Game Thoughts: Spurs @ Suns Apr. 25

This wasn’t how the so-called best first round series of all-time was supposed to play out. Fresh off of winning their first two games at home, the Spurs traveled to Phoenix and simply dominated the Suns. In what was likely San Antonio’s best game of the season, the Spurs controlled the action and cruised to a 115-99 victory.

The Suns didn’t play well but they also ran into a Spurs’ squad that was playing near flawless basketball. It reminded me what happened to the Spurs in 2001 when they ran into the Lakers. With the way the Spurs were playing in Game 3, no team in the NBA would have stood a chance. A lot of the focus after the game has been on what the Suns didn’t do, but Game 3 was more about what the Spurs did.

If you’re a Spurs fan, you can’t help but be excited after what you watched Friday night. Your cohesive, intelligent and strategic basketball team was on full display.

Even though this playoff run is still in its infancy, Spurs fans couldn’t have drawn up a better storyline through three games. Each member of the Big Three is playing great. The role players are fulfilling their roles. Pop is coaching a practically perfect series. So far, so good.

Overall, Game 3 was just a joy to watch. The Spurs executed fantastically in all aspects of the game. Great, great effort.

-Tim Duncan played a very good game. He made great decisions on nearly every possession of the game. He didn’t force the action at all and did a good job of being the vocal leader on each end of the court. Duncan finished with 23 points, ten rebounds and two assists in 37 minutes, while shooting 9-for-15 from the field. With the game plan working to perfection, the Spurs just needed Duncan to play the role of the ultimate role player – and he did just that. Obviously, he didn’t dominate like he did in Game 1 but the Spurs didn’t need it on this night.

-Manu Ginobili deserves huge props for his Game 3 performance. His contributions flew under the radar a bit but he played a great game. Considering he is currently battling an ankle and groin injury, he was darn near heroic in his effort. First and foremost, his defense was fantastic. He guarded everyone from Leandro Barbosa to Grant Hill to Boris Diaw and had success against each one. His defense against Diaw on the low block, specifically, was great, especially seeing how everyone else on the team has had moments of trouble guarding him down in the paint. Offensively, he picked his spots perfectly. Ginobili finished with 20 points and five rebounds, while shooting 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-7 from beyond the three-point arc. Ginobili has been the chameleon superstar in this series. Whatever the Spurs have needed, whether it be a basket, a stop or a pass, Ginobili has transformed to fit the situation.

-Tony Parker wasn’t bad. The Belgian-born, French-raised point guard scored 41 points, handed out 12 assists, grabbed five rebounds and swiped two steals in a team-high 41 minutes. He was 17-for-26 from the field, which was especially impressive considering only two of his made baskets came at the rim. Parker came out of the gates in attack mode and didn’t let up. The Suns tried every conceivable defender on him and had no luck in slowing him down. When Parker keeps attacking throughout a game, like he did Friday night, he’s a very good player. His vast playoff experience was really evident in this game because he knew exactly how to respond to everything that was thrown at him. If I have to nitpick, I don’t think his defense was as good as it was in Game 2 – but it was still really good. Parker has kicked off the 2008 playoffs like he has something to prove. Hopefully he can continue to play at this level.

-I didn’t think Bruce Bowen played too well in the first two games of the series but he was dominant in Game 3. When I watched the game live, I thought he was good. But watching the game a second and third time, it became more and more apparent just how good Bowen played. He was the main reason why Steve Nash had a bad game (seven points and nine assists). Bowen continuously hounded Nash for every second he was on the court – no matter if Nash had the ball or was away from the action. Offensively, Bowen hit 2-of-3 shots from the field to score his first four points of the series.

-Michael Finley had a solid outing. He hit only 2-of-7 shots but I thought he took good shots and remained confident throughout his misses. Defensively, it was Finley’s best game of the series. On the night, he finished with seven points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in 29 minutes. Finley had better numbers in previous games but this was his best all-around showing from the beginning to the end of the contest.

