well as they said on WOAI if the Suns bust up on the Spurs (they should've already) it will be like in 2004 when the Spurs were up 2-0 on the Lakers, when Parker was lighting them up for over 20 pts a game, then the Lakers began beating up on him and he was non-existant and the Spurs loss four straight.
Yeah that was 4 years ago against a Laker team that was better than the Suns are this year. Parker has grown by leaps and bounds since then. So has Ginobili. Phoenix might have a shot at containing one of the two, but not both. Not to mention we have TIM FREAKING DUNCAN!!!
San Antonio ain't (yes, I said ain't) giving up 4 in a row to the Suns.
If Parker goes into a s upon facing physical play, that's a real possibility. Since that time, however, Parker has faced physical play in the paint from other teams in playoff situations and has managed to continue to play well enough for the Spurs to win -- notably against Detroit in 2005. It's not all on Tony Parker, but his perserverence is obviously a big key to the Spurs' chances at putting the Suns away.
If D'Antoni is truly talking about being physical with the Spurs, it's so terribly ironic that he now thinks that's the way to win, given all of his past tantrums about physical play between these teams. I'm not sure it's possible for the Suns to be more physical than they were in Game 2, but I guess we'll see.
Frankly, I think D'Antoni is talking much more about his belief that the Suns are going to win Game 3 (a statistical likelihood anyway) than he is about a concerted effort to play more physically by delivering lots of contact in the paint and elsewhere. It's a risky strategy to get that physical, too, given the substantial foul problems that Shaq and Amare seem to encounter when playing the less physical style that the Suns have employed all season.
Maybe they'll prove me wrong, but it's not like they can throw Shaq, Malone , Payton, Kobe, Fisher, and George at the Spurs.
Don't you know?.....he's a genius.
SUNS should get game 3 but i was sure we'd get a split in S.A. too.
If the hip check Shaq put on Parker in Game 2 didn't slow him down then nothing will. Parker has definitely matured since then. And physical play never works on Ginobili. When he gets hit it seems to only makes him stronger. I remember he was sleepwalking last year in the playoffs before Shawn Marion raked him over the eye. Next thing you know he was killin those fools. Howard and Diop tried to put the hard hits on him in that 37 point game which backfired. He kept coming anyway.
Tomorrow is Duncan's birthday right? A 3-0 lead would be a great gift for the man.
In all honesty, it took an epic performance from Duncan and a huge shot by Finley for that not to happen.Don't you know?.....he's a genius.
SUNS should get game 3 but i was sure we'd get a split in S.A. too.
and a major suns choke job we've all come to expect.
Spurs be get ready for a busting?....
He'll have a job next year for Pringles.
YOU ING IDIOT, I said THAT Suns team would not have been able to come back from 1-3 against THAT Spurs team.LOL, your comment fits well with your picture... what a doof
Oh yeah, one of the other teams that came back to win a series after being down 0-2 is the Lakers. Thats right, we whooped the ING SPURS ass in 6 you dumb fucc!
Where did I mention the Lakers of 2004? I didn't. They have nothing to do with this discussion.
You are right. In fact, Phoenix actually won the first game of the series to go up 1-0. L.A. won the next 3 (scoring exactly 99 points in all three wins), only to go on and lose the next three to the Suns.
I have no idea why you even give a about that. That Lakers team was not very good and you know it. You have a good team now so again, why do you give a ?Read my quote of your quote one more time dum dum. If you are going to post on public sites, learn to reply properly in your response. If you throw stones at THE ING LAKERS, then make sure you dont live in a glass house you re .
D’Antoni says Suns still confident down 0-2 to Spurs
By BOB BAUM, AP Sports Writer
1 hour, 41 minutes ago
PHOENIX (AP)—Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni had some advice for despondent Suns fans ready to jump off buildings.
“Go ahead and jump,” he said. “We’ve got six million people here. We’re fine. It’s a little overcrowded anyway.”
Obviously he was joking, but D’Antoni is seriously confident despite his team being down 0-2 in the first-round series to their longtime nemesis, the San Antonio Spurs.
“I’m on the ledge with them,” he said, “but I’m not going (to jump). I’m going to crawl back in, and we’re going to play Friday, and we’re going to bust them up Friday. That is our mind set. We still don’t have any doubt that we can win the series.”
And there will be no major alterations in Phoenix’s strategy.
“To be honest with you, we don’t want to make a whole lot of changes,” he said after the Suns’ brief practice Thursday. “We feel good about the way things are going.”
D’Antoni went on to say he might be crazy for thinking that, but he and his players believe they were their own worst enemy at critical times in the first two games of the series. Game 3 is Friday night in Phoenix.
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“We had a lot to feel good about in Game 1, and we had a great first half in Game 2,” the Suns’ Steve Nash said. “I think we’ve just got to tweak it a little bit, be a little bit smarter, a little bit tougher.”
