Finger: Parker's Offense Best Defense vs. Paul

[duncan228]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/c....e14ee02a.html

Mike Finger: Parker's offense best defense vs. Paul
San Antonio Express-News

The Spurs can’t stop Chris Paul, and they know it. But the moment they gave up trying was also the moment they gave themselves a chance to win this series.

Four NBA championship banners hang in the AT&T Center, raised to the rafters mainly with blocked shots, rebounds and defensive stops. If there is to be a fifth, it will be lifted on layups and jumpers and a willingness to run when others expected the Spurs to walk.

This team still belongs to Tim Duncan, but not the way it once did. Now, it isn’t a disaster to allow 100 points per playoff game, as the Spurs’ opponents are averaging this postseason. It isn’t automatically the goal anymore to slow the other team down. And perhaps most strikingly, it’s no longer the top priority to stop the other team’s best player.

That wasn’t Tony Parker’s job Thursday. For the first time in the Western Conference semifinals, Parker started the game guarding Paul, but that wasn’t because Gregg Popovich thought he could do a better job defending the MVP runner-up than Bruce Bowen. It was because Popovich realized the only way his team could compete with the Hornets was to do the unthinkable — sacrifice defense for scoring.

And now, after Parker and Manu Ginobili proved they didn’t mind running up and down the floor in a 110-99 romp, the tone of this series has shifted. So much, in fact, that the winner of Game 4 on Sunday will likely be moving on to L.A.

If that turns out to be the Spurs, it’ll be because of Parker. He was the guy who took over in the crucial Game 3 of the first round against Phoenix, and he did it again Thursday.

The trend started early. On an acrobatic move in the first quarter, Paul twisted his body in midair and swished a floater while falling backward. But before the gasping crowd even had a chance to catch its breath, Parker had raced to the other end, knifed between two stunned Hornets and dropped in a layup. From the time Paul’s shot went through the net to the moment Parker’s did, only six seconds had elapsed.

That’s stuff out of the Suns’ playbook, but that doesn’t mean it has no place in San Antonio. The Spurs, after all, were the team that couldn’t stop Amare Stoudemire from dunking every 30 seconds in the first round, and that turned out OK.

So letting the Hornets run wild shouldn’t be reason to panic either, right?

“You can slice it any way you want,” Popovich said. “But they’re not a team you’re going to stop.”

But unlike earlier Spurs playoff teams, this group has the ability to let an opposing scorer get hot, and stay hot. Paul finished with 35 points and nine assists, David West had 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting, and Tyson Chandler made all five of his field-goal attempts, but the Hornets still spent a bulk of the fourth quarter trailing by double-digits.

How did that happen? Because the Hornets can’t stop this version of Parker, either. In New Orleans, he played with the hesitancy and passive moves of a guy posing for a “Sexiest People” photo shoot instead of a reigning NBA Finals MVP. Popovich admitted he “probably had him screwed up trying to make perfect decisions,” so in Game 3 he turned Parker loose.

The results were breathtaking. Parker blew by Paul whenever he wanted, got to the rim almost as often, and finished with 31 points and 11 assists. His penetration opened the floor up for the Spurs’ 3-point shooters, and he even swished a couple of jumpers to keep the Hornets honest.

And afterward, when talking about his dizzying, no-defense-required, back-and-forth shootout with Paul, he reacted like few of Popovich’s players have before.

“Hopefully,” he said, “the fans like it.”

That most fans did is a sign these aren’t the Spurs of the first four banners. But it’s also a sign that the dreams of a fifth aren’t dead yet.

[Brutalis]

I said here the other day TP had to attack and he did. I hope he brings it like that Sunday as well.

I think Pop is going to start Manu again, and we'll see Bowen on Peja to start as well. Hopefully get the ball rolling in the bucket this time and not get down early and have this thing the best of three going back to NO.

[Manudona]

I said here the other day TP had to attack and he did. I hope he brings it like that Sunday as well.

I think Pop is going to start Manu again, and we'll see Bowen on Peja to start as well. Hopefully get the ball rolling in the bucket this time and not get down early and have this thing the best of three going back to NO.

WTF Brutalis??? Remove your crappy signature and bring back the old one!!!!

[Brutalis]

WTF Brutalis??? Remove your crappy signature and bring back the old one!!!!

For some reason when I got on ST today a lot of people's signature pics are screwed up. Like the image is offset. So I took mine off cause it annoyed me.

[Manudona]

For some reason when I got on ST today a lot of people's signature pics are screwed up. Like the image is offset. So I took mine off cause it annoyed me.

Well, I wonder how that old picture of yours was screwed then

[blizz]

great article...it's time to hand over the keys

[Manufan909]

Indeed. Tony and Manu need to ATTACK, ing take turns, I don't care, but that is the key. Screw clogging the paint, Manu uses skill, speed, and strength to do what he pleases, while all Parker needs is blazing speed. And once TD is free from his unofficial fever, we'll be winning by twenty in NO instead of eleven here.

Believe.

[Spurs Brazil]

TP was great, very agressive. I hope he can be this agressive all games

[G-Nob]

So much, in fact, that the winner of Game 4 on Sunday will likely be moving on to L.A.

Is that something we need to put a lot of stock in?