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I really don't see this as an epic series. Spurs are healthy and rolling right now. Suns don't have enough horses to compete IMO. SA in 6 only bc phx has homecourt
Assuming the Suns can win their home games vs a very resilent Portland team (that deserves fans better than Tlong)
Of course the damn game is on TNT
Anyway, I'm not looking forwards to a healthy portland team in the future... They're a real PITA.
I really don't see this as an epic series. Spurs are healthy and rolling right now. Suns don't have enough horses to compete IMO. SA in 6 only bc phx has homecourt
They still have to beat Dallas...
assuming the mavs don't do a 180 or a major injury occurs, this series is pretty much over
spurs in 6
I guess the problem this time around is if the series happens, the Winner gets LA as a reward, followed by Cleveland. No longer a cakewalk like in the past when this series occurred.
Spurs have to win the toughest game ahead still, the closeout game. Mavs are a great team that won't go down without a fight.
If Spurs are fortunate to win the 4th game, I think Portland is a tougher matchup for the Spurs as crazy as that may sound.
Spurs have a lot of trouble with Aldridge, Roy and Miller. And they have the length inside to make Duncan work for his points.
Suns on the other hand don't have anyone to guard Duncan, Manu, or Tony.
No offense Suns' fans. I'm hoping the Spurs (if spurs are fortunate to closeout the Mavs) face the Suns.
Cavs will win the ring this year, dont worry guys
If Manu/Tony/Hill can beast against Dallas then Phoenix are ed.
Phoenix doesn't scare me half as bad as Dallas still does.
LMAO at epic matchup.
Spurs will wipe the floor with Sons just like every other playoff year.
I don't want to talk about hypothetical next serie.
The spurs have a job to finish with the mavs.
Yeah...I'm kinda getting that feeling, too. I hope the Spurs get ring #5 this year, but the Cavs look awfully damn good.
Yup...we have three chances to win one game. I think we can manage that. If not, we weren't going to win the West, anyway.
I'm tickled pretty pink at the prospect of Spurs Vs. Suns.
(This is all supposing the Spurs can knock off the Mavs in games 5, 6, or 7)
What, exactly, are the Suns going to do against the Spurs this year that they haven't in years past?
Steve and Amare are going to be abused on the defensive side of things, especially Nash. The Suns can never beat the Spurs as long as he's their point. It will be even worse this year, because they can't stick Nash on Bowen to hide him. Really, who's Nash going to guard this year if the Spurs trot out Hill, Parker, Manu/RJ, Duncan, Dice? This is Nash's worst nightmare defensively. EVERY PLAYER who's going to see major minutes can either blow past him, or back him down.
This team matches up with the Suns about as well as humanly possible. We have bigs to exploit their interior, and guards to get penetration. And we play extremely hard, physical defense -- something that Phoenix has never been able to match.
The Suns have no one to guard: Parker, Hill, Manu, probably not even RJ, Duncan, and I'm thinking even Blair could have his way on the inside.
^I'm giddy.
uhhhh, Bruce Bowen?? being able to put Bowen on Nash was pretty significant. The question isn't who Nash is going to guard, it's who is going to guard Nash? The Spurs got their asses raped the last time they played the Suns, and it was in part because Nash couldn't be contained like he was when Bowen was defending him.
i still think the Spurs win, but i don't know how anyone can ignore that.
I haven't been paying attention to the Suns series. What's the situation on Lopez? If he's healthy enough to make an impact the series could be close. Dragic's turned into a pretty respectable back for Nash too. Used to be that you could set your watch to Nash playing 40+ minutes and running out of gas down the stretch. Richardson's given them that big scoring guard that Joe Johnson did once upon a time. I don't think they've got enough to beat the Spurs while they are playing this well, but it should make for a series worth watching.
In the end I think the same strategy that spelled victory in years past will still work. Turn Nash into a scorer, stay at home on the shooters, get back on D. While the Spurs don't have a Bruce Bowen to throw at the Suns any more they do have the perimeter depth there's no way to hide Steve Nash defensively anymore. I'm confident that Parker, Manu, Jefferson, or Hill have the skills to make him pay.
I agree with pretty much everything here except for the part about no one to guard Parker or Hill, Dragic would do a good job on either one. Duncan and Manu, yep, no one on Phoenix could stop either one from having a huge series. Previously Phoenix could hide Amare and Nash on D with Oberto and Bowen, now Nash will have to guard George Hill and Amare will have to guard McDyess, the 2nd part scares me a lot because Amare has always had a habit of never respecting big men with a mid range shot (or a 3 point shot for that matter), and McDyess's shot is automatic right now. In that respect it will be harder for Phoenix than in years past. I personally would have the Spurs winning in 6, but just for the sake of argument, here's what will be easier for Phoenix:
- Duncan is a s of what he was in 2007 or 2008
- As dumb as Gentry is, D'antoni was dumber
- Even though he's still on the team, Barbosa isn't one of the main scoring options now like he was in 2007, and if he sucks bad enough he would just stay glued to the bench.
- Amare is a better player than he was in 2007 and doesn't need dimes from Nash to score every time. Plus his defense isn't as bad as it used to be.
- Regardless of statistics, San Antonio isn't the same intimidating lock down defensive team they used to be. As long and athletic as he is, George Hill doesn't have the size to bother Nash the way Bowen did, and San Antonio doesn't have the interior length they used to.
- The majority of Parker's minutes will come against Dragic so he won't rape Phoenix like he used to when Nash guarded him
- San Antonio used to always go on runs during the period when Nash and Duncan were both resting and both teams had their 2nd units in. Phoenix's bench has gotten better and San Antonio's bench has gotten worse since 2007, the advantage would be for Phoenix when both 2nd units are in.
I'd still take SA in 6, but it's a stretch to say it will be "even worse this year" given SA's decline from what they were in 2007.
The one thing I will say about Nash is that he (hopefully, you'd like to think so) would be motivated as to beat the Spurs, would hustle his ass off on both ends of the court and would do everything humanly possible to play decent defense.
My main concern is the health of Robin Lopez. We're really a completely different team with him in the lineup, particularly on defense. On offense, he's another interior threat for Nash to utilize, and he frees up space for Amare to do his thing. It's much harder to double Amare when you've got the 7-foot Lopez itching to score.
Without Lopez, Suns lose in 6. With him... ehh, the Suns could make a series of it, but the Spurs are still the slight favorites.
The is the last year for the Suns in the playoffs for a while, so they better make it last. I put it at about 10% of an Amare resigning. Without Amare they are a lottery team for a while.
This is based off what?
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