What do you want/expect to see saturday?

[cly2tw]

Defensive focus on their pick/screen-and-rolls. Don't double on the ball handler, at least not when Hunter is there. Switch assigment, whoever got screened by Duncan put a body on him to make it tough on him to move towards the hoop. Let Hunter cover Parker/Ginobili one-on-one in the paint.

A lot of turnovers were results of them having figured out tendencies of Nash led attacks. By statistics they will get many interceptions. To defend our p&r, Parker overplays the side Amare is gonna set the pick, this has disrupted the effectiveness of our p&r to quite some extent. Nash has to drible more as a result. We gotta do some adjustment to this also.

Otherwise, just bring Joe off bench and play Jake for a couple of min. to defend Duncan which makes him work a little harder.

 

[jibikao]

Since I've been watching Nash for quite a few years now, here are the things I've noticed and they are TRUE with a few exceptions during Mavs' series:

When Nash is tired...

1.) Shots don't go in. This is the first evidence. Yes, some will fall but most of the time, they don't. Right now, we are seeing an ON FIRE Nash. You won't see another PG that shoots 55% on 20+ attempts. I can see why D'Antoni wants Nash to shoot instead of passing it out 'cause you can't get anything better than 55% shooting!

2.) Dribbles slower.. and more easily to get stolen. Parker was working VERY HARD on Nash in the last 2-3 mins. Parker had great defense (and a lot more handchecking!) and it really bothered the tired Nash. Nash's step is .5 second slower ....and... -->

3.) Decision making gets worse. That's when all those turnovers came from. Game 2 is a lot better though. But still, we can't take chances when Nash is tired. The most obvious type of turnover is when Nash penetrates...then somehow he doesn't have the energy to either shoot the ball or jump so he jumps up...and then gets himself in a deep hole (1 or 2 guys on him), then he just throws the ball out hopefully the teammates would get it. We've seen this quite a few times. That's a sign when Nash is tired. And it doesn't help that other teammates are just standing there.... like Q. You've gotta move a bit when Nash gets trapped by double team.

4.) Nash has bad defense to begin with... can you imagine him being tired and thinking that he still needs to dribble/shoot the ball so much on the other end?

---------------

The exception is against the Mavs especially for the last 3 games. I've never seen Nash like that. His shots just didn't look tired AT ALL. You can tell he REALLY wants to beat Mavs and he did.

 

[jibikao]

I don't know about you guys but I kinda miss when both Nash and JJ are on the court.

Both of them can dribble well and right now, we can score 108+ pts per game but our offense really looks predictable.

With JJ on the court, Nash can let JJ controls the dribbling while he sets pick for other guys to shoot. It will really spread the floor more IMO.

That's how valuable JJ is to our team now. Spurs' team defense is SO TIGHT and we need to make Spurs rotate their defense more. Nash can penetrate but there were so many times where he either over-penetrates or over-dribbles. With JJ, our offense will look a whole lot more smoother, at least I hope we can do that in Game 3. hehe

 

[Big D]

I just want to see these guys play with pride on the defensive end of the court. Stop guys from getting wherever they want to go, contest the three pointers and jumpers, limit them to one and done on most possesions by securing defensive rebounds. These are the things we have struggled with all year, but no way can the Suns advance without doing a much better job at that end of the floor. Play D with pride fellas.

 

[jibikao]

And please play full 48 mins.

Ever since the Mavs series, we've been in the habit of "catching up" from the 1st/2nd quarter deficits. That's not enough to beat Spurs.

 

[jibikao]

By the way, why don't we double team Manu in the final 1-3 mins?

I mean force the ball out of his hand.

It's not like we can really stop him (it seems) so I don't see why not.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

By the way, why don't we double team Manu in the final 1-3 mins?

I mean force the ball out of his hand.

It's not like we can really stop him (it seems) so I don't see why not.

