Spurs vs. Suns Game Four Previews: Up 3-0, Suns writing the book on playoff rebirth

[duncan228]

Up 3-0, Suns writing the book on playoff rebirth (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-suns-spurs)

Phoenix at San Antonio (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2010050924)
Game info: 8:00 pm EDT Sun May 9, 2010
TV: TNT
By Paul J. Weber

Hungry after taking a 3-0 lead on the San Antonio Spurs with a fifth straight playoff win, the Phoenix Suns ate dinner early Saturday at one of the few places they could find open.

“Hard Rock,” Grant Hill said. “We didn’t have many options that late.”

At least they firmly control what really matters.

The Suns returned to the AT&T Center for practice Saturday every bit as relaxed as the night before, when general manager Steve Kerr was comparing Goran Dragic with Michael Jordan and Phoenix left with its most commanding playoff series lead in five years.

Steve Nash lounged courtside. Amare Stoudemire shot jumpers in fashionably geek, Elvis Costello-like glasses. Hill revealed that he spoke with NBA commissioner David Stern about writing a book, something along the lines of Bill Bradley’s “Life on the Run.”

He’s now got a better read in mind: these Suns, so close to dealing Stoudemire at midseason and starting over, now sitting a victory from ousting their longtime playoff nemesis and reaching the Western Conference finals.

“What’s happened this season, and the things that we’ve gone through, and how special and unique this team is?” Hill said. “It should have been documented. I’m still kicking myself.”

And the Spurs?

They were across town, sullen and frustrated and mulling what history says will be the final chapter written about them this season.

No team in the NBA playoffs has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit. Tim Duncan has been in this position only once before heading into a Game 4, in the 2001 West finals. The Los Angeles Lakers wound up womping San Antonio by 29 points.

Only a week ago were the Spurs being hailed as perhaps the best No. 7 seed in NBA history after impressively dumping Dallas in six games. Now they are looking like, well, like just about every other seventh seed in NBA history.

On the eve of Sunday night’s Game 4 in San Antonio, coach Gregg Popovich still had a sense of humor after the Spurs emerged Saturday from their film session—which likely starred a backup, unheralded Suns guard shredding them for 23 points in the fourth quarter.

“Didn’t you see the guys come out of there cheering?” Popovich joked. “Some were crying, some were cheering. It was very emotional.”

Tony Parker came out OK, albeit sore. He had X-rays taken on his lower back after several hard falls in a rough return to the starting lineup Friday night. He’ll play in Game 4.

“Everybody’s surprised,” said Parker, who scored just 10 points in Game 3 after averaging 23 in the first two games. “We played very good against Dallas. Now we’re in a bad situation.”

Hill remembers the Suns having that feeling just three months ago.

It was during the All-Star break, when Stoudemire put his chances of being traded at 50-50 and the Suns started pulling out of a two-month tailspin. Going into the break having won five of six, Hill retreated to Cabo San Lucas with his wife and kept his fingers crossed.

“It was almost like, ‘I hope they don’t blow this team up,”’ Hill said. “Because I feel like whatever it is, we discovered it. We figured out that formula.”

Kerr said that feeling was universal.

“We had a pretty good thing going,” Kerr said. “We weren’t playing great at the time, but that’s why I maintained all along it was going to take something really good for us to break up the team.”

Had that happened, Stoudemire wouldn’t be on the brink of beating the Spurs in the playoffs for the first time in five tries since 2003.

Not that the Suns are getting ahead of themselves.

“Somebody said it’s 88-0 when you’re 3-0,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. “You know what, there’s also a situation where a man didn’t walk on the moon until 1969.”

*********************

Team Stat Leaders

Points
Amar'e Stoudemire Pho 23.1
Tim Duncan SA 17.9

Rebounds
Amar'e Stoudemire Pho 8.9
Tim Duncan SA 10.1

Assists
Steve Nash Pho 11.0
Tony Parker SA 5.7

*********************

Series Breakdown (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/playoffs/2010/saspho)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/playoffs/2010/saspho

[duncan228]

Spurs, Suns Ready for a Game 4 Fight (http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/05/08/spurs-suns-ready-for-a-game-4-fight/)
By Chris Tomasson

Gregg Popovich was wearing a T-shirt with a boxer on the front. That must mean his Spurs, down 3-0 in a West semifinal, are ready to come out fighting, right?

