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HOOPSWORLD.com
By Emmett Shaw
Nov 20, 2005
Link: Hoopsworld.com
SPURS: Big Fun With the Suns
“Making basketball fun again” is the Phoenix Suns’ marketing slogan, and it’s so true. When the Suns play, all ten players on the floor are going to get a chance to use all their abilities, and everyone from the players to the fans of all 30 NBA teams absolutely loves that. No moment exemplified it more last night, when the Spurs hosted the Suns, than when 6-10 Robert Horry broke off a behind-the-back move that Manu Ginobili normally uses to split into the paint about once a night. And the right-to-left dance came at a key juncture.
When Rob tried his thing it was time for a big shot, with the Spurs up by 5 with 3 minutes to play. The degree of difficulty of Horry’s amazingly deft escape was exceeded only by the fun it generated. The resulting shot refused to fall, and the Suns soon were only trailing 92-91 – and in possession – with 70 seconds left. “We were right there. I thought we had a chance to win it,” said a disappointed Shawn Marion afterwards. Instead Boris Diaw missed a 17-footer, as Phoenix wouldn’t score again. And the sellout crowd was crazy about every play of the 97-91 Spurs victory.
Any time the Spurs ran off three baskets in a row, the crowd was in standing ovation mode, something not very common during regular season games in San Antonio. But Phoenix brings not only fun, but a beauty to the game (for both teams) that draws the customers into a basketball thrall. Last season’s Western Conference Finals against the Suns was so spectacular that it took San Antonio fans a few games to get back into rabid mode for no less than the NBA Finals.
Suns coach Mike D’Antoni’s system is a magnet to any talented player not named Joe Johnson and Michael Finley. Eddie House summed up being on the Suns before the game thus: “It’s a good situation.” Forget that House, who blew up Friday against Utah for 31 points in 30 minutes, played in the area at Arizona State for four years and has now returned to Phoenix. Regardless of where the team is located, “I think that anybody who likes to shoot the ball, likes to get up and down the court, would love to be in this system,” said Eddie before the game.
Ahead of time, House let us in on the Suns’ determination to beat the Spurs. “We’re prepared to do whatever it takes,” he said. Finley, who came back from a groin problem to burn the nets for 11 points on 9 FGAs, said afterwards that the Spurs initially played as if Phoenix wasn’t so serious. San Antonio had to pick up its intensity after trailing 53-47 at the half and make the much smaller Suns pay under the backboards.
The Suns were indeed determined, but they just didn’t have the offensive talent to knock down any of three key jumpshots by Diaw and Raja Bell. In Boris’ case, a middle jumper isn’t in his skill set (at least, yet), and he missed a pair of them in the final period. D’Antoni indicated that the Suns are working with Diaw on his shooting. “He gets that little shot down, he’ll get it. He’s gonna get it. He’s already good.” Phoenix opted last month on Diaw’s next season, which was not the greatest news for San Antonio, with whom the unselfish Frenchman could fit quite well.
And former Jazz and Sixers guard Bell is a nice – if costly – addition to the Phoenix team, but he probably isn’t a 36-minutes player. Against the Spurs Raja had played 34 minutes when he was way off on an important pull-up 17-footer with two minutes left. A factor there: D’Antoni bemoaned the loss of Leandro Barbosa to an MCL knee sprain at the end of the first half. “LB was unguardable there in the first half. He played great.” The coach said Barbosa, who shot 6 of 10 for his 14 points, will have an MRI on Sunday. “We’ll get him healthy and see what happens.”
It was Marion, with 4 of 5 shooting in the closing period, and Steve Nash, with 4 assists in the 4th, who almost brought Phoenix all the way back from their 78-73 deficit after 3 quarters. Said Marion of his fairly rare offensive burst, “My teammates were looking for me, man.” Though currently leading the Suns in scoring, usually Marion has to get his points on hustle. Sitting in a corner locker afterwards with his knees iced, Shawn said, “When they’re looking for you, I can get a chance to get it going. Sometimes I think it’s fine for me. A few more shots and a couple of less turnovers, we probably would have won the game.”
Tony Parker could have provided the ice for both locker rooms the way he iced the game in the last stanza. Again looking like an All-Star, in the 4th he scored 5 points, pulled 4 rebounds and made two cat-quick steals. Then Tony stayed super close on Nash’s big miss on a fall-away 2 with 28 seconds. If made, that shot would have trimmed the Phoenix deficit back to just 1 point.
This extremely entertaining meeting added some intrigue to the Western Conference. Yes, the Spurs finally grew more intense rebounding against the tiny Suns. Behind Duncan, Nazr Mohammed, and Horry, San Antonio netted a season-high 17 O-boards. Said Duncan of Mohammed’s inside work, “Nazr gave us a great boost.” But even exerting that built-in advantage, San Antonio barely won a home game that Barbosa had to leave due to his knee and that the great Amare Stoudemire didn’t even play in.
Nevertheless, the Spurs moved to 5-0 at home and swept a 3-game homestand in which they started taking much better care of the basketball compared to earlier in the season. There were just a few too many turnovers down the stretch against the Suns and Rockets. Both San Antonio and Phoenix need to improve to win a championship in 2005-06, but the talented players and the quality of the coaching staffs makes you expect that both teams are going gel enough to be there with a chance in the end.
Horry whispered into Duncan’s ear, as Tim finished talking to the post-game media, that Melvin Sanders has been waived by the Spurs. The two vets were seemingly disappointed – both for Melvin and at the transaction itself. Tim immediately headed to the back, undoubtedly to console the bright-eyed kid from Oklahoma State who definitely has the potential to make it in the NBA someday.
Not me
Tony parker's blood is quickly reaching a supercooling point. If he disassembles the Kings defense tonight, then it will be
parkertime
Parker knows he is the too. He just knows it.
He knows at any given moment he can score a layup as he pleases.
This year Tony looks to have answered the questions. He has matured.
he's like the bill millers of point guards
I stopped reading after the third paragraph, I like reading Emmett's articles, but this makes it seem like Spurs fans were only cheering, not for the suns, but because of the Suns.
Suns fans: we're more fun to beat than anyone else in the league!
“We’re prepared to do whatever it takes,”
Eddie must be a Republican.
yep, Emmet is a little too gushy about Suns basketball.
After 10 games of the, new, agressive, cold-blooded, steely-eyed Tony, I think we can say he has truly taken his game to a new level, and is shouldering as much responsibility as Tim for winning.
The only nit I have with Tony is that sometimes he over-dribbles, but I think that's just him overshooting the right amount of dribbling as he searches for complete competency at the new level. He'll figure it out.
Imagine how he was 3 years ago, a wide-eyed "amateur with a rookie contract" going wild and giddy in the NBA candy shop. Now he's a real pro.
Parker is le merde.
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