One way to look at this match up, looking at PHX's last round matchup

[BestPFInTheGame21]

The Blazers beat the Suns in the two games my slowing down the pace to a crawl, and out hustling them on the boards....They just didnt have the offensive talent to keep up....

Isnt this what we do, only 10x better than the Blazers? You would think this is where we win the series...PHX will simply blast us at least one game with their breakneak pace,

But you would think in the end: Slow and steady wins it :flag:

[da_suns_fan]

The Blazers beat the Suns in the two games my slowing down the pace to a crawl, and out hustling them on the boards....They just didnt have the offensive talent to keep up....

Isnt this what we do, only 10x better than the Blazers? You would think this is where we win the series...PHX will simply blast us at least one game with their breakneak pace,

But you would think in the end: Slow and steady wins it :flag:

If you did, like, two seconds of research you would have known that the "pace" for all six games in the series was almost exactly the same.

Awesome use of cliches though.

[timvp]

If you did, like, two seconds of research you would have known that the "pace" for all six games in the series was almost exactly the same.
True.

[TampaDude]

We'll get utterly blown out by the Suns one time in this series (probably Game 5), you can count on it, but the Spurs will still win the series in 6 games.

[coyotes_geek]

IMO this series is about efficiency, not pace. From the previous playoff series we've seen the Spurs beat phoenix playing in the 100+ point range. Plus the Spurs guards attacking the suns guards in transition figures to be one of the easier ways for the Spurs to score points in this series. The Spurs need to look for opportunities to run back at phoenix, just be smart about it though. As long as the Spurs play solid D on each possession I don't think they'll mind having to play that solid D for more possessions.

[rjv]

IMO this series is about efficiency, not pace. From the previous playoff series we've seen the Spurs beat phoenix playing in the 100+ point range. Plus the Spurs guards attacking the suns guards in transition figures to be one of the easier ways for the Spurs to score points in this series. The Spurs need to look for opportunities to run back at phoenix, just be smart about it though. As long as the Spurs play solid D on each possession I don't think they'll mind having to play that solid D for more possessions.

spurs will also stay the course with their transition defense by putting 3 or 4 back once a shot goes up when we are on offense.

and this goes to your point about efficiency, we have to take care of the ball in this series because we can not give them easy baskets off of turnovers.

key stats will be field goal % (especially their 3 pt FG %) and turnovers. also, if tim gets to the line he has to knock them down at closer to 70% instead of 60.

it would also be nice to get some 3s going down in this series.

[da_suns_fan]

IMO this series is about efficiency, not pace. From the previous playoff series we've seen the Spurs beat phoenix playing in the 100+ point range. Plus the Spurs guards attacking the suns guards in transition figures to be one of the easier ways for the Spurs to score points in this series. The Spurs need to look for opportunities to run back at phoenix, just be smart about it though. As long as the Spurs play solid D on each possession I don't think they'll mind having to play that solid D for more possessions.

Much better.

I really think the key is going to be three point shooting. In their meeting in April, the Spurs stayed "relatively" close because Roger Mason hit a crap load of three pointers. They still lost but it would have been a bigger blowout without his sharp shooting.

The Spurs shot 0-7 from three point land against the Mavs AND WON. I just dont see that happening against Phoenix.

[TampaDude]

Much better.

I really think the key is going to be three point shooting. In their meeting in April, the Spurs stayed "relatively" close because Roger Mason hit a crap load of three pointers. They still lost but it would have been a bigger blowout without his sharp shooting.

The Spurs shot 0-7 from three point land against the Mavs AND WON. I just dont see that happening against Phoenix.

Yup...the key will be perimeter defense...the Suns are a team that can absolutely destroy you from beyond the arc...if we defend the perimeter effectively, we win.

[EricB]

I don't remember the win vs Phoenix in february but I don't recall an obscene amount of threes in that game...

[TampaDude]

I don't remember the win vs Phoenix in february but I don't recall an obscene amount of threes in that game...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=300228024

[coyotes_geek]

Much better.

I really think the key is going to be three point shooting. In their meeting in April, the Spurs stayed "relatively" close because Roger Mason hit a crap load of three pointers. They still lost but it would have been a bigger blowout without his sharp shooting.

The Spurs shot 0-7 from three point land against the Mavs AND WON. I just dont see that happening against Phoenix.

Agreed. The Spurs definitely need to be a lot better from the 3 point line in this series than they were against the mavs.

