan. Fight for fronting him... push him or whatever. So many times Hunter just shoot behind Duncan and let him get too deep.

And please don't double team Duncan when Barry comes in..please don't. Our defense rotation is weak at best and doubling team will only disrupt our fragile defense. At least with Duncan one-on-one, we know what to anticipate.

Well, if you are going to front Duncan you better expect to double-team him. If the ball gets to him, weak-side defense better be coming over to help or he has wide open dunks all night.
I actually would prefer that they front Duncan and have weak-side D come over. Duncan is not the greatest passer out of the double team, which would cause some fast break opportunities created by turn-overs.

 

[JPlay]

The Suns Defense was horrific in the 4th. Granted, Manu is the greatest flopper since Vlade. Duncan was eating Hunter up, Barry was hitting wide open 3s and Manu was getting penetration. Dang, I miss Joe Johnson. Suns need to be more physical.

I'm really upset that the NBA would make the Suns play on that quick turnaround. The beat Dallas in 6 and they get treated like they just won in 7. I have no clue why the NBA didn't have the Eastern conference game yesterday, being that they had the extra days rest.

 

[Dr. Dumas]

I'm really upset that the NBA would make the Suns play on that quick turnaround. The beat Dallas in 6 and they get treated like they just won in 7. I have no clue why the NBA didn't have the Eastern conference game yesterday, being that they had the extra days rest.

If Duncan was not 100% healthy from the ankle injury would you prefer that the Suns had a longer layoff?

I was certainly excited thinking that Duncan was not completly 100% healthy and that the sooner the game was played the better. As it stands, he looked to be doing just fine.

 

[elindholm]

There was one play kind of late in the fourth quarter where Tony Parker drove on the left side. He was stopped for a second about 10 feet from the basket.

I saw that play only once, but I sure remember thinking that it looked like traveling at the time.

 

[zett]

I'm proud of you guys for your confidence! I wish I could be so optimistic.
But in my opinion this series is over, there's no way we give home court up to the spurs in game 1 and come back and win this series. The spurs are too good at home and play very confident on the road expecially in the playoffs when they step up there game.I figured this would be our achillies heel, we don't seem to understand the importance of comming out and giving 100% in every game we give away games because we are overconfident and don't play with a sense of urgency,that doesn't cut it in the playoffs
On a different note I think the 1st quarter was terribly officiated, Duncan should of had 4 fouls in the 1st quarter alone, They refused to call him on anything, the last 3 quartes were alot better. Stoudimire was hacked almost every time down low in that 1st quarter.

 

[jibikao]

I seriously think Nash's condition is already much better than what I expected from him.

Him playing so many mins against Mavs is already amazing for a 31-year PG who just keeps pushing and pushing every time he has the ball. But I guess the Mavs fans and Cuban gave him that little EXTRA energy to seal the game.


Not Spurs though. They sent Robert Horry to double team him. Nash couldn't even see where to pass out and it doesn't help that on several occassions, all the other players were just STANDING THERE waiting for Nash to pass out. For god's sake, WALK towards him. Don't let the defenders to anticipate a pass out, go towards Nash to help him out. They started doubling Nash in the 4th 'cause I think they don't want Nash go crazy on the 3pt. In fact, Nash didn't take ANY at all. That's their gameplan and it worked... especially Q couldn't hit anything besides one and we have no JJ to break down their defense one-on-one.


I thought the refs favor us a bit and since it's home court. But I really thought Duncan should have got 2 calls in the 1st quarter. And what's sooooooooo funny is that when Duncan got his 2nd call by pushing Hunter to get the rebound, he had this look "What did I do???" Holy... look at the replay!!! How in the world did he come up with that face? You know why he has that face? Because he's been getting away with lots of push on the back to get the rebounds. He probably couldn't believe that the refs called that "on him", specifically the future Hall of Fame. lol


Nash did get away quite a few things too. I am starting to believe the refs have a special sets of "rules" for each star players. I really do. Nash had travelled a few times in the traffic as well but they never call that on him. lol



I think we just looked tired. We'll come back in Game 2 and have a firm gameplan in the 4th quarter especially when Spurs' shooters COME IN. Stop doubling team Duncan!!!