San Antonio forward Matt Bonner had donned a Boston Red Sox hat. Must be that Bonner wanted to let everybody know the Red Sox in 2004 overcame a 3-0 deficit, right?

Well, not exactly.

Popovich's shirt actually was in reference to Jesse James Leija, a local boxer who comes to Spurs games. And Bonner said his hat really wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

"I'm from New Hampshire," said the dedicated Red Sox fan. "I wear this hat every day."

OK, maybe there wasn't symbolism all over the place when the Spurs met at their practice facility Saturday in preparation for Sunday's Game 4 against Phoenix. Still, these Spurs are of a determined mindset as they try to overcome a series deficit no NBA team ever has.

"Nobody came to the meeting with a Hawaiian shirt on," Popovich said. "Nobody had a travel guide. I saw no fishing poles or anything like that. So I think that's a good sign for (Sunday)."

It might also be a good sign that the Spurs, titlists in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007, have championship tradition. And it's been well chronicled how they've beaten the Suns four times in four tries in the playoffs since 2003.

Wouldn't the ultimate Phoenix frustration being the Spurs coming back from a 3-0 deficit? That's why nobody wearing orange is taking anything for granted.

"They're not a team that's going to go quietly into the night," said Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry. "It's not going to happen. I tell everybody the (poem) that Nelson Mandela had in his cell (in South Africa). There's a line there that says, 'Our faces are bloodied but unbowed (actually, "My head is bloody, but unbowed").' I guarantee you, their faces may be bloody but they will be unbowed.

"We will have to come in and we will have to play at a real high level. They're not going anywhere ... (The Spurs are) talking about, 'We can make history. We could be the first team every to come back from 3-0.'"

Gentry is right about San Antonio's championship pedigree. Nobody, though, was heard talking at the Spurs practice facility about doing anything more than trying to win Sunday at the AT&T Center.

"The only mindset has got to be the next one," said guard Manu Ginobili. "We can't be thinking about four in a row now. We've just got to win one."

Cue the cliché machine.

"You take it one game at a time," Bonner said.

"It's not over until it's over," said center Tim Duncan, who likely didn't say "ain't" because he speaks such good English.

While Duncan is the only San Antonio player to have been on all four title outfits, he's also the only one still around from the last time the Spurs were down 3-0 in a series. It was 2001, when they dug such a hole against the Lakers in the West finals.

Bad news, Spurs fans. San Antonio, after getting blown out by 39 points in Game 3 of that series, bowed meekly by 29 in Game 4. But that didn't stop Duncan from letting it be known he believes it will be very tough to sweep the Spurs this time.

"We're not going to back off," Duncan said. "We're not going to give up. We're not going to lay down."

Even if the Spurs get knocked down, they're vowing to get up. At least guard Tony Parker was standing Saturday.

Parker was banged all over the place in Friday's 110-96 Game 3 loss at home. But he will play Sunday after having X-rays taken on his lower back that were negative.

"I've got an inflamed shoulder, a bruised elbow contusion and my back is sore," said Parker, who said the injuries were inflicted when he was knocked to the ground by burly Phoenix forward Amar'e Stoudemire in the second quarter.

But look on the bright side. At least Parker, whose broken right hand cost him about a month late in the regular season and didn't see him return to the starting lineup until Friday, said the hand is the least of his worries.

Both Parker and Ginobili admitted shock San Antonio is down 3-0. Despite being the No. 7 seed, the Spurs, who finally got healthy late in the regular season, had dispatched No. 2 Dallas 4-2, and No. 3 Phoenix looked to be another higher seed they could beat.

"I think everybody is surprised," Parker said. "We played very good against Dallas, and now we're in a bad situation."

Usually, it's the Suns who are in a bad position against the Spurs. So maybe that's why Phoenix guard Steve Nash, part of three of those playoff losses to San Antonio while Stoudemire is the only Suns player to have experienced all four, says his team can't act like a favorite.

"The Spurs are a great champion and ... the clinching game is always going to be the most difficult," Nash said. "So we really got to find a way to feel like the underdog and play with our backs against the wall."

Nobody on the Suns, though, was wearing a Red Sox hat. Even if he claimed donning it wasn't symbolic, Bonner said it can't hurt to bring up Boston's dramatic comeback over the New York Yankees in the American League Championship series.

"It's something that comes to mind, when you think about being down 3-0, that it's possible," Bonner said.

So expect the Spurs to come out fighting.