-Kurt Thomas got the start at center and played very good. Early in the game, his one-on-one defense in the low block set the tone for the Spurs. The intensity and toughness he brought to the game was also impressive. Thomas finished with nine points and five rebounds in 23 minutes. He played like he wanted to show the Suns how wrong they were to trade him in the offseason. For at least the rest of this series, Thomas makes sense as a starter because of the physical presence he brings to the table.

-Fabricio Oberto came off the bench and produced. During the regular season, Oberto almost always played poorly in games he came off the bench. With that in mind, it was good to see him actively competing in a bench role. He finished with six points, five rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot in 25 minutes. Defensively, Oberto made some mistakes but overall he was good enough. The Suns are a tough matchup for him but he’s finding ways to survive defensively and thrive offensively.

-Ime Udoka is still struggling with his outside jumper but every other aspect of his game was good in Game 3. His defense was solid and his offensive decision-making was much improved. In 14 minutes, Udoka had two points, three rebounds, one assist and one blocked shot. Since his poor Game 1, Udoka has slowly gotten better and better. However, it’d be nice to see him hit a three-pointer. Udoka is 0-for-7 in the playoffs from beyond the arc, which is worrisome considering he was 10-for-18 on threes in his final four regular season games.

-Brent Barry hit a key three-pointer and competed nicely throughout the game. Although, for the first time in the playoffs, Barry seemed a bit rusty. He wasn’t holding his ground when trying to draw charges and fumbled away a few balls. That said, it’s hard to complain about what Barry has been able to bring to the team after missing so much time at the end of the regular season. In eight minutes, Barry finished with three points and a steal.

-Jacque Vaughn had a really nice pass at the end of the first quarter that led to a three-point play by Thomas. Other than that play, Vaughn wasn’t too impressive. His defense against Barbosa was abysmal and he single-handedly let the Brazilian regain his confidence and offensive flow. Vaughn will likely help at some point in the playoffs but I continue to doubt it’ll be against the Suns.

-Robert Horry got some playing time to Hack-a-Shaq. Pop putting Horry on the court to foul the Suns was subtle comedy at its finest. Damon Stoudamire played the final minute and threw a pass that almost landed in Tucson.

-Pop coached another masterful game. His Hack-a-Shaq strategy worked again. Moving Thomas into the starting lineup worked perfectly. The offensive and defensive game plans were genius.

The only decision I had a problem with was playing Vaughn and putting him on Barbosa. For some unknown reason, Pop views Vaughn as a defensive stopper. In the playoffs last year and so far this year, Vaughn has shown nothing that indicates he’s even an above average defender. Vaughn tries hard but everyone tries hard in the playoffs. He loses that effort edge once the playoffs begin.

Honestly though, Pop has coached perhaps his finest playoff series to date. He’s pushed a lot of buttons and has had an extremely high success rate. Like a lot of the players, hopefully Pop can continue to make the correct decisions going forward in the playoffs.

The bottomline is the Spurs are now up 3-0 and can put the Suns out of their misery on Sunday. With Ginobili, Parker and others banged up, it’s imperative to end this series as fast as possible. In 2005, the Spurs had the Suns down 3-0 and then laid an egg in Game 4. That can’t happen here. Come out with the same energy and smarts and set the Suns.

Believe.

thanks for the great post. :toast

Great recap, I was expecting ... let me paraphrase it.

we play great, but TP was fantastic!!!! amazing and whatever you can say to give props to him, TP made a strong statement and has shown he can carried this team in hard moments.

Tim and Manu made their part, I liked Bowen and Kurt Tomas, the rest here and there, Finley, even Oberto catch a ball a made a layup, JV contribute making the haka ... so nothing to complain :D

Once Tony Parker got up off of them, Phoenix should have went into the kitchen and got Tony Parker a beer and made him a sandwich.

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Originally Posted by timvp

Damon Stoudamire played the final minute and threw a pass that almost landed in Tucson.

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:lol

Great write up as usual, timvp. :tu

To sum up what TImVP posted, Tony Parker went hillbilly apecrap on Phoenix

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Originally Posted by timvp

Tony Parker wasn’t bad.