 

[jibikao]

I'm proud of you guys for your confidence! I wish I could be so optimistic.
But in my opinion this series is over, there's no way we give home court up to the spurs in game 1 and come back and win this series. The spurs are too good at home and play very confident on the road expecially in the playoffs when they step up there game.I figured this would be our achillies heel, we don't seem to understand the importance of comming out and giving 100% in every game we give away games because we are overconfident and don't play with a sense of urgency,that doesn't cut it in the playoffs
On a different note I think the 1st quarter was terribly officiated, Duncan should of had 4 fouls in the 1st quarter alone, They refused to call him on anything, the last 3 quartes were alot better. Stoudimire was hacked almost every time down low in that 1st quarter.

I am not so sure if Spurs is all that great on the road..really. If they were that great, they should have swept Sonics easily.

I think we beat ourselves more than Spurs beating us. We were tired and frustrated in the 4th quarter after Barry made those 2 pts. If anything, we weren't prepared to defend Barry at all. I think that's D'Antoni's fault. If you watch the 2nd matchup and Game 1, you will see Barry hits all LONG 3pt at the SAME FREAKING SPOT. Yup..the same spot, 3 times.

 

[Chaplin]

I'm proud of you guys for your confidence! I wish I could be so optimistic.
But in my opinion this series is over, there's no way we give home court up to the spurs in game 1 and come back and win this series. The spurs are too good at home and play very confident on the road expecially in the playoffs when they step up there game.I figured this would be our achillies heel, we don't seem to understand the importance of comming out and giving 100% in every game we give away games because we are overconfident and don't play with a sense of urgency,that doesn't cut it in the playoffs
On a different note I think the 1st quarter was terribly officiated, Duncan should of had 4 fouls in the 1st quarter alone, They refused to call him on anything, the last 3 quartes were alot better. Stoudimire was hacked almost every time down low in that 1st quarter.

Ridiculous! Come on, zett! After one game??

 

[fordronken]

I'm proud of you guys for your confidence! I wish I could be so optimistic.
But in my opinion this series is over, there's no way we give home court up to the spurs in game 1 and come back and win this series. The spurs are too good at home and play very confident on the road expecially in the playoffs when they step up there game.I figured this would be our achillies heel, we don't seem to understand the importance of comming out and giving 100% in every game we give away games because we are overconfident and don't play with a sense of urgency,that doesn't cut it in the playoffs
On a different note I think the 1st quarter was terribly officiated, Duncan should of had 4 fouls in the 1st quarter alone, They refused to call him on anything, the last 3 quartes were alot better. Stoudimire was hacked almost every time down low in that 1st quarter.

I think the Suns will win game 2. Then, Joe Johnson will have had a lot of time off to get ready for game 3 in San Antonio. He'll give us a boost to get a split out there, and we'll head back to Phoenix tied 2-2.

 

[Chaplin]

Besides, if Shawn Marion would have showed up, we probably would have won that game.

 

[zett]

I'm not saying we cant win games I don't think we are going to win 4 out of 6 games with them having home court advantage, just my opinion! I'll be rooting but I think I pulled the last strand of hair out of my head already so I still think this was an awsome season to watch.

 

[JPlay]

The term home court advantage is pointless unless you get to a game 7. At this point no team is going to win every home game, the teams are too good. This next game is a must win. I am confident the Suns can at least grab one in SA considering we have a great road team.

 

[Chaz]

So much for Home Court Advantage.


If they want it they will have to win at least one on the road. For now they need to worry about game 2.

Many of Nash's turnovers were from players not coming to get the ball. The Spurs will not beat themselves like Memphis and Dallas did. The Suns will have to outplay them for 48 minutes to get a win. Every loose ball, every shot, and every rebound is important. The margin of error has just been reduced to nil. Especially if the Spurs shoot that way consistantly. I think it is unlikely but the Suns will have to d-up to make sure they don't.

This is the toughest test the Suns have faced and the Spurs showed they are worthy of the Western title. It is up to the Suns to step up and play better to show they belong here also.

 

[elindholm]

I'm not saying we cant win games I don't think we are going to win 4 out of 6 games with them having home court advantage

Technically, neither team has home-court advantage at this point. There are potentially six games left, three in each building.

 

[Joe Mama]

I'm not saying we cant win games I don't think we are going to win 4 out of 6 games with them having home court advantage

Technically, neither team has home-court advantage at this point. There are potentially six games left, three in each building.

That would be true if the San Antonio Spurs weren't already up 1-0.

I'm not sure I like the idea of Hunter for fronting Duncan unless he's quick enough to do it only when Duncan gets great position down close to the basket. I don't think the Spurs can get the ball over Hunter if Duncan is posted within 8 feet or so.

Joe Mama