[dbreiden83080]

What a depressng mess...:depressed

[duncan228]

Slideshow (http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/show.php?colid=14711&slide_nbr=1&fAZ=1&HTTP_REFERER=http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/#1).

Suns vs. Spurs: Game 4 preview (http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/)
azcentral.com

Spurs all but out
In recent the past, it has been the Suns who have failed to grasp any sense of solving the San Antonio Spurs. But in a bizarre turn of events Phoenix has a 3-0 lead in this NBA Western Conference semifinal series. Bizarre's a poor choice of words? Really? Well, the Suns have played better defense than the Spurs. "Twilight Zone" enough for ya? More important: A win Sunday, or any victory over the next 4 (if necessary) games, punches the Suns' ticket to the Western Conference finals.

You'll hear this a lot
You will hear these 18 words several dozen times before Game 4: No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a 7-game series. Teams with such an advantage are 88-0. Based on the playoff history of these teams share, you'll excuse some paranoid Suns fans who are wondering if this will be the first time.

Not exactly Nash-ty
When is the last time the Suns got only 16 points and 6 assists from Steve Nash ... and won by a contest the size of Game 3 by 14? On the road? Against San Antonio? We're gonna go with never. But that's exactly what happened. As it turns out it didn't really matter, because of ...

'Steve who'
That's what Alvin Gentry said after Game 3, referring to Nash's backup. For once, Goran Dragic made Suns fans stop wishing for the 6-minute mark of the fourth quarter, the time Gentry generally returns Nash to the floor. Scoreless in the first half, Dragic finished with 26 points -- 23 in the fourth quarter. That's borderline Isiah Thomas-esque, particularly considering Dragic was barely visible (2 of 12 coming in) the first 2 games. He staggered the Spurs with an array of up-and-under moves, well-timed drives and 3-point darts. He was so effective that Nash didn't return till the 3:17 mark.

Reserve clause
Yes, Dragic turned Ken Jennings -- he had all the answers -- in Game 3, but the Suns' bench has been the difference. They outscored their counterparts by 20 on Friday and have shown toughness throughout the series. After a shaky second-quarter stint, the reserves smacked down San Antonio in the second half. Reserves made 10 of 15 3-point shots. A little lost in the Dragic euphoria was a solid outing from Leandro Barbosa, who scored 7 in the fourth and 13 overall. Channing Frye was 3 of 5 from beyond the arc (10 of 15 for the series) and is averaging 10 points against the Spurs.

Oddity slaps Spurs
Victimized over the years by strange, series-turning happenings (busted noses, hip checks that became suspensions, etc.) against the Spurs, the Suns made something more weird than Willard Scott happen to the Spurs. A lunging, sprawling 3-point bucket by Goran Dragic and subsequent foul on George Hill gave the Suns a 4-point play in the fourth quarter. And it proved to be the knockout blow. Perhaps it was a late birthday present for the Slovenian, who turned 24 on May 6.

110 percent
The Suns have scored 111, 110 and 110 points but reached those totals in decidedly different ways. For instance, they shot 53 percent in Game 3 after a slow start, catching fire in the second half behind Dragic and the other subs. In Game 2, they fell behind early but were revived by another source of energy off the bench, mostly on defense and some timely offensive rebounding from Jared Dudley. Such versatility is what they've normally seen from the Spurs.

Not so much Amar'e
Very little has gone right for the Spurs, and this may be the most unkind cut of all: They got beat in Game 3 when Amar'e Stoudemire -- who normally terrorizes Spurs defenders with extreme prejudice -- went for 7 points, and didn't look good doing it. He was a little jumpy but figures to be more relaxed in Game 4.

Not so fast
The Suns managed only 8 fast break points and still won. How can that be? Better D from PHX, that's how. San Antonio has been in the mid-40s shooting percentage-wise in 2 of the 3 games. Heading into a potential clinching Game 4 against a team that ordinarily does the best job of slowing them down, that may the best sign of all for the Suns.

Where's Duncan?
Age appears to be catching up to Tim Duncan, who remains effective around the hoop but clearly is not the same guy Phoenix grew to fear. He finished Game 3 with 15 points and 13 rebounds, hardly a poor showing. But it's what Duncan didn't do that has to be a concern going forward. He took only 9 shots in Game 3. If San Antonio can't up his shot attempts in Game 4 the series may end in San Antonio.

