Phoenix Suns looking to settle score againt Spurs

[SenorSpur]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...nio-spurs.html

Phoenix Suns now looking to settle score against San Antonio Spurs

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...#ixzz0mhw Cx

by Dan Bickley, Republic columnist - Apr. 29, 2010 11:50 PM
The Arizona Republic .
PORTLAND, Ore.

They ruined the party, muted a city, and eliminated a dangerous team. And still the Suns filed off the court without a trace of euphoria.

This was business. Now, it's personal.

After a stout and much-appreciated 99-90 victory over the Trail Blazers on Thursday in R.I.P. city, here's some friendly advice:

Forget about basketball for a few days. Leave the Tim Duncan voodoo dolls in the drawer. Conserve your energy until it matters. Armageddon - and the Spurs - will be here soon enough.

"It's great. It's an honor," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "I told our guys we really don't look at past history. This team has never played San Antonio in the playoffs. That's the way we look at it."

Good luck with that one, coach.

Before Game 6, Gentry also spent some time talking about the NHL playoffs. He told his team about the hard-luck Coyotes, and the top-seeded Capitals. Both teams toiled all season for home-ice advantage, only to lose a Game 7 in their own building.

It's not like NBA players to care about ice hockey. But the Suns were listening. Unlike many previous losses this season, they recovered after squandering a big lead in the second half.

The Suns won this game with end-game tenacity. They clamped down in the fourth quarter. Amar'e Stoudemire carved up Portland with his passing skills, further proof of how far he's come in one season. Jason Richardson provided two tons of perimeter offense, and Steve Nash made some huge plays down the stretch.

It was a strange night for Nash, whose brother Martin was playing soccer in the same city for the Vancouver Whitecaps. He had more turnovers than assists, and at times, you wondered if his back was acting up all over again. Yet when it came time for the hammer, he delivered, like always.

"He was struggling," Gentry said. "But at the end of the day, we were going to win or lose with Steve Nash in the game."

This was not an upset. This was not unexpected. But this was a wonderful night for the franchise, which atoned for a playoff-less season last year. And it was more than a bit ironic that earlier in the game, the Blazers handed an autographed Terry Porter jersey to a lucky fan in the stands.

The upcoming series certainly will be a nice diversion.

If you haven't noticed, our sporting image has been taking a beating.

[Spursmania]

by Dan Bickley, Republic columnist - Apr. 29, 2010 11:50 PM
The Arizona Republic .
PORTLAND, Ore.

This was business. Now, it's personal.

Forget about basketball for a few days. Leave the Tim Duncan voodoo dolls in the drawer. Conserve your energy until it matters. Armageddon - and the Spurs - will be here soon enough.

"It's great. It's an honor," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "I told our guys we really don't look at past history. This team has never played San Antonio in the playoffs. That's the way we look at it."

Good luck with that one, coach.

I'll be the first to admit this will be a damn hard series.

But I did feel the Mavs were a scarier team. Am I wrong? Are the Suns a tougher team for the Spurs?

Those guys will never forget the losses they have suffered at the hands of SA and the big 3. Their big guns remember as did Marion.

[Harry Callahan]

Alvin Gentry was an assist coach in SA here under Larry Brown (Pop of course was also an assistant in the late 80s early 90s).

The Phoenix GM played in SA as well.

It too late for the Suns to truly settle scores. They've been dominated for too many years by SA to say that. Some small measure of revenge is available. however, Phoenix has Zero chance of winning the Western Conference. If Utah had Okur at 100%, the Suns would rank as the worst squad left in the west.

[EmptyMan]

This team has never played San Antonio in the playoffs. That's the way we look at it

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...#ixzz0miJpFl3z

hahhahahahh this made me laugh irl

They are scurred.

[xellos88330]

So... the Suns need to win for political reason now too?

[duncan228]

Phoenix Suns know the task at hand against San Antonio Spurs well
by Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic

For three days between playoff rounds, the Suns do not have to wonder who they play next or how the series might be.