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:lol Thanks timvp. Your thoughts are great, and as always your humor is appreciated. In a loss, your ability to blend in humor helps keep things in perspective. In a win like this one, it's just fun. The Spurs were incredible, and so are your recaps.

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Originally Posted by lefty

To sum up what TImVP posted, Tony Parker went hillbilly apecrap on Phoenix

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:lol

timvp - how did you feel about the defense in the second half? I felt like it was completely on point in the first quarter, good in the second quarter, but faltered some in the second half. I know I (and others) were watching with baited breath, wondering if/when the collapse might happen and the defense seemed more porous then I would desire. But looking back, I don't know if it really was, or if I was just nervous and that amplified my perceptions of the events.

Thanks Timvp.

This time the recap was a bit late.^^;;

Good post, I was waiting for it for a long time as I was refreshing the main page every 5 minutes!

I think that TP deserves more props, but hopefully you were just being sarcastic.

Tony's performance last night was a thing of absolute beauty! Every shot he took went in. It was akin to Manu's performance in the regular season. Shot, after shot, after shot kept raining down on a Suns team that look perplexed. Not only this, but he did it with a confidence that I don't think I've ever seen in him. I think he no longer just thinks he's great, he KNOWS he is. That three pointer was just beautiful to watch, mainly because at the time, it was the only shot he hadn't yet made :lol

Masterful performance by Parker! :tu :tu

Game 3 Recap:

Pick and Roll
+
Tony Parker
+
Hack a shaq
+
D'Antoni coaching the Suns
+
Suns defense
=

Spurs kicked azz

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Originally Posted by easjer

timvp - how did you feel about the defense in the second half? I felt like it was completely on point in the first quarter, good in the second quarter, but faltered some in the second half. I know I (and others) were watching with baited breath, wondering if/when the collapse might happen and the defense seemed more porous then I would desire. But looking back, I don't know if it really was, or if I was just nervous and that amplified my perceptions of the events.

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The defense throughout the game was solid. The Suns are just a great offensive team. The Spurs try to force them to shoot midrange jumpers and even then, the Suns will hit a healthy percentage of those shots. The key is to keep the Suns away from three-pointers and easy shots at the basket. In the second half, the Suns only shot three from downtown, IIRC. They got some shots at the basket but overall it's tough to ask for much more.

But yeah, giving up 99 points and 50% shooting wouldn't be classified as good defense against any other team in the league. Against the Suns, especially at Phoenix, that's a job well done defensively.

TP should be getting more consideration on your recap! lol thanks timvp

Game thoughts are here!!!!

I loved it when Pop made the decision to put Horry of all people in the game for some Hack-A-Shaq... that tickled me quite a bit. I had a post before the game somewhere wanting to see exactly that.

The Suns have been the only team over the last 3 years to consistently shoot well against us no matter how good of defense we play. I think the defense has been great this entire series, we've made the Suns solely a jumpshooting team. Even Shaq has shot a lot of his hook shots outside of the paint (he's made a lot of them, too).

Thanks timvp!

I like how the Spurs notch it up and fake out defenders. They've done that cause Tony and sometimes Timmy shoot long jumpers making the Suns work harder covering every scoring option. To me that makes the Suns nervous too and makes them want to play one on one.
The Spurs have the great ability to not get rattled.
The Suns have a very shallow pool of coping with pressure. It shows every time Pop tweaks the defensive schemes and especially the way the dribbler goes side to side and bounce passes the ball back to the man he just got the ball from, thenBasket. The Suns never caught on to that, it was a good little tactic that made for a lot of points, especially when Timmy was out for a while with fouls.

TimVP slipped in how he watches the games afew times...this explains why it might take a day or two for him to get these out...the attention to detail he uses in these is worth the wait.

Dude, you are building such a following with these that you guys should build a subscription for it. This would be the first one that I would actually pay to read.

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Originally Posted by spursfaninla

TimVP slipped in how he watches the games afew times.

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Yeah it's annoying. :lol He also tries to tape both the local and national broadcasts so he can re-watch them from different angles. I usually sleep while he's re-watching it the second or third time.

