Mt.Spur
05-19-2007, 02:35 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dailydime-070519
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
SAN ANTONIO -- This was believed to be the cleanest shot for Steve Nash and these Phoenix Suns. This was supposed to be their best chance to scale what even Nash refers to as a "mountain."
Mount Duncan, specifically.
It was a second-round series, so Nash would be a little fresher. It came with home-court advantage, too. It even came with a bonus: Dallas had stunningly been sent home already, removing one more Texas-sized obstacle from the Suns' path to the NBA Finals.
It's easy to forget some of those things after Nash's bloody nose in Game 1, followed by the hammer blow of suspensions that barred Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw from Game 5, but the Suns did have some stuff working in their favor in this showdown with the San Antonio Spurs.
Just not enough stuff. The Suns rallied gamely Friday night after falling behind by 20 points but ultimately couldn't avoid the 114-106 defeat in Game 6 that ended their season, thereby invalidating that Best Chance Theory and replacing it with a question.
As in: Was this the last chance for the Suns, as presently constituted, to try to get out of the West?
"I had a feeling that was coming," Suns forward Shawn Marion said, sitting patiently at his locker for the inevitable.
Marion was ready for that one because he's been hearing the rumblings all season. He's well aware of the leaguewide expectation that the Suns -- privately unsure that the Nash-Stoudemire-Marion triumvirate can go any farther -- would pursue major changes if the championship eluded them again.
How major? Packaging Marion with the lottery pick they'll inherit from Atlanta on Tuesday -- unless the Hawks' pick falls in the top three -- to pursue, say, Kevin Durant is one significant option.
Packaging that pick and Stoudemire to chase a veteran star like Minnesota's Kevin Garnett is even more major . . . although Stoudemire emphatically made his case to stay by returning from exile with a tidy 38-point, 12-rebound, four-block reminder of his potential.
"That has nothing to do with me," Marion said of possible trades. "I have no control over that. I just do what I do."
In this series, that meant chasing Tony Parker most of the time, guarding Tim Duncan in spots and taking a turn at all five positions over the course of six games. Game 6 was hardly a glorious finish for Marion, with 11 points and 11 boards compared to Parker's 21 points by halftime and 30 overall. Yet it was also tough to single him out for culpability given all the defensive scrambling Phoenix was doing to cope with Duncan and a lethal Manu Ginobili.
Which gives a glimpse into the Suns' dilemma. Had they lost this series in a more straightforward manner, going the shake-up route would be so much easier. But how do you factor in the Game 5 they had to play short-handed and what that did to their chances? Or the Game 4 breakthrough here?
The Suns might be forced to part with a big gun like Marion purely for luxury-tax relief. Yet expensive as it would be to keep this team together, with the club's payroll scheduled to rise well into tax territory next season, shipping out a star of Marion's stature and versatility won't be easy after the steps Phoenix took in this series.
For all the claims that the Spurs' image has changed, perhaps so did Phoenix's. The Suns spoke openly of the psychological hold San Antonio had on them -- an admission even more unorthodox than trying to win in the playoffs with offense -- but then appeared to break through that barrier with the road win that made it 2-2.
"What can I say?" Nash offered afterward, finally spilling the frustration he had held in since Stoudemire and Diaw were suspended.
"Part of me, as a sportsman, wants to give [San Antonio] credit, but I don't know what the outcome would have been if we went home tied with a full team [for Game 5]."
You have to give the Spurs considerable credit, actually.
Leandro Barbosa might have won the league's Sixth Man Award, but Ginobili was convincingly the sixth man of the series, capped by a 33-point, 11-rebound, six-assist masterpiece in the clincher. The Suns were the league's best 3-point shooting team during the regular season, but San Antonio made more triples (44-37) when it mattered. Bruce Bowen and his double-team helpers, meanwhile, kept banging on the Phoenix quarterback so hard that Nash, according to D'Antoni, is covered in bruises that look "like a lot of gnats have been biting on him."
Entering the fourth quarter, shadowed so closely around every corner that passing was pretty much his only option, Nash had one basket to Jacque Vaughn's two. Of course, Nash promptly reeled off 15 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter on 6-for-6 shooting -- matching the 15 scored in the period by Stoudemire in an impressive, taunting farewell to Amare's I-Beat-Microfracture season -- but the Spurs just had too much.
How much? Eleven points in the fourth from Michael Finley, who didn't score in the first three quarters, and Duncan falling just shy of a triple-double for the ages with 24 points, 13 boards and nine blocks.
"It's been a tough year on a lot of fronts," D'Antoni said. "We'll fix 'em.
"We're going to tweak some things, get better, get deeper if that's what it takes. It's going to be a great summer."