[SpurOutofTownFan]

Yup...the key will be perimeter defense...the Suns are a team that can absolutely destroy you from beyond the arc...if we defend the perimeter effectively, we win.

the shoot and gun PHx teams of the past were all very good at the 3pt shooting and the spurs still won. The Spurs were successful at beating this team scoring around 110 pts per game. They just ran with them.

Even though this is technically a different Phx team, playing better D overall than past outfits, it is still a team capable of running a lot like before and they normally play at a higher pace then usual.

I'm looking forward to see what pop wants to do in these series, whether he will run with Phx or will look towards a 80-90 pts/game.

[coyotes_geek]

I'm looking forward to see what pop wants to do in these series, whether he will run with Phx or will look towards a 80-90 pts/game.

I don't think there's any question that Pop would love to play this series in the 80s-90s. But it's not up to him. Even with all the Spurs playoff success against the Suns they've never shown the ability to consistently keep phoenix below 100.

[FromWayDowntown]

Really, we're a blown breakaway dunk by Richardson from probably having lost all 3 games to the Suns this season, right?

[dreamcastrocks]

Really, we're a blown breakaway dunk by Richardson from probably having lost all 3 games to the Suns this season, right?

From what I remember, the dunk would have only tied the game....

[boutons_deux]

you guys measuring "pace" by FGA/game?

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Really, we're a blown breakaway dunk by Richardson from probably having lost all 3 games to the Suns this season, right?


The game I attended in December was downright ugly. We couldn't stop anything Phoenix did on offense and they contained our guys pretty darn well. Tim had a good game and the rest of the squad was held in check.

I think the Spurs have turned the corner since then, but PHX is a dangerous team.

[Johnny RIngo]

Really, we're a blown breakaway dunk by Richardson from probably having lost all 3 games to the Suns this season, right?

Incidentally, the Spurs won the game where Bogans/Mason had the least amount of combined minutes(16 total between the two of them). The other two games had them playing a combined 44 minutes in the December loss and 31 minutes in the April loss(only Mason played this game). Only way I can see the Spurs losing to Phoenix is if Pop to decides to fuck around with the playoff rotation.

[coyotes_geek]

Incidentally, the Spurs won the game where Bogans/Mason had the least amount of combined minutes(16 total between the two of them). The other two games had them playing a combined 44 minutes in the December loss and 31 minutes in the April loss(only Mason played this game). Only way I can see the Spurs losing to Phoenix is if Pop to decides to fuck around with the playoff rotation.

The Spurs are going to need some quality backcourt minutes from someone other than Parker/Ginobili/Hill in this series. That means Bogans or Mason. Take your pick.

[pad300]

All these people who think 3's are going to be the key to the Spurs offense this series... all so very wrong. Is Phoenix really better equipped at stopping dribble penetration and TD post ups than Dallas? I surely don't think they have the personnel for it. If I was Popovich, my motto for this series would be "No shot farther than 6 ft from the rim". We killed Dallas when we went inside. With no Lopez, we can do even more damage against Phoenix...

[DesignatedT]

Regular season is totally irrelevant at this point. Our team is so much different its not even worth looking at.

I've wanted to avoid Phoenix in the playoffs for awhile now and have openly said so. I never thought our defense would get back to what its been in the past, but the way we looked defensively against Dallas has given me a lot more confidence going into this series.

[TheChillFactor]

they have no one to protect the rim. our slashers are going to destroy them IMO.

[m33p0]

All these people who think 3's are going to be the key to the Spurs offense this series... all so very wrong. Is Phoenix really better equipped at stopping dribble penetration and TD post ups than Dallas? I surely don't think they have the personnel for it. If I was Popovich, my motto for this series would be "No shot farther than 6 ft from the rim". We killed Dallas when we went inside. With no Lopez, we can do even more damage against Phoenix...
:tu

key stats for me are offensive rebounding and turnovers. these 2 will limit the suns fastbreak opportunities.

[Horse]

The Spurs used to be amazing at not letting teams shoot 3's there still good though. We have to make amare and nash play D. Let Timmy get stat in foul trouble and let Parker, Hill, and Manu take their guards off the dribble, could get the whole team in foul trouble that way. As long as we don't have all the unforced TO's of the dallas losses and don't rely on jumpshots we should pull it out. Go Spurs Go!

[BestPFInTheGame21]

If you did, like, two seconds of research you would have known that the "pace" for all six games in the series was almost exactly the same.

Awesome use of cliches though.

Not sure how you measure pace....but im sure the reason you put it in parenthesis is b\c its not an exact science...

Even with that said, I was taking this from Steve Nash's words...He talked about how Portland slowing down the game gave them trouble...

You and your "research" > Nash though I guess...........my bad..