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Kurt Thomas got the start at center and played very good

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Gee I wonder who called for that before the series started.

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Originally Posted by Kori Ellis

Yeah it's annoying. :lol He also tries to tape both the local and national broadcasts so he can re-watch them from different angles. I usually sleep while he's re-watching it the second or third time.

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Damn...if it's the perfect analysis he's looking for, why not just come right out and ask me my opinion?

I thought we played really well and played better than the Suns for game 3. If we play like that in game 4, we'll seep them. :D

Thanks Timvp

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Originally Posted by spursfaninla

TimVP slipped in how he watches the games afew times...this explains why it might take a day or two for him to get these out...the attention to detail he uses in these is worth the wait.

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Last game I finished a couple hours after the game ended. I try to write ASAP but I first gotta make sure I understood what happened. The details of Game 3 were lost in the initial view due to the azz kicking.

:smokin

I watched 70+ games this year, and that was the best the team has played against good opposition, no doubt. The second best complete game would have to be the last game of the season when they towelled up Utah.

I am flabbergasted. The flicked the switch on the last day of the regular season and are now playing championship-level basketball. Awesome!

The game plan in this series has been perfect. The Suns have hardly scored an open-court point, they are only 11-35 from 3 for the series including a double OT game, and Shaq and Amare have been dominated by Duncan and Thomas (except for short stretches in the first two games). Tim played one of his greatest games ever in Game 1, we saw classic, tenacious Manu in game 2, and now Tony has played his most dominant game ever while hardly getting to the rim!

All smiles here! :D

Now let the Mavs and Hornets beat on each other for 6 or 7 games and get our beat-up guys some rest.

In Game 4, I think it's going to come down to three-point shooting for the Spurs. The Suns forced the Big Three to beat them ... and they have. Now, you have to think that the Suns will try to force the role players to beat them. That means open looks for players like Bowen, Finley, Udoka and Barry. Those players have to be ready and willing to knock down shots in Game 4.

If the Suns do switch up their defense, the Big Three needs to realize it ASAP. They could get in trouble if they try to do too much. For example, if Parker is getting doubled when he goes around a pick, he needs to get rid of the ball. If the Suns switch their defense like I expect them to, Parker likely won't even get more than 10 to 12 shots.

If D'Antoni truly thinks his job is on the line, I could see him going small ball and trying to get his running game back. That means less Shaq and more Diaw. D'Antoni could bench Shaq for long stretches, especially if Shaq comes out in sweep mode.

The key is the first quarter of Game 4. If the Spurs can come out and put the Suns in a hole early, they'll most likely start thinking of their summer plans. But if the Spurs come out not prepared for battle, the Suns would like nothing more than to avoid a sweep.

Throughout the game, the Spurs also need to be aware of forthcoming cheap shots. Bell and Shaq both seem to be on the borderline of really throwing a cheap shot and trying to injure someone. It'd be wise to not try any high wire acts that would expose oneself to injury.

Get this series over with and then rest up for a hell of a second round battle.

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Originally Posted by spursfaninla

TimVP slipped in how he watches the games afew times...this explains why it might take a day or two for him to get these out...the attention to detail he uses in these is worth the wait.

Dude, you are building such a following with these that you guys should build a subscription for it. This would be the first one that I would actually pay to read.

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i bet he uses dvr and makes potent use of fast forward

i know i do :hat

and yea i dunno why the express news doesnt print his recaps, they are much more informative than the usual fluff-filled sports articles

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Originally Posted by timvp

In Game 4, I think it's going to come down to three-point shooting for the Spurs. The Suns forced the Big Three to beat them ... and they have. Now, you have to think that the Suns will try to force the role players to beat them. That means open looks for players like Bowen, Finley, Udoka and Barry. Those players have to be ready and willing to knock down shots in Game 4.

If the Suns do switch up their defense, the Big Three needs to realize it ASAP. They could get in trouble if they try to do too much. For example, if Parker is getting doubled when he goes around a pick, he needs to get rid of the ball. If the Suns switch their defense like I expect them to, Parker likely won't even get more than 10 to 12 shots.