Because our rotations are not fast enough since the Spurs are such great passers. By doubling Manu, we would leave Parker/Barry/Horry open for a three (we would obviously not double off of Duncan). And we all know that Barry and Horry would hit that shot 99%.

 

[frdbtr]

I want the suns to come out and get a win on Saturday. What I expect to happen is for the Suns to hold an 8-10 point lead going into the 4th quarter, only to have them lose the game by 3-5 points. As frustrating as it is, this Suns team doesn't seem to have the ability to close out this particular Spurs team.

 

[justAndy]

...

i won't see it - i'll be traveling to Redondo Beach - but I want some hard (not dirty) fouls on Oscar candidates Ginobili and Horry.

 

[AZZenny]

Gambo and Asher just said Iaveroni was on yesterday and said they are telling the Suns to flop like fish tomorrow - Manu or someone bumps into them? Go down flailing and do NOT jump right up.

Going to be hard to outflop the master. Guess we'll see which of our guys has real dramatic flair.

 

[elindholm]

I hope this is yet another example of Gambo and Ash being full of crap, because that sounds like a terrible idea.

 

[Joe Mama]

I hope this is yet another example of Gambo and Ash being full of crap, because that sounds like a terrible idea.

I doubt even they would make something like that up out of thin air, but I do agree that it's a terrible idea. However I don't mind if players exaggerate when there is real contact. I've seen to many San Antonio fans use Amare's free throw numbers as proof that the officiating has been good. I don't think he officiating has been necessarily bad, but for the most part Amare goes to the line because he deserves to be there. If he acted like Ginobilli does when he is hardly touched or not even touched at all he would go to the line a lot more. The fact is that Amare Stoudemire probably deserves to go to the line even more. Like several other big, strong players in the NBA he plays through fouls. He might complain about it afterwards, but you don't see him go flying or flailing around when he gets breathed on.

Joe Mama

 

[devilalum]

You must be registered for see images

1. Amare needs to get 35/15.
2. JJ needs to shut down Parker.
3. Q needs to hit at least 5 3's.
4. Duncan needs to get in foul trouble. (see #1)
5. The refs need to ignore Ginobili.
6. Marion needs to get 20/10.
7. Nash needs to have his usual average playoff game.

If they do at least 6 of these 7 they might win.

 

[tobiazz]

Gambo and Asher just said Iaveroni was on yesterday and said they are telling the Suns to flop like fish tomorrow - Manu or someone bumps into them? Go down flailing and do NOT jump right up.

Going to be hard to outflop the master. Guess we'll see which of our guys has real dramatic flair.

That will never work. The refs get used to making calls for certain players and teams due to their reputations. The Old Knicks, Detroit, and Seattle teams had a reputation as Great defensive teams so they were allowed to play more physical defense than other teams. Likewise, the Suns have a rep as a good offensive team, so they are less likely to be called for moving screens and such. (These are generalizations and do not apply to all situations)

Just like anyone, refs see a limited view of a play and use their common sense to fill in the rest. "Reggie Miller shot a 3, the defender was real close and the shot was an air ball. I guess he must have been hit on the arm."

So, The refs will not suddenly believe the Suns are playing great defense and getting knocked down every other play by charges. It would probably take more time to develop a good acting team.

And anyway, after the first flop, Pop will have one of his little chats with the lead official and there will a makeup call on the other end.

 

[HookemCards]

I expect to see one or both teams to finally score in double digits instead of triple. SA plays much better defense at home. In the playoffs we were allowing 96.4 pts per game before this series started, its upto 100.6 thanks to the very good Suns O. But we are only allowing 86.7 pts per game at home in the playoffs. I'm not sure who will win, I hate playing teams with their backs against the wall, but I expect to see a much lower scoring game.

 

[Chaz]

The Suns have been in trouble with turnover in the first quarter both games.

The Suns need 4 good quarters and they need to cut down on the number of layups that SA is getting.

If they can make San Antonio shoot outside I don't think San Antonio can keep scoring with them.