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Funny answer to a smart ass question.
No, I was Bucks fan.
After Stoudemire destroyed the Mavs in those first three games, their MO was to double- or triple-team Stoudemire on nearly every possession. It wasn't Finley who had success in Game 4, but Avery Johnson. In Game 5, Stoudemire retaliated by racking up 33 and 18 despite the heavy coverage. In Game 6, Stoudemire had another poor game as a result of Dallas' smothering interior defense, not because of Finley.
Stoudemire has never really had trouble against smaller defenders. It might take Stoudemire a little bit to figure out how to attack a smaller, speedier defender if Pop decides to go that route, but it'll be disastrous in the long run.
Even if Finley did have success in one or two of those games, he's not the same Finley (and Stoudemire has a reliable jumpshot). He'll get torched every time.
Funny answer to a smart ass question.
We're hoping that this thing won't go the "long run"
He wasn't holding his ground either, he was even backing down before he even got the body bump from Amare. Basically he was just giving Amare an escort to the rim. Pretty ing lame.
This was his first REAL gametime since his injury. I was just glad he didn't go oh-fer like Brent did his fist game. This was time well spent for both of them.
Activate Mahinmi damn it! It seems like the french players hold the keys to this series so why not play our 2 to the suns 1.
Um, yeah, you must have missed the couple of times where Amare just backed him down, he willingly backed down, and Amare got a layup. Think it happened three times...
You've got to be kidding me if you think Finley is the answer on Stoudemire, so that another big can move to Boris Diaw.
You want to defend Stoudemire with length and physicality. Finley has neither and is 35 yrs old. He's way shorter, slower, and older than Amare.
One thing the Spurs could do without doing something nutty like a scrub defender like Finley on Amare is to move Bowen to Diaw. Parker defends Nash pretty well at times and if you have watched the Suns this yr and this playoffs it's pretty obvious Nash is a s of his former self.
Also, no way a 35 yr old like Finley has the energy to bang down low with Amare for extended minutes and still have his legs under him to knock down jumpers. He'd also get exposed on the pick n roll due to his lack of footspeed if the Suns just decided to milk the Nash-Amare PNR after seeing an adjustment to the defender on Diaw.
It's also funny to suggest Finley could check Amare in the post when he hasn't even been able to consistently stay with Raja on the perimeter, and Raja's just spotting up to shoot.
If you ranked the Spurs players based on their defense so far in this series you'd have to slide in Finley just below The Coyote and just above Stan Kelly. Dude has been useless.
Finley isn't going to be able to consistently go 1-on-1 with Diaw or Stoudamire down low. He's going to have to plant earlier and turn them into the help defender in the middle. Too many times he got backed all the way to the circle, and that's too late for anyone to help. (Short of a perfectly timed block attempt.)
Whatever it is, I think Pop will come up with something effective. And I also think he won't focus on Diaw too much and still realize the larger defensive matchups of the series.
I hope we win. Go Po
I wouldn't change much. If the Suns are relying on career games from Raja Bell and Boris Diaw to beat us three more times, I like our chances. The more they have the ball, the less Nash and Amare have it.
We just need to match their physicality in Game 5. They came out like they had just had two practices with Pat Riley... hacking and shoving and daring the officials to call every foul.
the spurs have to shut down bell and diaw
let nash, amare and shaq get those shut down the rest
How do you counter Boris Diaw and Raja Bell? don't change a damn thing. let see those 2 win the series by themselves.
seriously?!?
Much to do about nothing.
their big three can not outscore our big three
did anyone else notice that minor adjustment or experiment pop did on diaw by putting horry on him. I don't believe he scored very much after that. Of course the game was over but something to look for in the next game should that be necessary.
All I know is I cannot WAIT till Tuesday night, should be a great game and if we somehow win this one, then this is going to be a 7 game series. I'll be honest I'm expecting the Spurs to wrap it up, but at least there's that chance that's in my mind and every one of the Suns players that the miracle can still happen.
If the Spurs worry about shutting down Bell and Diaw, then who says Amare, Nash, Shaq, and Barbosa wont pick it up for them.
The key is the Suns D, if they keep up their intensity this could go 7 if not it ends Tuesday.
Hoping for a great game, no injuries, and for the improbable Suns win.
GO SUNS
Diaw won't play like that again. He's inconsistent.
Being a Suns fan for about 17 years, I do remember watching Finley guard Amare in '05. And timvp is right, Finley didn't do that bad a job, I remember that pissing me off, that Amare couldn't dominate that matchup. The difference is Amare is way more well rounded now, and Finley is slower. So it might work as a gimmick for a short while but I doubt for long.
I'd say the best matchup on Diaw is Horry. I remember last season Diaw schooled Duncan a few times on post moves, using his quickness. Whenever he's aggressive, Diaw's pretty good at taking advantage of mismatches, may it be size (Parker or Udoka) or quickness (Thomas, Oberto, or Duncan). But if you put a guy on him who is physically similar and I'll bet he'll resort to his passive self.
I don't know if Horry ever plays the 3 for the Spurs but it seems like Parker-Bowen-Horry-Duncan-Oberto would work defensively.
THis lineup would score 60 points and would be offensive suicide.
No thanks. If we went Horry at the 3, we would have to take Bowen out.
I think that more then our defense we need our ofense back.
Pop will do some changes on D but matcups is not that big of a problem (cause Pop will figure it out) the problem is the transition D.
On offense spurs could not get going because Suns were fast enough to clog the 3sec box and be back on permieter guys when the pass went there.
Anybody saw what Barry did when he was in the game? That's the ABC of basketball. Moving constantly and moving the ball. Just confuse the defenders and provide mismatches.
But how the spurs can play transition on those old legs?
I'm worries as right now, cause if this series will extend to 6,7 games I don't see spurs having much of a chance either against Suns or Hornets (which are frickin 3-1 in the series)
That leaves Finley on Bell or Barbosa.
I'd rather have Manu, then
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