Kori Ellis
05-22-2005, 12:11 AM
Buck Harvey: Who owns whom? The only way the Spurs lose the series
Web Posted: 05/22/2005 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA052205.1S.COL.BKNharvey.2998e7342.html
San Antonio Express-News
PHOENIX — Steve Kerr picks the Spurs to beat the Suns, and that's where Kerr and I disagree.
Kerr thinks the Spurs will win in seven games.
I think the Spurs will win in six.
Kerr says this with some emotional conflict, since last summer he became a Suns investor and consultant. And he says this with one condition.
If Steve Nash keeps acting like Magic Johnson with stringy hair, aren't the Spurs in trouble?
This time, I agree with Kerr.
Kerr knows all about playing against Nash in the Western Conference finals. Two years ago, in a memorable Game 6, Kerr came off the bench against Dallas, cold and unused, and Nash stood nearby watching three after three fall.
No one knew it at the time, but NBA labor history had been made. Few players have ever been beaten by an owner this way.
Kerr always said he was just along for the ride during that title run, which of course he wasn't. But Kerr was just along for the ride last summer, when eight members of the Suns organization traveled in a private jet to recruit Nash.
Kerr didn't have much to do with it. Bryan Colangelo, the Suns' general manager, made up his mind about Nash before Kerr joined the franchise.
Kerr, instead, was about as quiet as a silent partner can be. More vocal on that trip was Amare Stoudemire; Kerr remembers Stoudemire selling Nash with a bold prediction.
"Come here," Stoudemire told Nash, "and it's OVER!"
Kerr was all for the move, but he didn't see the it's-over part. In a Yahoo.com column he wrote last fall, Kerr picked the Suns to finish eighth in the West.
"I figured Steve would make them a playoff team," Kerr said Saturday.
Most figured wrong, most notably Mark Cuban. And last week, asked about those who have second-guessed his decision to let Nash go, Cuban reacted with his usual grace. He called those people "idiots."
That said, Cuban had some logic last summer, and the Spurs might have agreed with him. Nash had success against the Spurs in the past, all right, but he was never an MVP candidate.
Kerr saw this firsthand, too. In that 2003 conference finals against Nash and Dallas, Tony Parker once scored 19 points — in a quarter.
The Spurs will want to take advantage of Parker driving on Nash today (how many MVPs come with such a weakness?), just as they have before. Parker also scored 29 and 30 against the Suns this season.
Going by this, don't the Spurs have a counter?
Not necessarily. The Suns can switch Nash to Bruce Bowen, which they have done before, and then there are the Spurs' weaknesses the Sonics found. If the Spurs struggled with the Luke Ridnour/Jerome James pick-and-roll in the last series, they likely will with Nash/Stoudemire.
The Spurs will win, instead, for other reasons. Tim Duncan will get Stoudemire in foul trouble. Manu Ginobili will drive to the basket even more often than he did against Denver or Seattle. And Robert Horry leads a deeper bench.
As for the unexpected: Beno Udrih, pressed into more minutes because of the Suns' small lineups, surprises.
But there's something else at play here, and it should be as scary to the Spurs as Duncan spraining both ankles at once. The Spurs have never seen this Nash.
The league has rarely seen this kind of point guard, and Friday night displayed the full power. Nash went for 30 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds, holding up for 50 minutes, and his poise on a 3-pointer at the end of regulation summed up what he has become.
"That was one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen," Kerr said.
This from a man who played with Michael Jordan.
Kerr doesn't think Nash's numbers will be as flashy against the Spurs as they were against the Mavericks. But then Kerr says without hesitation: "He's playing at a different level. He's reached the point in his career where everything has come to a head. He has the ultimate confidence and composure, and he's completely in charge and unflappable. When was the last time you saw a point guard dominate a series like that? Magic?"
The Mavericks contributed to that. The Spurs will slow down the Suns better than anyone outside of Detroit could.
