Mr.Bottomtooth
04-27-2008, 08:15 AM
Suns notebook: Suns not in mood to talk about changes
Matt Paulson, Tribune
With the Suns now one loss from postseason elimination, the belief that Mike D’Antoni won’t be back as coach next season is becoming widespread.
Steve Nash, the catalyst and central figure of D’Antoni’s highly successful and high-octane attack the past four years, has a closer relationship with him than any other player. He was asked about the speculation on Saturday. While Nash praised his coach, he didn’t exactly rush to his defense.
“Mike’s been great. It’s been difficult to see him take heat,” Nash said. “We all really share the blame equally. As a team we win together and lose together, so I don’t think it’s fair that he takes more than his share of the blame. We all have to take responsibility for where we are.”
When the Suns’ season ends, multiple changes could follow, but Nash said he’s not concerned about what-ifs at this point.
“You can’t worry about that now,” he said. “Maybe I’ll worry about it this summer, but at the same time, you work as hard as you can to put yourself in a position to succeed and after that, you can’t worry about the other stuff. . . .
“All I’m thinking about tomorrow is going out and playing my heart out, giving ourselves a chance to win and extending the season.”
Meanwhile, general manager Steve Kerr deflected questions about a possible shake-up.
“I’m not going to go into any of that,” he said. “We’ll evaluate all of that once the season ends.”
STOPPING PARKER
While it’s reasonable to expect San Antonio’s Tony Parker won’t have another game like he did Friday, when he hit 17 of 26 shots for a career-high 41 points and 12 assists, the Suns have to at least do a better job of containing him to have any shot today.
Parker is leading all scorers in this series with 33 points per game and has been unstoppable from both inside and out. He’s hit 57.7 percent of his shots and is also averaging 8 assists.
One reporter suggested focusing on taking the ball out of the point guard’s hands early to slow him down, but that proposal was met with questions.
“How do you do that?” D’Antoni said. “Go double and then think nobody else can play? I don’t know how you do that. We’ll try. We’ll try to do different things, but . . . I don’t know how you do that totally, especially to start the game.”
Throwing more double teams at Parker might work, said Boris Diaw, Parker’s childhood friend from their days in France, but that would present other problems.
“You can’t just take the ball out of his hands because there are so many other players on the team that can shoot the ball,” he said. “It’s a difficult situation. You want to get the ball out of his hands, but you don’t want to leave anybody open.”
Nash had a different view.
“I think ideally you’d like to trap on pick-and-rolls,” he said. “I’m not sure we have the personnel to do that. It’d be nice if we could get the ball out of his hands. Right now we’re kind of letting our bigs sit way back. It kind of gives Manu (Ginobili) and Tony the freedom to do a lot of things out there. So it would be nice to see if we could adjust a little bit tomorrow.”
HILL’S STATUS
Grant Hill’s abdominal/groin injury didn’t seem to be an issue at all in Game 3. The forward moved well while on the court and finished with six points, four rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes.
On Saturday, though, D’Antoni said the injury started to act up near the end of the game and that’s why Hill played just three minutes in the fourth quarter. Hill’s status is once again up in the air.
“I don’t know what to expect of him tomorrow, but he’s doubtful,” D’Antoni said.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/114886
Matt Paulson, Tribune
With the Suns now one loss from postseason elimination, the belief that Mike D’Antoni won’t be back as coach next season is becoming widespread.
Steve Nash, the catalyst and central figure of D’Antoni’s highly successful and high-octane attack the past four years, has a closer relationship with him than any other player. He was asked about the speculation on Saturday. While Nash praised his coach, he didn’t exactly rush to his defense.
“Mike’s been great. It’s been difficult to see him take heat,” Nash said. “We all really share the blame equally. As a team we win together and lose together, so I don’t think it’s fair that he takes more than his share of the blame. We all have to take responsibility for where we are.”
When the Suns’ season ends, multiple changes could follow, but Nash said he’s not concerned about what-ifs at this point.
“You can’t worry about that now,” he said. “Maybe I’ll worry about it this summer, but at the same time, you work as hard as you can to put yourself in a position to succeed and after that, you can’t worry about the other stuff. . . .
“All I’m thinking about tomorrow is going out and playing my heart out, giving ourselves a chance to win and extending the season.”
Meanwhile, general manager Steve Kerr deflected questions about a possible shake-up.
“I’m not going to go into any of that,” he said. “We’ll evaluate all of that once the season ends.”
STOPPING PARKER
While it’s reasonable to expect San Antonio’s Tony Parker won’t have another game like he did Friday, when he hit 17 of 26 shots for a career-high 41 points and 12 assists, the Suns have to at least do a better job of containing him to have any shot today.
Parker is leading all scorers in this series with 33 points per game and has been unstoppable from both inside and out. He’s hit 57.7 percent of his shots and is also averaging 8 assists.
One reporter suggested focusing on taking the ball out of the point guard’s hands early to slow him down, but that proposal was met with questions.
“How do you do that?” D’Antoni said. “Go double and then think nobody else can play? I don’t know how you do that. We’ll try. We’ll try to do different things, but . . . I don’t know how you do that totally, especially to start the game.”
Throwing more double teams at Parker might work, said Boris Diaw, Parker’s childhood friend from their days in France, but that would present other problems.
“You can’t just take the ball out of his hands because there are so many other players on the team that can shoot the ball,” he said. “It’s a difficult situation. You want to get the ball out of his hands, but you don’t want to leave anybody open.”
Nash had a different view.
“I think ideally you’d like to trap on pick-and-rolls,” he said. “I’m not sure we have the personnel to do that. It’d be nice if we could get the ball out of his hands. Right now we’re kind of letting our bigs sit way back. It kind of gives Manu (Ginobili) and Tony the freedom to do a lot of things out there. So it would be nice to see if we could adjust a little bit tomorrow.”
HILL’S STATUS
Grant Hill’s abdominal/groin injury didn’t seem to be an issue at all in Game 3. The forward moved well while on the court and finished with six points, four rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes.
On Saturday, though, D’Antoni said the injury started to act up near the end of the game and that’s why Hill played just three minutes in the fourth quarter. Hill’s status is once again up in the air.
“I don’t know what to expect of him tomorrow, but he’s doubtful,” D’Antoni said.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/114886