Lopez out for game 1

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PaulCoro/80064

God dammit.

Just figured yallz wanted to know.

[Pistons < Spurs]

great news

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

great news


???

[Pistons < Spurs]

???

It's great news .... for the Spurs. I hope he sits the entire series. Whatever it takes to get my boy Dice closer to a ring.

[nkdlunch]

It's great news .... for the Spurs. I hope he sits the entire series. Whatever it takes to get my boy Dice closer to a ring.

my favorite poster in the whole internet right here

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Ah, I see. Even though Dice was a primmadonna on Phoenix, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel bad for him and C-Webb in 2007 coming up short. Once Phoenix was out I wanted this two to get their ring and honestly thought they would.

[Mr. Body]

But is Blake Griffin's brother available?

[Morg1411]

It's great news .... for the Spurs. I hope he sits the entire series. Whatever it takes to get my boy Dice closer to a ring.

:tu

[Cry Havoc]

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PaulCoro/80064

God dammit.

Just figured yallz wanted to know.

Thanks for the info.

Aside from Phoenix (obviously), who would you want to see win the title this year, provided you guys get knocked off?

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

This just fuckin sucks. I'm not gonna make excuses if the Suns lose, injuries are part of the game, but just once I'd like both of these teams to play each other completely healthy with no suspension bullshit or anything. This would have been a great, evenly matched series with Lopez healthy and now I don't see how the Suns can overcome their lack of size up front.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Thanks for the info.

Aside from Phoenix (obviously), who would you want to see win the title this year, provided you guys get knocked off?

Anyone but the Lakers. I'd be cheering for the Spurs like no other against the Lakers in the WCF. The only (and I mean only) silver lining in the Spurs beating Phoenix is that they'd have a better chance against LA than Phoenix does.

[Cane]

I'm not sure if you can really call Manu healthy at this point either though. Only one hard foul and he's probably off the court for a few minutes to stop the bleeding or whatever.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

He looked plenty healthy against Dallas, and for that matter has looked almost as good as he was in 2005 since the AS break. Don't underestimate how important Lopez is to Phoenix. Before Lopez emerged as the center Phoenix never had, Phoenix was nose diving in the standings and headed towards handing OKC a lottery pick on a silver platter. While his importance on defense is obvious, when Lopez is on the court Phoenix actually has a half court offense that can consistently score against good teams late in games.

I'm not creating an excuse if the Suns lose, injuries happen and the Suns lack of depth at center makes it so this injury hurts them more than it needs to. My overall point is that maybe he isn't as important as Manu is to the Spurs, but it's darn close.

[tdunk21]

He looked plenty healthy against Dallas, and for that matter has looked almost as good as he was in 2005 since the AS break. Don't underestimate how important Lopez is to Phoenix. Before Lopez emerged as the center Phoenix never had, Phoenix was nose diving in the standings and headed towards handing OKC a lottery pick on a silver platter. While his importance on defense is obvious, when Lopez is on the court Phoenix actually has a half court offense that can consistently score against good teams late in games.

I'm not creating an excuse if the Suns lose, injuries happen and the Suns lack of depth at center makes it so this injury hurts them more than it needs to. My overall point is that maybe he isn't as important as Manu is to the Spurs, but it's darn close.

not even close....

[Cry Havoc]

He looked plenty healthy against Dallas, and for that matter has looked almost as good as he was in 2005 since the AS break. Don't underestimate how important Lopez is to Phoenix. Before Lopez emerged as the center Phoenix never had, Phoenix was nose diving in the standings and headed towards handing OKC a lottery pick on a silver platter. While his importance on defense is obvious, when Lopez is on the court Phoenix actually has a half court offense that can consistently score against good teams late in games.

I'm not creating an excuse if the Suns lose, injuries happen and the Suns lack of depth at center makes it so this injury hurts them more than it needs to. My overall point is that maybe he isn't as important as Manu is to the Spurs, but it's darn close.

Any time you lose your man in the middle, it's rough. Dice doesn't do a lot on the stats sheet some games, but if we lost him, we'd also lose our chance at a title this year.