But if Nash continues his ride?
Kerr will be wrong about this series, as will others.
Web Posted: 05/22/2005 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA052205.1S.COL.BKNharvey.2998e7342.html
San Antonio Express-News
PHOENIX — Steve Kerr picks the Spurs to beat the Suns, and that's where Kerr and I disagree.
Kerr thinks the Spurs will win in seven games.
I think the Spurs will win in six.
Kerr says this with some emotional conflict, since last summer he became a Suns investor and consultant. And he says this with one condition.
If Steve Nash keeps acting like Magic Johnson with stringy hair, aren't the Spurs in trouble?
This time, I agree with Kerr.
Kerr knows all about playing against Nash in the Western Conference finals. Two years ago, in a memorable Game 6, Kerr came off the bench against Dallas, cold and unused, and Nash stood nearby watching three after three fall.
No one knew it at the time, but NBA labor history had been made. Few players have ever been beaten by an owner this way.
Kerr always said he was just along for the ride during that title run, which of course he wasn't. But Kerr was just along for the ride last summer, when eight members of the Suns organization traveled in a private jet to recruit Nash.
Kerr didn't have much to do with it. Bryan Colangelo, the Suns' general manager, made up his mind about Nash before Kerr joined the franchise.
Kerr, instead, was about as quiet as a silent partner can be. More vocal on that trip was Amare Stoudemire; Kerr remembers Stoudemire selling Nash with a bold prediction.
"Come here," Stoudemire told Nash, "and it's OVER!"
Kerr was all for the move, but he didn't see the it's-over part. In a Yahoo.com column he wrote last fall, Kerr picked the Suns to finish eighth in the West.
"I figured Steve would make them a playoff team," Kerr said Saturday.
Most figured wrong, most notably Mark Cuban. And last week, asked about those who have second-guessed his decision to let Nash go, Cuban reacted with his usual grace. He called those people "idiots."
That said, Cuban had some logic last summer, and the Spurs might have agreed with him. Nash had success against the Spurs in the past, all right, but he was never an MVP candidate.
Kerr saw this firsthand, too. In that 2003 conference finals against Nash and Dallas, Tony Parker once scored 19 points — in a quarter.
The Spurs will want to take advantage of Parker driving on Nash today (how many MVPs come with such a weakness?), just as they have before. Parker also scored 29 and 30 against the Suns this season.
Going by this, don't the Spurs have a counter?
Not necessarily. The Suns can switch Nash to Bruce Bowen, which they have done before, and then there are the Spurs' weaknesses the Sonics found. If the Spurs struggled with the Luke Ridnour/Jerome James pick-and-roll in the last series, they likely will with Nash/Stoudemire.
The Spurs will win, instead, for other reasons. Tim Duncan will get Stoudemire in foul trouble. Manu Ginobili will drive to the basket even more often than he did against Denver or Seattle. And Robert Horry leads a deeper bench.
As for the unexpected: Beno Udrih, pressed into more minutes because of the Suns' small lineups, surprises.
But there's something else at play here, and it should be as scary to the Spurs as Duncan spraining both ankles at once. The Spurs have never seen this Nash.
The league has rarely seen this kind of point guard, and Friday night displayed the full power. Nash went for 30 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds, holding up for 50 minutes, and his poise on a 3-pointer at the end of regulation summed up what he has become.
"That was one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen," Kerr said.
This from a man who played with Michael Jordan.
Kerr doesn't think Nash's numbers will be as flashy against the Spurs as they were against the Mavericks. But then Kerr says without hesitation: "He's playing at a different level. He's reached the point in his career where everything has come to a head. He has the ultimate confidence and composure, and he's completely in charge and unflappable. When was the last time you saw a point guard dominate a series like that? Magic?"
The Mavericks contributed to that. The Spurs will slow down the Suns better than anyone outside of Detroit could.
But if Nash continues his ride?
Kerr will be wrong about this series, as will others.