The Suns had big leads in the first two games, only to suc b to the defensive pressure and offensive intelligence of the defending NBA champions.
Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich understands the Suns’ confidence.
“We didn’t beat anybody to death,” Popovich said before the Spurs left for Phoenix on Thursday. “We had to work out butts off, we had to have some good fortune, we had to play well down the stretch to win both games at home. They’re going home, they’re going to feel good about themselves, so we’ve got to be ready for that.”
Barring some great overnight improvement, Grant Hill probably will sit out Game 3 because of a sore right groin. He gave it a try in the first two games but sometimes was more of a hindrance than help.
“If he’s not 100 percent, he won’t play,” D’Antoni said.
Hill said he has to realize when he’s not well enough to play.
“I can’t let the emotion of the moment make that decision for me,” he said. “I’ve got to be honest about it and do a better job of doing that than I did the first two games.”
Hill’s absence will leave the team without one of its better defenders and ball handlers.
“We’ll miss him for sure, but it’s better to know that he shouldn’t play him than to get him out there going half-speed,” Nash said.
Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili sat out the Spurs’ practice with bumps and bruises, but both should be ready to go Friday night.
“We can’t be satisfied,” Parker said. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve been in all kinds of situations. In 2004, we were up 2-0 against the Lakers and they came back. So we just have to realize 2-0 doesn’t mean nothing. We just did our job. We just won our two games at home.”
D’Antoni said the team’s defense has been all right, but the offense hasn’t. Phoenix went from a 65-point first half in Game 2 on Tuesday to scoring just 11 in the third quarter. The Suns didn’t panic, D’Antoni and Nash said, but they weren’t their free-flowing selves, either.
Phoenix Suns forward Amare Sto…
AP - Apr 23, 1:49 am EDT
At least some of that was because of the Spurs’ “in our face” defense, but D’Antoni said his team didn’t respond as it should have.
“We need to up the production,” D’Antoni said. “We need to hoist ‘em up, we need to run more, we need to move the ball a little bit better, and we need to play more carefree. We’re a little tight right now.”
Nash had a similar assessment.
“I think we lost our rhythm, and instead of taking a step back to find it, we all put our heads down and tried to find it, and that just exacerbated the problem,” he said.
Suns general manager Steve Kerr had a different take than his coach.
“It’s just defense,” Kerr said. “It’s just making stops when we need to. When they went on that little run and they were stopping us, if we could have buckled down a little bit and made stops, we could have withstood that little dry spell.”
This was supposed to be a classic first-round matchup of two teams with legitimate le aspirations. The Suns acquired Shaquille O’Neal mainly to provide a better matchup with a San Antonio team that has blocked Phoenix’s playoff path two of the last three seasons.
But now Phoenix must win four of five against San Antonio. A win Friday night is imperative if that sunny confidence is to mean anything.
“I don’t think these guys will be complacent,” Popovich said. “One worries about it, it’s always there. There’s always a natural tendency to feel good about anything that you’ve accomplished. But I think our team is experienced enough to know that they haven’t accomplished anything yet, that the goal is way down the road.”
Associated Press Writer Elizabeth White in San Antonio contributed to this report.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...v=ap&type=lgns
I think they need ppl from the stands to help them play defense....
At least like 9-12 ppl to stand in the paint...maybe then they can guard Tony and Manu
No; the guy you quoted and I were talking about the 2006 Lakers team that lost a 3-1 series lead to the Suns, only to have the Suns win in 7. He was saying that this Spurs team isn't that Lakers team (which he is right, the Spurs are a lot better than that team was). I was talking about the 2006 team. The 2004 team was good, they made it to the Finals.Wow!!! They must grow turds on trees in Texas. Any team that has Kobe, Shaq, Malone, Payton, Fish is a pretty good team. Good enough to beat that so-called dynasty that you guys have.
It's hilarious, sad, and pathetic that D'Antoni's solution to their 3rd quarter woes is to hoist it up more and shoot more shots. The reason they lost Game 1 and Game 2 was entirely on the defensive end. If Parker and Manu can get layups whenever they want they the Suns are going to get swept.
Kenny Smith said it best on TNT last night. PHX gives up too many easy baskets, so even if they are up 10 or 20 you know you can always get back into the game.
The more this clown talks the more desperate he is sounding. He knows 2 more losses and his ass is on the unemployment line.
I think you've had too many stones thrown at your head.Read my quote of your quote one more time dum dum. If you are going to post on public sites, learn to reply properly in your response. If you throw stones at THE ING LAKERS, then make sure you dont live in a glass house you re .
Damn, lakaluva, that was a waste of perfectly good indignation.
ohnoeeeeeszzzeerrsss!!!!11 we gon' get buszztteedd!!!111!!!
Let me just say:
He bugs the out of me. Him and Avery bug me the most out of all coaches.
Lol
he had to say something.
well a coach has a right to dream as well....
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