The Hills
Elderly Suns forward Grant Hill (left) is living his own personal "Cocoon" in this series (scoring 18 in Game 3 and 14 in Game 2) while serving as the designated Manu/Parker/George Hill stopper. Speaking of George Hill, you're not hearing much. The emerging Spurs guard, who got much-deserved credit for San Antonio reaching this point, was 1 of 7 in Game 3 (finishing with 8 points and was a minus-15 for the game). He's only 8 of 27 in this series and has been replaced in the starting lineup by Tony Parker.

31-4
After the 88-0 figure, this is the second-most relevant statistic for Suns fans. It's, and repeat after us, the Suns' record when Jason Richardson scores 20 or more points this season. He had 21 in Game 3. The way Phoenix has played lately when he gets 20, you wonder how they lost 4.

[Slippy]

The Los Angeles Lakers wound up womping San Antonio by 29 points.



I remember that game well. Only David Robinson came to play . This better not be the case with this team where only one guy shows up. They are a lot better than that team, talent wise. We got a great and experienced core in Tim, Manu and Tony. As leaders they gotta make sure every-one else comes ready to play. I want to see these guys get vocal and get physical. If any one of those players believes they have no chance, then atleast play for pride. If they still don't get the urgency, then pop needs to bench them in an instant. Reading the suns quotes aside from their coach they seem to think 4nil has already happened. Might play to the spurs advantage.

One game at a time.

As always , thanks posting these articles duncan228.

[shelshor]

Referee Assignments
Sun. May 9
Phoenix @ San Antonio: Monty McCutchen; Bob Delaney; Jason Phillips

[duncan228]

Game 4 preview: Suns at Spurs (http://valleyofthesuns.com/2010/05/09/game-4-preview-suns-spurs/)
by Michael Schwartz
Valley of the Suns

Suns fans must be wondering when they’re going to wake up and realize that taking a 3-0 lead on the San Antonio Spurs, thanks to Goran Dragic no less, is all a dream.

But no, as much as this series seems like something that could have only happened while you’re asleep at the start of the season, the Phoenix Suns really do have a legitimate chance to sweep the San Antonio Spurs in today’s Game 4 in the Alamo City.

The Suns know, however, that they’re playing a four-time world champion that won’t just back down at the first sign of adversity.

But you’ve got to wonder where San Antonio’s heads are at right now.

In Game 1, the Spurs responded to Steve Nash’s dominance with 12-0 and 13-0 runs in the second half, but still fell short. In Game 2, they limited Phoenix’s transition game and held the Suns to a low shooting percentage, but still lost. In Game 3, they built an 18-point lead, limited Amare Stoudemire to seven points, got to the line much more frequently than the Suns in the early going and seemed to really have Phoenix rattled …… but still lost again. With Nash, Amare and Richardson on the bench no less.

The Suns essentially took the Spurs’ best shot in Game 3, yet bounced right back up to deliver the knockout punch themselves.

The loss demoralized the Spurs so much that Manu Ginobili later told reporters that the Spurs ”are going to have to play the perfect game” to win Game 4.

Play a perfect game? For the Spurs to beat the Suns just once? What world are we living in?

We will once again get to see what kind of killer instinct the Suns possess tonight. In Game 4 in Portland they had a chance to put a stranglehold on that series, but instead they played their worst game of the playoffs and saw the Blazers score the victory behind the emotional return of Brandon Roy.

The Suns are certainly in the driver’s seat, but you don’t want to give the Spurs any hope. Although no team has ever rallied from an 0-3 deficit in NBA history and the Suns haven’t lost consecutive games — not to mention four in a row — since January, if there ever were a time it would happen it would be in a Suns-Spurs series.

As down and out as San Antonio seems now, one win can change all that. And once momentum switches the other way, the next thing you know you’re playing in a Game 7.

The Spurs are a wounded animal right now, but if the Suns don’t put them out of their misery when they have a chance, they could be in trouble.

At the same time, I fully expect the Spurs to play near a perfect game, like the Suns did in Game 4 of the 2008 series after falling behind 0-3. Aside from one time against the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, these Spurs just don’t get swept, and the Suns would be in good position to close it out in Game 5 even if they drop this one.

But a sweep would send such a strong message that it would be the perfect revenge for all these years of torture.

This isn’t Orlando-Atlanta, this is the Suns and the Spurs, the captivating series in which the Spurs always break Phoenix’s heart and then devour it.

To finish off the sweep the Suns will need a new hero to step up, as they have seemed to have every game.

My prediction for this game? Amare Stoudemire.