If D'Antoni truly thinks his job is on the line, I could see him going small ball and trying to get his running game back. That means less Shaq and more Diaw. D'Antoni could bench Shaq for long stretches, especially if Shaq comes out in sweep mode.

The key is the first quarter of Game 4. If the Spurs can come out and put the Suns in a hole early, they'll most likely start thinking of their summer plans. But if the Spurs come out not prepared for battle, the Suns would like nothing more than to avoid a sweep.

Throughout the game, the Spurs also need to be aware of forthcoming cheap shots. Bell and Shaq both seem to be on the borderline of really throwing a cheap shot and trying to injure someone. It'd be wise to not try any high wire acts that would expose oneself to injury.

Get this series over with and then rest up for a hell of a second round battle.

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:tu

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Originally Posted by RuffnReadyOzStyle

I watched 70+ games this year, and that was the best the team has played against good opposition, no doubt. The second best complete game would have to be the last game of the season when they towelled up Utah.

I am flabbergasted. The flicked the switch on the last day of the regular season and are now playing championship-level basketball. Awesome!

The game plan in this series has been perfect. The Suns have hardly scored an open-court point, they are only 11-35 from 3 for the series including a double OT game, and Shaq and Amare have been dominated by Duncan and Thomas (except for short stretches in the first two games). Tim played one of his greatest games ever in Game 1, we saw classic, tenacious Manu in game 2, and now Tony has played his most dominant game ever while hardly getting to the rim!

All smiles here! :D

Now let the Mavs and Hornets beat on each other for 6 or 7 games and get our beat-up guys some rest.

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That's what I'm hoping for. C'mon Dallas. Man up and take them young Hornets to school.

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Originally Posted by timvp

Throughout the game, the Spurs also need to be aware of forthcoming cheap shots. Bell and Shaq both seem to be on the borderline of really throwing a cheap shot and trying to injure someone. It'd be wise to not try any high wire acts that would expose oneself to injury.

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That's what I'm most worried about and it's pathetic that it even has to be a concern for us. It's highly ironic that the Suns dubbed the Spurs "dirty" and "thugs".

"Belgian-born, French-raised"

I Did Not Know That :)

Thanks for the Game Thoughts.

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Originally Posted by timvp

In Game 4, I think it's going to come down to three-point shooting for the Spurs. The Suns forced the Big Three to beat them ... and they have. Now, you have to think that the Suns will try to force the role players to beat them. That means open looks for players like Bowen, Finley, Udoka and Barry. Those players have to be ready and willing to knock down shots in Game 4.

If the Suns do switch up their defense, the Big Three needs to realize it ASAP. They could get in trouble if they try to do too much. For example, if Parker is getting doubled when he goes around a pick, he needs to get rid of the ball. If the Suns switch their defense like I expect them to, Parker likely won't even get more than 10 to 12 shots.

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None of the Big Three ever realized the Suns defense changed and they needed to make the quick, simple pass. Game over.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by timvp

If D'Antoni truly thinks his job is on the line, I could see him going small ball and trying to get his running game back. That means less Shaq and more Diaw. D'Antoni could bench Shaq for long stretches, especially if Shaq comes out in sweep mode.

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D'Antoni went the other way. That big lineup is going to be difficult to defend. But the Spurs better learn how because this is the same look the Lakers would potential give the Spurs for an entire seven game series.

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Originally Posted by timvp

The key is the first quarter of Game 4. If the Spurs can come out and put the Suns in a hole early, they'll most likely start thinking of their summer plans. But if the Spurs come out not prepared for battle, the Suns would like nothing more than to avoid a sweep.

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Game was pretty much over six minutes into the game.

Props to the Suns and D'Antoni for getting this win. Spurs looked surprised by the Suns going big and had no answers. Good change of strategy. Now this is a series.

D'antoni is a good, adequate coach.

He's just not great. (Leaving Amare and Diaw in up 20 + with 2 minutes left. :lol)