Said Marion: "You can say we need this or need that, but I still think we can beat this team."
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
SAN ANTONIO -- This was believed to be the cleanest shot for Steve Nash and these Phoenix Suns. This was supposed to be their best chance to scale what even Nash refers to as a "mountain."
Mount Duncan, specifically.
It was a second-round series, so Nash would be a little fresher. It came with home-court advantage, too. It even came with a bonus: Dallas had stunningly been sent home already, removing one more Texas-sized obstacle from the Suns' path to the NBA Finals.
It's easy to forget some of those things after Nash's bloody nose in Game 1, followed by the hammer blow of suspensions that barred Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw from Game 5, but the Suns did have some stuff working in their favor in this showdown with the San Antonio Spurs.
Just not enough stuff. The Suns rallied gamely Friday night after falling behind by 20 points but ultimately couldn't avoid the 114-106 defeat in Game 6 that ended their season, thereby invalidating that Best Chance Theory and replacing it with a question.
As in: Was this the last chance for the Suns, as presently constituted, to try to get out of the West?
"I had a feeling that was coming," Suns forward Shawn Marion said, sitting patiently at his locker for the inevitable.
Marion was ready for that one because he's been hearing the rumblings all season. He's well aware of the leaguewide expectation that the Suns -- privately unsure that the Nash-Stoudemire-Marion triumvirate can go any farther -- would pursue major changes if the championship eluded them again.
How major? Packaging Marion with the lottery pick they'll inherit from Atlanta on Tuesday -- unless the Hawks' pick falls in the top three -- to pursue, say, Kevin Durant is one significant option.
Packaging that pick and Stoudemire to chase a veteran star like Minnesota's Kevin Garnett is even more major . . . although Stoudemire emphatically made his case to stay by returning from exile with a tidy 38-point, 12-rebound, four-block reminder of his potential.
"That has nothing to do with me," Marion said of possible trades. "I have no control over that. I just do what I do."
In this series, that meant chasing Tony Parker most of the time, guarding Tim Duncan in spots and taking a turn at all five positions over the course of six games. Game 6 was hardly a glorious finish for Marion, with 11 points and 11 boards compared to Parker's 21 points by halftime and 30 overall. Yet it was also tough to single him out for culpability given all the defensive scrambling Phoenix was doing to cope with Duncan and a lethal Manu Ginobili.
Which gives a glimpse into the Suns' dilemma. Had they lost this series in a more straightforward manner, going the shake-up route would be so much easier. But how do you factor in the Game 5 they had to play short-handed and what that did to their chances? Or the Game 4 breakthrough here?
The Suns might be forced to part with a big gun like Marion purely for luxury-tax relief. Yet expensive as it would be to keep this team together, with the club's payroll scheduled to rise well into tax territory next season, shipping out a star of Marion's stature and versatility won't be easy after the steps Phoenix took in this series.
For all the claims that the Spurs' image has changed, perhaps so did Phoenix's. The Suns spoke openly of the psychological hold San Antonio had on them -- an admission even more unorthodox than trying to win in the playoffs with offense -- but then appeared to break through that barrier with the road win that made it 2-2.
"What can I say?" Nash offered afterward, finally spilling the frustration he had held in since Stoudemire and Diaw were suspended.
"Part of me, as a sportsman, wants to give [San Antonio] credit, but I don't know what the outcome would have been if we went home tied with a full team [for Game 5]."
You have to give the Spurs considerable credit, actually.
Leandro Barbosa might have won the league's Sixth Man Award, but Ginobili was convincingly the sixth man of the series, capped by a 33-point, 11-rebound, six-assist masterpiece in the clincher. The Suns were the league's best 3-point shooting team during the regular season, but San Antonio made more triples (44-37) when it mattered. Bruce Bowen and his double-team helpers, meanwhile, kept banging on the Phoenix quarterback so hard that Nash, according to D'Antoni, is covered in bruises that look "like a lot of gnats have been biting on him."
Entering the fourth quarter, shadowed so closely around every corner that passing was pretty much his only option, Nash had one basket to Jacque Vaughn's two. Of course, Nash promptly reeled off 15 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter on 6-for-6 shooting -- matching the 15 scored in the period by Stoudemire in an impressive, taunting farewell to Amare's I-Beat-Microfracture season -- but the Spurs just had too much.
How much? Eleven points in the fourth from Michael Finley, who didn't score in the first three quarters, and Duncan falling just shy of a triple-double for the ages with 24 points, 13 boards and nine blocks.
"It's been a tough year on a lot of fronts," D'Antoni said. "We'll fix 'em.
"We're going to tweak some things, get better, get deeper if that's what it takes. It's going to be a great summer."
Said Marion: "You can say we need this or need that, but I still think we can beat this team."