Doesn't mean kicking your ass in this series will be any less sweet, though. :toast :lol

[Cane]

Oh yea I think Lopez is a huge player for them. He makes up for Amar'es weaknesses and he's a guy you don't need plays for.

Basically all teams could use either Lopez twin in their lineup imo.

But you can't compare him to Manu's importance until we see how this guy plays in the playoffs imo.

[tmtcsc]

Good Gawd, the other Lopez is a game changer ? Not close. I'd rather not have his 6 fouls but please.

[Cane]

Lopez twins seem pretty capable. They could at least be coming off the bench for most teams.

[Jeremy]

Everybody's talking like Lopez is out for the series. He's out for Game 1. He still expects to play in this series.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Everybody's talking like Lopez is out for the series. He's out for Game 1. He still expects to play in this series.


Dude it's a lower back injury. God only knows how many more times the time table gets pushed back.

[DDS4]

Dude it's a lower back injury. God only knows how many more times the time table gets pushed back.

Even if he was fit to play, it'll take the whole series to get his conditioning back.

[Jeremy]

Dude it's a lower back injury. God only knows how many more times the time table gets pushed back.

There was never any timetable. So how has the timetable been pushed back?

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

There was never any timetable. So how has the timetable been pushed back?


Oh I thought there was. I hope you're right and he's just out for 1-2 games, but if his absence leads to SA stealing game 1 it might be too little too late.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

This kind of stupid crap worries me about the series

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2010/05/02/20100502phoenix-suns-leandro-barbosa.html

If the Suns expect anything productive from Barbosa against the Spurs they're setting themselves up for failure.

[Supergirl]

Eh, I don't think Lopez is all that crucial to the Suns.

Now, Nash's health - that could be a real deciding factor. But the Spurs own Nash, so they're already at a deficit there.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Eh, I don't think Lopez is all that crucial to the Suns.


That's because you probably haven't paid much attention to them all year. Them finishing the season 28-7 after starting it 26-21 mostly had to do with Lopez stepping in and becoming the center they needed.

[sonic21]

This kind of stupid crap worries me about the series

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2010/05/02/20100502phoenix-suns-leandro-barbosa.html

If the Suns expect anything productive from Barbosa against the Spurs they're setting themselves up for failure.

:lol
he's been awful this year and he's complaining about his playing time.

[Budkin]

We always play worse against teams with injured players so I wouldn't say it was good for the Spurs.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

:lol
he's been awful this year and he's complaining about his playing time.


This wench Paola Boivin is by far the worst sports journalist ever. Some of the stuff in this article is comical. How can she honestly say Barbosa isn't a disruptive presence? Since he came back from injury, he hasn't been anything but a disruptive presence.

[Cry Havoc]

The first half of tonight's game will be extremely telling.

If Manu is healthy and George Hill is playing well, watch out Phoenix.

[crc21209]

Dude it's a lower back injury. God only knows how many more times the time table gets pushed back.

+1. Back injuries are nothing to fool around with, especially a bulging disk....

[JMarkJohns]

Ah, I see. Even though Dice was a primmadonna on Phoenix, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel bad for him and C-Webb in 2007 coming up short. Once Phoenix was out I wanted this two to get their ring and honestly thought they would.

For as pained as I was in 2007, I was very happy for Finley, who was one of my favorite Suns, even in his short stint. Still, GD SPURS!!! :bang

[ace3g]

He has a similar injury to DRob, who I still believe without that back injury could have played 1-3 more years.

It is something you don't want to rush back from.

[da_suns_fan]

This wench Paola Boivin is by far the worst sports journalist ever. Some of the stuff in this article is comical. How can she honestly say Barbosa isn't a disruptive presence? Since he came back from injury, he hasn't been anything but a disruptive presence.

You say such stupid stuff so much its really hard to make myself read your posts.

Whats the TRUTH DOK? Im guessing you love Dragic and you think that LB might take away shots from him, correct? So no matter what LB does, you will maintain your bizarre vendetta against him just as you have with Nash because youre such a big Dragic fan.


LB a disruptive presence? Are you serious?

You are such a moron.

