duncan228
01-30-2009, 02:28 AM
Ginobili stifles Suns (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Ginobili_stifles_Suns.html)
Mike Monroe
PHOENIX — The Spurs seem to have developed a prime-time persona that threatens their well-cultivated reputation as the NBA’s most boring team.
Exactly five weeks after scoring their most dramatic victory of the season in a nationally televised game against the Suns, the Spurs were back on TV and back in the very same US Airways Center where Roger Mason Jr.’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer provided them a one-point victory, engaging in another high-powered shootout that was long on excitement while shortening Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s patience.
This time it was a big shot by Tony Parker that pointed the way to another Spurs victory, an 22-footer from the top of the key that pushed the lead to five points with 53.3 seconds left in the Spurs’ 114-104 victory.
The victory gave the Spurs two wins on a three-game road trip, all against 2008 playoff teams.
TNT may have loved what its viewers got to see Thursday, but Popovich never likes a shootout, even when he sees it coming.
“I know they’re a tough matchup for us all the time,” Popovich said before tipoff, “and I don’t think we’ve stopped Amare (Stoudemire) yet. He’s usually our biggest problem.”
Stoudemire, in fact, was his usual thorn-like self, scoring 28 points.
Popovich was right about something else, predicting another close finish.
“I’m expecting another game as usual, where it will come down to the last couple of minutes,” he said. “It always seems to with these teams.”
It was that way again Tuesday, the final margin inflated by intentional fouls in the final minute as the Suns tried to manage the clock late.
Manu Ginobili made all 18 of his free throws, setting a team record for most without a miss breaking Tim Duncan’s 17-of-17 night against the Jazz on Jan. 17, 2002. Ginobili finished with a season-high 30 points, one of three Spurs to score at least 20. Parker had 26 and Tim Duncan 20.
There was a fascinating turnabout in the second half Thursday. Popovich had used the “Hack-A-Shaq” tactic in the first two games against the Suns this season, intentionally fouling Suns center Shaquille O’Neal in tactical situations. But O’Neal’s improved foul shooting over the past eight weeks — he had made 68.3 percent of his free throws in December and January — changed Popovich’s mind about using the ploy Thursday.
Instead, Suns coach Terry Porter tried “Bruise-A-Bruce.”
Aware that Bruce Bowen had taken only eight foul shots all season and made only two of them, Porter had his players grab Bowen on three straight possessions late in the third period.
Bowen made Porter pay for the disrespect, making 5 of 6 foul shots, keying a 9-0 Spurs run that turned a four-point deficit into a five-point lead, drastically changing the momentum.
On Tuesday night in Salt Lake City it had taken Popovich three full quarters before he saw the need to get Bowen into the game.
Thursday night in Phoenix?
He called for Bowen just five minutes and 29 seconds into the game, and nobody had to wonder why. It was not to make free throws.
Rather, it was Bowen’s defensive presence that again was required. Before the Spurs’ defensive ace, a five-time member of the NBA’s All-Defensive first team, hit the floor, the Suns had made six of their first seven shots and scored on eight of their first nine possessions.
In fact, the first 2 1/2 minutes of the game were as un-Spur-like as any stretch all season. The first 10 shots of the game, five by each team, all were makes. Stoudemire had the first miss, a 20-footer, with 9:22 remaining in the first period, that skidded off the back rim.
Bowen’s presence didn’t change the defensive dynamic. By quarter’s end, both teams had cracked 30 points, a Kurt Thomas 18-footer with 25 seconds left giving the Spurs a 32-31 advantage. For televised drama, it could not have been better. Neither team led by more than two points through the entire period. There were nine ties and two lead changes.
The pace slowed, but only slightly, in the second period. The Spurs scored nine unanswered points to take a 57-54 lead with 7.7 seconds remaining in the half, but Nash nailed a 3-pointer with one-tenth of a second left to tie it at halftime.
Mike Monroe
PHOENIX — The Spurs seem to have developed a prime-time persona that threatens their well-cultivated reputation as the NBA’s most boring team.
Exactly five weeks after scoring their most dramatic victory of the season in a nationally televised game against the Suns, the Spurs were back on TV and back in the very same US Airways Center where Roger Mason Jr.’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer provided them a one-point victory, engaging in another high-powered shootout that was long on excitement while shortening Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s patience.
This time it was a big shot by Tony Parker that pointed the way to another Spurs victory, an 22-footer from the top of the key that pushed the lead to five points with 53.3 seconds left in the Spurs’ 114-104 victory.
The victory gave the Spurs two wins on a three-game road trip, all against 2008 playoff teams.
TNT may have loved what its viewers got to see Thursday, but Popovich never likes a shootout, even when he sees it coming.
“I know they’re a tough matchup for us all the time,” Popovich said before tipoff, “and I don’t think we’ve stopped Amare (Stoudemire) yet. He’s usually our biggest problem.”
Stoudemire, in fact, was his usual thorn-like self, scoring 28 points.
Popovich was right about something else, predicting another close finish.
“I’m expecting another game as usual, where it will come down to the last couple of minutes,” he said. “It always seems to with these teams.”
It was that way again Tuesday, the final margin inflated by intentional fouls in the final minute as the Suns tried to manage the clock late.
Manu Ginobili made all 18 of his free throws, setting a team record for most without a miss breaking Tim Duncan’s 17-of-17 night against the Jazz on Jan. 17, 2002. Ginobili finished with a season-high 30 points, one of three Spurs to score at least 20. Parker had 26 and Tim Duncan 20.
There was a fascinating turnabout in the second half Thursday. Popovich had used the “Hack-A-Shaq” tactic in the first two games against the Suns this season, intentionally fouling Suns center Shaquille O’Neal in tactical situations. But O’Neal’s improved foul shooting over the past eight weeks — he had made 68.3 percent of his free throws in December and January — changed Popovich’s mind about using the ploy Thursday.
Instead, Suns coach Terry Porter tried “Bruise-A-Bruce.”
Aware that Bruce Bowen had taken only eight foul shots all season and made only two of them, Porter had his players grab Bowen on three straight possessions late in the third period.
Bowen made Porter pay for the disrespect, making 5 of 6 foul shots, keying a 9-0 Spurs run that turned a four-point deficit into a five-point lead, drastically changing the momentum.
On Tuesday night in Salt Lake City it had taken Popovich three full quarters before he saw the need to get Bowen into the game.
Thursday night in Phoenix?
He called for Bowen just five minutes and 29 seconds into the game, and nobody had to wonder why. It was not to make free throws.
Rather, it was Bowen’s defensive presence that again was required. Before the Spurs’ defensive ace, a five-time member of the NBA’s All-Defensive first team, hit the floor, the Suns had made six of their first seven shots and scored on eight of their first nine possessions.
In fact, the first 2 1/2 minutes of the game were as un-Spur-like as any stretch all season. The first 10 shots of the game, five by each team, all were makes. Stoudemire had the first miss, a 20-footer, with 9:22 remaining in the first period, that skidded off the back rim.
Bowen’s presence didn’t change the defensive dynamic. By quarter’s end, both teams had cracked 30 points, a Kurt Thomas 18-footer with 25 seconds left giving the Spurs a 32-31 advantage. For televised drama, it could not have been better. Neither team led by more than two points through the entire period. There were nine ties and two lead changes.
The pace slowed, but only slightly, in the second period. The Spurs scored nine unanswered points to take a 57-54 lead with 7.7 seconds remaining in the half, but Nash nailed a 3-pointer with one-tenth of a second left to tie it at halftime.