Spurs visit at critical time for Phoenix
Mike Monroe
PHOENIX — There’s a snippet of game tape that Suns coach Terry Porter considers X-rated.
The final second of the Spurs’ Christmas Day victory over the Suns has been banned from pregame viewing as Porter prepares his team for tonight’s rematch against the Spurs at US Airways Center.
Videotape of Roger Mason Jr.’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer that gave the Spurs a 91-90 victory serves as the shortest horror film in Suns history.
“I don’t want any part of that,” Porter said after a Wednesday morning practice session.
Mason’s shot turned what seemed a certain victory into a crushing defeat for Porter’s team, but the Suns have had problems this season that supersede that loss.
Porter’s more conservative offense met with resistance from players accustomed to scoring in seven seconds or less under Mike D’Antoni. A trade that sent popular teammates Raja Bell and Boris Diaw to Charlotte in mid-December left some players unhappy.
More recently, three bad losses on a six-game road trip that ended with a tough victory over the hapless Wizards had Steve Nash wondering if the season was nearing a crisis point.
“If you’d asked me three days ago where we’ve come since that (Christmas Day) game,” Nash said, “I would not have had a very positive response. But right now I think we’ve learned something about ourselves: what we can do and what we can’t do. Maybe that’s going to enable us to get back to a positive place where we can go out on the floor and compete.
“It’s been really up and down, but I think we might be getting close to getting something back after a really tough trip.”
There was no shame in a loss at Boston, but a loss in New York, where D’Antoni now has the Knicks running, was followed by a 22-point loss to the Bobcats.
Victories in Atlanta and Washington lightened the mood for the Suns, who see tonight’s game as an opportunity to re-establish their status as a solid Western Conference playoff team.
“It’s a big opportunity for us,” Nash said. “(A win) would allow us to get some confidence and start believing in ourselves again. On top of that, it would just be a big game to get in the win column for us. We need all of them right now, and we have some winnable games coming up after this one.”
A Spurs-Suns rivalry exists mostly in the minds of Suns fans still angry about the fact the Spurs eliminated Phoenix three times in the last four years.
Mason’s Christmas Day winner?
“There’s a long list of losses like that to the Spurs,” Nash said. “Lack of motivation shouldn’t be a factor for us, not only because of the way we lost that last one against them, but also because of the struggles we had on this recent trip.”
Nash is counting on a return to an offense that is less structured than what Porter had the Suns running earlier in the season to get Phoenix back in the race for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
“We had experienced some paralysis by analysis,” he said. “There had been so many changes and things had gotten in our psyche. We went through a bad streak where maybe we weren’t playing as hard as we should have because there were too many thoughts in our heads.
“We didn’t have the experience as a group to rely on. That’s why you saw some disastrous games there. But we learned form that. We just have to play hard and not worry about all the changes and all the negative stuff.
“It’s not like we’re crying about all the changes, but we hadn’t faced that much adversity as a team, and we allowed it to impact us more negatively than it should have.”
I'd love for Mason to break out of his slump vs. the Suns. I think the Spurs will have lots of open perimeter shots and hopefully they make enough of them. Fun matchup for me will be Bonner vs. Stoudemire.. maybe Bonner will continue his inspired play.
stoudemire will probably run all over the spurs again like he always does. spurs just don't have someone to guard him. luckily his offense is always canceled out by his defense and poor 4th quarter play.
This could end up being a tough game to swallow a loss. Spurs better bring their A game.
Imo this month we're way ahead of schedule. Spurs proving me wrong is something I can live with. Good thing I dont gamble. I can live with a loss in Phoenix, but not against them Hornets. Either way its been a very good and quick January. If we come out of this month with only 4 or 5 losses, pretty sure even the Spurs will be happy.
No doubt Stoudemire will most likely dominate Bonner but I see this as part of the toughening up process for him..
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