[Muser]

This just fuckin sucks. I'm not gonna make excuses if the Suns lose, injuries are part of the game, but just once I'd like both of these teams to play each other completely healthy with no suspension bullshit or anything. This would have been a great, evenly matched series with Lopez healthy and now I don't see how the Suns can overcome their lack of size up front.

I agree, but props for manning up and not making excuses :tu (If the Suns lose)

[Spursmania]

This just fuckin sucks. I'm not gonna make excuses if the Suns lose, injuries are part of the game, but just once I'd like both of these teams to play each other completely healthy with no suspension bullshit or anything. This would have been a great, evenly matched series with Lopez healthy and now I don't see how the Suns can overcome their lack of size up front.

There's still a chance Lopez plays in the series though isn't there?

That would make a huge difference and make it a lot tougher for the Spurs. Still, the Suns are playing great and this will be a close series.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

You say such stupid stuff so much its really hard to make myself read your posts.

Whats the TRUTH DOK? Im guessing you love Dragic and you think that LB might take away shots from him, correct? So no matter what LB does, you will maintain your bizarre vendetta against him just as you have with Nash because youre such a big Dragic fan.


LB a disruptive presence? Are you serious?

You are such a moron.

What exactly has LB done this year that I should be impressed with?

Here's a list of reasons why I don't like LB:



His 2007 and 2008 choke job. He scored the 2nd most points for the Suns during the regular season in 07, being a complete non-factor against San Antonio absolutely killed the Suns. Before mentioning the elbow injury, it didn't seem to hurt him one bit against LA, if his elbow had more to do with choking than a combination of unclutchness and facing a defense good enough to shut one dimensional players like LB down, why did he have such a huge series against LA when his elbow supposedly was injured before the playoffs?
absolutely atrocious defense. Let Andre Miller get in a great rhythm at the beginning of the 4th quarter during game 1 against Portland by repeatedly getting beat by Miller off the dribble so he had point blank shots at the rim.
the fact he thinks he's a great ball handler when he should be playing off ball. If LB knew what kind of player he was offensively and played off ball never trying to force the issue I wouldn't mind him. Instead, he throws away possessions every game trying to create off the dribble and running time off the shot clock standing in one spot dribbling while refusing to pass.
His lack of desire to get better. Since he won the 6th man award in 2007, not one aspect of his game has seen an iota of improvement. Still the same inability to run the point, the same terrible defense, the same bad passing, and the same crappy ball handling skills. It seems like he won 6th man and got complacent.
As mentioned earlier, his terrible unclutchness. Granted his 40.4% shooting against Portland was bad, I can't imagine what his 2nd half shooting % was compared to his 1st half %.

[YoMamaIsCallin]

Was this a surprise to you? I don't think he's even had a real practice.

[#2!]

This makes me feel better about the Spurs chances..

because fate has already provided Phx with a solid post-series loss excuse. We didn't even have to wait a couple games in! Various media outlets still saying "the hipcheck" literally stripped the championship out of Steve Nash's hands makes me sick.

You know, Manu, like Nash in 2007, got his nose busted and then got thrown to the ground (not bumped) and the Spurs, by what Phoenix fans/sympathizers must surely consider an act of god, still WON THE SERIES. Their team didn't play as well, their players weren't as talented, they weren't coached as well. That's why those 2000s Suns teams lost. And the better team will win this year whether that's b/c of which players are on the court, or stupid mistakes, or the coaching.

Haha I'm starting to get pumped up for the game.

[tp2021]

This kind of stupid crap worries me about the series

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2010/05/02/20100502phoenix-suns-leandro-barbosa.html

If the Suns expect anything productive from Barbosa against the Spurs they're setting themselves up for failure.

In that article, she writes


Fortunately for the coach, his second-string players are of a much higher quality. None will be as valuable this series as Leandro Barbosa, whose ability to up the tempo and put the defense on its heels will be key against a Spurs team whose bench is often one-man deep.


WTF

[TDMVPDPOY]

cant wait for the excuses if they lose, cause they are without their best center :(

[Danny.Zhu]

Since when we started to worry about a player like Lopez?