Phoenix knows how this works. The build-up to Monday's Game 1 of a second-round playoff series against San Antonio will stoke old flames. The series will breed more animosity, and Suns fans already have plenty of that for the dark side.

After all the missed opportunities and misfortune, the Suns get another crack at the team that ended four of their past five playoff visits.

"There's great history between us and the Spurs over the past five, six years," said Amar'e Stoudemire, the only Suns player involved in all four series losses to San Antonio. "It's going to be a great matchup between us and also between myself and Tim Duncan. We always take the challenge of playing against each other."

It has been great history for NBA fans. It has been a great history for the Spurs, who used Phoenix as a stepping stone to a le three times since 2003. But it's been brutal for the Suns.

Only four Suns remain from their last playoff team, which was eliminated by San Antonio 4-1 in the first round in 2008. Only Stoudemire, Steve Nash and Leandro Barbosa were part of the suspensions-tinged exit in 2007 to San Antonio.

"I told the guys we don't really look at our past history," coach Alvin Gentry said. "This team has never played San Antonio in a playoff series. That's the way I look at it."

Just as they did in 2008 before losing to San Antonio in the playoffs, the Suns won the regular-season series. Phoenix won two of three games against San Antonio, which has new wrinkles with Valley-bred swingman Richard Jefferson and with Tony Parker coming off the bench since returning from injury behind George Hill. The Spurs closed the season on an 18-8 run and upset No. 2 seed Dallas in six games.

"Everyone knows it will be physical," Gentry said. "It'll be great. In my opinion, they have the best coach in the NBA (Gregg Popovich). I think Pop does an unbelievable job and they have four banners hanging up to prove that. They're playing at a very high level now. It'll be a challenge but we're looking forward to it."

To slay their villain, the Suns made constant roster tweaks over the years. Their improved defense lends confidence for a duel with San Antonio.

The Suns held Portland, with a hobbled Brandon Roy, to 43 percent shooting in the first round.

"We definitely have a better team to beat them but we know it's going to be tough," Barbosa said. "It's going to be like that (Portland series) but a bit harder. We always go to the playoffs against San Antonio. It's something we don't want to talk about but we want to beat them."

Bad blood was drawn along the way against Portland. It's already there with San Antonio.

"We've got a bunch of new faces who weren't in those heated battles and testy moments," forward Grant Hill said. "We respect them. We know it's going to be physical. We're not caught up with that. We'll be focused with the task at hand and not worry about the history. But certainly, for the organization, for the fans, it'd be nice to get them."

[ffadicted]

IMO, the Suns (fans) are now feeling exactly the same way the spurs (fans) were feeling before the start of the Dallas series. Let's see if we can fair better than the Mavs

[DJ Mbenga]

IMO, the Suns (fans) are now feeling exactly the same way the spurs (fans) were feeling before the start of the Dallas series. Let's see if we can fair better than the Mavs

[jag]

Suns fan is one of the most interesting things in sports.

[ClingingMars]

"improved defense"

I'll believe it when I see it

[JMarkJohns]

What nobody is discussing is how defeating the Spurs now is merely salt in the wound of every prior failure, as the Suns, no matter how they dispatch the Spurs (should such happen), aren't a le contender anymore. At it's best for Phoenix is WCF fodder beating WCSF fodder. A series sweep of 20+ points or more each game won't replace even a single chance at the les lost to the hands of the Spurs.

So I wish the Phoenix media would stop over-hyping this as Rocky/Apollo II and realize it's more like that sparring match at the end of the third flick. For Phoenix, anyways, little more than momentary relief is to be won.

All this talk is doing is building this up for epic and inevitable failure, as I'm quite sure certain Suns will play beyond their abilities and right into San Antonio's hands.

[ducks]

I feel for you jmarkjohns
since you like the dbacks bullpen era over 7 YIKES
I do not want the spurs to lose though

[angelbelow]

Should be a fun series

[Avitus1]

I can't wait till the Spurs serve it up to the Suns.