After the Suns’ guards torched them in Game 3, I expect a bit less attention to be paid to Amare, and I expect him to enjoy his signature game of the series.

For all that has happened in that building for the Suns, from the Horry hip check to the Duncan three, sweeping the Spurs in that arena would exorcise many of the demons from season’s past.

By winning Game 3 this has already been a good trip, but one more win can make it the perfect revenge.

[duncan228]

Can the Spurs and Celtics keep themselves alive? (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Can-the-Spurs-and-Celtics-keep-themselves-alive-?urn=nba,239692)
By Kelly Dwyer
Ball Don't Lie

It's probably safe to say that NBA followers, both the credentialed and uncredentialed kind, respect the San Antonio Spurs more than any other franchise.

And not an admiring sort of respect, though there is plenty there. No, it's the sort of respect that you have for a horror movie's main villain, when you see him laying in a pool of his own blood, right before noticing that the DVD player is telling you that you're only 49 minutes into this particular movie. Nobody's rooting against the Spurs, and few house any particular sort of enmity for the team as you would a movie villain, but most aren't ready to right off the team until the NBA itself tells them that they have to go home.

The Spurs are down 0-3 to the Phoenix Suns right now, and despite a first round exit last season, its status as the West's seventh seed this year, and not having won a title since 2007, this team is still feared. Poll your buddies, track the Twitter, ask around: I'm sure a healthy chunk believe that if any team was to fall behind 0-3 and roar back to take the series, it would be these Spurs.

That's not hyperbole, either, because your typical 64-win powerhouse wouldn't fall behind 0-3 in a series to start with; unless it is up against a 72-win powerhouse (http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/1996.html). And that's certainly not a slight against the Suns, who have played the best basketball in the West for months now.

It's just a sign of respect for San Antonio, the franchise that deserves it. The one that was probably one three-point play away from taking another ring in 2006, or a Derek Fisher jumper (though a dispirited San Antonio team had its chances in that series following Fisher's make) away from grabbing one in 2004. And I don't think we're over-respecting, there, not when the team was so highly regarded during those particular seasons.

You're supposed to take these things one game at a time, but somehow today's Game 4 doesn't feel as crucial, and that an impending Game 5 does feel like the truly important turn. Perhaps that's us respecting to a point that flies beyond logic again, but we also know what tricks the brain can play. And how you can't fight human nature.

Because the inevitable let down from Phoenix is San Antonio's biggest ally, at this point. It's hard to beat any NBA team four times in a row, and it's incredibly hard (in spite of what you might tell yourself, your teammates, or the press) to head into a fourth game up 3-0 with the same sense of urgency that sparked up in the previous games. Not even the 72-win powerhouse could do it. Against a team that cared, at least.

That's important. Those 1996 Bulls did sweep a playoff series, against the Orlando Magic, but that Magic team had more or less packed it in by Game 4 (while also dealing with myriad injuries). Against the more dogged Seattle SuperSonics, however, the Bulls fell short in Game 4 by 21 points.

Without being in the locker room, I still don't see it a stretch to assume that the Spurs haven't packed it in. And as much as I respect what Phoenix has done this year, I also remember the Spurs being up double-digits for a healthy portion of the first half on Friday night. I know that Goran Dragic will probably not go off for 23 points again in the fourth quarter (unless it's a blowout, actually. Could you imagine him pulling that off, again?), and that Jason Richardson (37 percent from long range on the career, 39 percent during the season, 58 percent in the series) has to fall back to earth at some point. That's the logical angle.

The angle that has nothing to support it, save for watching decades of playoff basketball? A cornered animal is a dangerous one, especially when up against a hunter that knows that it can still get its prey on Tuesday night, in a much easier setting.

Sunday's Game 4 is not a given, not with Phoenix's strengths and San Antonio's frailties likely to sustain. But it could be the first step in a pretty interesting comeback story.

[duncan228]

Tony Parker: Set to Go (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=rotowire-onyarkerettoo)

Parker (shoulder, back) had his MRI results come back negative, and will play Sunday against the Suns, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Parker is extremely banged up, and should not be counted on to do much, especially with the Spurs down 3-0.

[spurs10]

All anyone needs to think about is winning tonight.

[Spurologist]

The quote about tp being extremely banged up is from an nba fantasy team perspective

[duncan228]

That's from an nba fantasy team perspective

My bad, I usually post when it's Fantasy. It was the MRI info I wanted. :)

[Spursmania]

It's on tonight. I hope Parker plays some ball.