wijayas
12-26-2008, 12:40 AM
Duncan shuts down Stoudemire late
3 commentsby Paul Coro - Dec. 25, 2008 07:19 PM
The Arizona Republic
San Antonio's Tim Duncan posted up Amaré Stoudemire on the baseline for a basket with 8:59 to go and wound up the Spurs' hero without scoring again.
Twice with the Spurs ahead 88-87 and once with the score tied at 88 in the final two minutes, Duncan stopped Stoudemire without picking up his sixth foul in the Spurs' 91-90 win.
Stoudemire missed a jump hook and then twice missed on attacks at Duncan, who was hailed more for his defense than his 25 points and 17 rebounds.
"Timmy, down the stretch, was absolutely spectacular," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
"With five fouls, his defensive play down low when they were going at him, making a stop, getting the rebound himself and getting it out . . . was absolutely magnificent."
Duncan picked up his fourth and fifth fouls guarding Shaquille O'Neal, who converted one of the free throws as San Antonio took the lead on a run of Tony Parker offense. Duncan switched to Stoudemire and the Suns went at him to get easy scores or a disqualification
"I was physical with him," Duncan said. "I didn't back down or change my defense in any way."
Those are the go-to-guy shots Stoudemire wants.
"Unfortunately, they didn't call a foul for us but that's what you want down the stretch," he said. "You want to try to get Timmy out of the game, be aggressive. I didn't want to settle for jumpers because he had five fouls so I wanted to attack and go to his body. I did that. No calls."
Free throws
The Suns lost on national television for the eighth consecutive time and on Christmas for the fourth consecutive time.
• Suns guard Alando Tucker was assigned to Iowa, the Suns' NBA Development League affiliate. He will play two games there and return, leaving the door open for Goran Dragic to then go there.
• Stoudemire maintained a hold on second place among West forwards in All-Star voting, keeping him in position for a starting spot. His lead on Denver's Carmelo Anthony is down to 24,339.
• Thursday marked the Suns' first loss in games decided by four points or fewer, the first loss in four regular-season Spurs games with O'Neal and the first December home loss.
• O'Neal is now 5-6 on Christmas and missed his 5,000th career free throw, although he made six in a row when he was at 4,999.
• Phoenix's Steve Nash became the 13th NBA player to record 7,000 career assists. Coach Terry Porter is also in that group.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2008/12/25/20081225spt-sunsnotes.html
3 commentsby Paul Coro - Dec. 25, 2008 07:19 PM
The Arizona Republic
San Antonio's Tim Duncan posted up Amaré Stoudemire on the baseline for a basket with 8:59 to go and wound up the Spurs' hero without scoring again.
Twice with the Spurs ahead 88-87 and once with the score tied at 88 in the final two minutes, Duncan stopped Stoudemire without picking up his sixth foul in the Spurs' 91-90 win.
Stoudemire missed a jump hook and then twice missed on attacks at Duncan, who was hailed more for his defense than his 25 points and 17 rebounds.
"Timmy, down the stretch, was absolutely spectacular," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
"With five fouls, his defensive play down low when they were going at him, making a stop, getting the rebound himself and getting it out . . . was absolutely magnificent."
Duncan picked up his fourth and fifth fouls guarding Shaquille O'Neal, who converted one of the free throws as San Antonio took the lead on a run of Tony Parker offense. Duncan switched to Stoudemire and the Suns went at him to get easy scores or a disqualification
"I was physical with him," Duncan said. "I didn't back down or change my defense in any way."
Those are the go-to-guy shots Stoudemire wants.
"Unfortunately, they didn't call a foul for us but that's what you want down the stretch," he said. "You want to try to get Timmy out of the game, be aggressive. I didn't want to settle for jumpers because he had five fouls so I wanted to attack and go to his body. I did that. No calls."
Free throws
The Suns lost on national television for the eighth consecutive time and on Christmas for the fourth consecutive time.
• Suns guard Alando Tucker was assigned to Iowa, the Suns' NBA Development League affiliate. He will play two games there and return, leaving the door open for Goran Dragic to then go there.
• Stoudemire maintained a hold on second place among West forwards in All-Star voting, keeping him in position for a starting spot. His lead on Denver's Carmelo Anthony is down to 24,339.
• Thursday marked the Suns' first loss in games decided by four points or fewer, the first loss in four regular-season Spurs games with O'Neal and the first December home loss.
• O'Neal is now 5-6 on Christmas and missed his 5,000th career free throw, although he made six in a row when he was at 4,999.
• Phoenix's Steve Nash became the 13th NBA player to record 7,000 career assists. Coach Terry Porter is also in that group.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2008/12/25/20081225spt-sunsnotes.html