duncan228
12-16-2009, 12:57 AM
Spurs missing statement against Suns (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/Spurs_missing_statement_against_Suns.html)
Jeff McDonald
PHOENIX — The Spurs have a long and well-documented history against Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. They knew what to expect from the Phoenix Suns' pair of pick-and-roll All-Stars before either of them walked into US Airways Center on Tuesday night.
They were ill prepared, however, for the wrath of Goran Dragic.
A little-used backup point guard, Dragic complemented the Nash and Amare Show by throwing in four 3-pointers and 18 points off the bench to help boost the Suns to a 116-104 victory.
In that, Dragic — with the help of a couple of other Phoenix role players — helped blow up the Spurs' best-laid plans.
“Sometimes you make decisions,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “Normally, we want Steve and Amare to score on us, and nobody else. We didn't expect (Dragic) to score almost 20.”
Nash and Stoudemire got their statistics, too, posting dual double-doubles. Nash had 25 points and 13 assists. Stoudemire had 28 points and 14 rebounds.
It was the Suns' role players, including Dragic, Grant Hill (17 points) and Channing Frye (15 points), who ultimately pushed Phoenix's home winning streak to 18.
Tim Duncan had 34 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs — his highest scoring effort since going for 40 in Game 1 of the 2008 playoffs against these same Suns — while Roger Mason Jr. emerged from obscurity to score 19 points and knock down five 3-pointers.
Still, the Spurs (12-10) couldn't avoid having their three-game winning streak broken, and couldn't avoid falling to 2-9 against teams better than .500 this season.
“We play three good games, two bad games, four good games, three bad games,” Ginobili said. “We can't find any continuity.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich blamed his team's latest high-profile face-plant on “too many pathetic games from too many people.” One of those people, it could be surmised, was Richard Jefferson, who snapped a string of three-straight solid games with a four-point clunker.
The Suns (18-8) had no such problem with their peripheral players. It seemed most everybody coach Alvin Gentry put into the game produced.
“Their role players, it didn't seem like they ever missed,” Duncan said.
At the top of that list was Dragic, who also has some history with the Spurs. They selected him in the second round of the 2008 draft, then sent him to Phoenix in a pre-arranged trade, using one of the picks they obtained to select DeJuan Blair this summer.
Blair was active off the bench, going for 12 points. Dragic was an unlikely game-changer.
Awarded more playing time with Leandro Barbosa out and Jason Richardson bruised, Dragic went 3 for 3 from the 3-point stripe in the first half, as the Suns raced to a 67-52 lead by the intermission. It was the most points the Spurs had given up over the first two quarters this season.
“We missed a lot of rotations early on,” Duncan said. “And they capitalized.”
Three and a half minutes into the second half, the Suns led by 20, and Popovich faced a difficult decision — keep leaning on his regulars to try and win the game, or begin to empty the bench with an eye toward tonight's game at Golden State.
Duncan forced Popovich to delay that decision.
With three consecutive baskets, Duncan ignited a 21-9 run that kept Popovich from pulling the plug. Hill's layup, off a pass from Duncan out of a double-team, brought the Spurs to within 87-82 with 1:36 left in the frame.
Thirty seconds into the fourth, Duncan's 15-foot bank shot brought the Spurs within one at 99-98.
From there, Nash took over, scoring a basket and drawing a foul on Hill, slipping the ball to Stoudemire for a monster dunk and then finding — who else? — Dragic for a corner 3-pointer.
By the time the flurry was over, Phoenix had pushed its lead back to 10 with 6:07 to go.
Jeff McDonald
PHOENIX — The Spurs have a long and well-documented history against Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. They knew what to expect from the Phoenix Suns' pair of pick-and-roll All-Stars before either of them walked into US Airways Center on Tuesday night.
They were ill prepared, however, for the wrath of Goran Dragic.
A little-used backup point guard, Dragic complemented the Nash and Amare Show by throwing in four 3-pointers and 18 points off the bench to help boost the Suns to a 116-104 victory.
In that, Dragic — with the help of a couple of other Phoenix role players — helped blow up the Spurs' best-laid plans.
“Sometimes you make decisions,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “Normally, we want Steve and Amare to score on us, and nobody else. We didn't expect (Dragic) to score almost 20.”
Nash and Stoudemire got their statistics, too, posting dual double-doubles. Nash had 25 points and 13 assists. Stoudemire had 28 points and 14 rebounds.
It was the Suns' role players, including Dragic, Grant Hill (17 points) and Channing Frye (15 points), who ultimately pushed Phoenix's home winning streak to 18.
Tim Duncan had 34 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs — his highest scoring effort since going for 40 in Game 1 of the 2008 playoffs against these same Suns — while Roger Mason Jr. emerged from obscurity to score 19 points and knock down five 3-pointers.
Still, the Spurs (12-10) couldn't avoid having their three-game winning streak broken, and couldn't avoid falling to 2-9 against teams better than .500 this season.
“We play three good games, two bad games, four good games, three bad games,” Ginobili said. “We can't find any continuity.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich blamed his team's latest high-profile face-plant on “too many pathetic games from too many people.” One of those people, it could be surmised, was Richard Jefferson, who snapped a string of three-straight solid games with a four-point clunker.
The Suns (18-8) had no such problem with their peripheral players. It seemed most everybody coach Alvin Gentry put into the game produced.
“Their role players, it didn't seem like they ever missed,” Duncan said.
At the top of that list was Dragic, who also has some history with the Spurs. They selected him in the second round of the 2008 draft, then sent him to Phoenix in a pre-arranged trade, using one of the picks they obtained to select DeJuan Blair this summer.
Blair was active off the bench, going for 12 points. Dragic was an unlikely game-changer.
Awarded more playing time with Leandro Barbosa out and Jason Richardson bruised, Dragic went 3 for 3 from the 3-point stripe in the first half, as the Suns raced to a 67-52 lead by the intermission. It was the most points the Spurs had given up over the first two quarters this season.
“We missed a lot of rotations early on,” Duncan said. “And they capitalized.”
Three and a half minutes into the second half, the Suns led by 20, and Popovich faced a difficult decision — keep leaning on his regulars to try and win the game, or begin to empty the bench with an eye toward tonight's game at Golden State.
Duncan forced Popovich to delay that decision.
With three consecutive baskets, Duncan ignited a 21-9 run that kept Popovich from pulling the plug. Hill's layup, off a pass from Duncan out of a double-team, brought the Spurs to within 87-82 with 1:36 left in the frame.
Thirty seconds into the fourth, Duncan's 15-foot bank shot brought the Spurs within one at 99-98.
From there, Nash took over, scoring a basket and drawing a foul on Hill, slipping the ball to Stoudemire for a monster dunk and then finding — who else? — Dragic for a corner 3-pointer.
By the time the flurry was over, Phoenix had pushed its lead back to 10 with 6:07 to go.