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If the Spurs can revert him back to his 18-foot fadeaway self, I'm all for it. Nash is still carving us up though and that has to be addressed/limited.
It's still Nash and Stoudemire. It's just that the Spurs are putting extra attention on those 2 players and JRich is taking advantage of that.
If the Spurs can revert him back to his 18-foot fadeaway self, I'm all for it. Nash is still carving us up though and that has to be addressed/limited.
Suns will double team him. He is probably not used to playing that way either. Hill should only come in when Nash is on the bench. Make Nash guard Parker the whole game. Parker should strive to score 40 points or have a big assist count.
I think getting RJ involved is one of the most important things for the Spurs on the offensive end (especially in transition). He can be a huge matchup problem and can really throw the suns defense off if he's getting to the rim.
This, plus Dice was also taken out prior to that 12-2 run by the Suns.
Also I agree the Spurs need to look at the video when they made those 2 runs to see what they can exploit in the next game.
Parker needs to start this series for match up purposes.
Time to start Parker. Nash doesn't have to worry about defense when Hill is playing like that. Let Parker wear him out, then bring in Hill. Also, Use the clock wisely. I've seen people say that the Spurs need to outrun the Suns, which is nonsense, to me. With Manu bringing the ball up the court and jacking up 3's with 19 seconds left on the shot clock, those misses turn into Suns transition points. Slow it down and play some damn defense. You can't leave the best 3 point shooting team wide open for 3. Its dumb.
Agreed. It worked in the past because the spurs used to badly outrebound the suns. The suns are a little bigger and the spurs are a little smaller now. Run if possible but don't force the tempo to go faster without a clear advantage.
One thing should be for certain: The Suns should see a HEAVY dose of PnR basketball between TD & TP. Phoenix was still trying to stay home on the spot-up shooters even though no one was hitting 3's with any type of consistency and Timmy had a relatively easy path to the basket, and by the time they collapsed on him he was either to deep to defend or it left someone with a totally uncontested shot.
There were so many areas that spurs failed that it's not funny.
Rebounding? So many s came out of my mouth because of it.
We need to have the ball in our hands more then them.
Don't get me started with mason
I was watching the game and all of sudden I've noticed number 8. I said what?! Is that Mason? I came closer to the screen, damn, that's mason After that I knew every shot he was attempting was a miss so I was saying word on a letter F before the ball clanged the rim.
defense? Christ he was so lost that he would be a superstar in a Lost series.
Horrible play by the spurs in the first half with the rust covering the spurs more then Suns players. Second half was better but still not what I was expecting.
Agreed. Nash is not a good defender. Parker should be the leading scorer in this series. And once the Suns start doubling early, players will be open for shots.
I think Parker's licking his chops after seeing what he was able to get starting the 2nd half.
If the Spurs can the turn the heat on their defense then the Spurs would have no problem beating this team. Limit the Suns to 80's -to low 90's and we win this series 4-2. The Spurs should set the tempo and not play with the Suns uptempo type of offense. The Suns have no interior defense, the Spurs should exploit this to the hilt
I never said Bogans is going to be better than Hill in the series or anything. Just the fact that he hit some shots and playing decent D kept him in the game. This will likely lead to an early call up from the bench in Game 2. If he can finally hit a shot or two, play some good D, he WILL see a few more minutes. After all, he is better than RMJ no matter what you say! Also, you fail to consider that against the Suns, sometimes you HAVE to go small or your done. This means some minutes for RJ at the 4.
Today's minutes:
Manu: 38
Parker: 36
Hill: 33
RJ: 33
Total: 140 out of 144 max for the 3 positions you considered.
If these were our only guys at 1/2/3, than there are some minutes missing. Considering that RMJ and Bogans played a total of 20 minutes, you can say that the Spurs went small for at least 8-10 minutes of this game (I didn't even bother with the math here so not sure what the final # is).
What I'm saying is you'll need around 12 minutes per game from a 9th rotation player. I don't see it fit to play Manu, Parker, Hill and RJ around 38-40 minutes per game. Bogans is a much better fit against these Suns than RMJ. Bogans can guard J-Rich for those 12 minutes, as he is still decent on defense, and he CAN hit some shots from time to time. No matter how bad his offense is at times, he still shot 36% from 3 this season. RMJ is in the biggest funk of his life and he is . I would rather we never see him again in this series, even in garbage time.
I didn't like the 94-93 possession offensive either.
The transition D after the miss was the blunder play of the night tho. The Spurs ran back on D and looked like the Keystone Cops, all 5 of them withing arms reach of each other while Stoudamire pranced down the sideline and Nash lobbed the easy touchdown pass to him. Couple Spurs recovered (4 of them were looking the other way when the pass went up) so they hammered Stoudamire on the dunk attempt but he made both fts.
93-96 on D, Bogans guarding Grant Hill, that was a super bogus call to award China Doll two fts. Bogans merely maintained position and his feet were stationary! Hill just jumped into him and got rewarded for what should have been an offensive charge or at worst a no call/missed shot.
Couple other momentum calls went Phx way. Stoudamire bodying Tim yet Tim being rung up for the offensive call. Frye also able to body on Tim.
98-95 that Stoudamire banker was pure grease. Tim defended it perfectly, caught a little ball to i think and then Oscarmire regained possession and kind of just threw up a prayer and it fell.
Our 'shooters' that we don't want to see on the court have to take those open shots. I lost count of how many possessions there were today where we had wide open guys who passed it up. Either they dribbled themselves to a turnover or they passed it again to TP, who then had to try and set up another play with less than 14 secs left in the shotclock. That pissed me off.
I also don't want to see George Hill playing the point when TP is on the floor.
Starting Parker makes sense. He knows Steve Nash better than anyone plus he'll get more respect from the refs on defense.
But it throws the rotations off. If RJ gets moved to the bench, I think Manu has to come off the bench too. They are pretty much a package deal at this point. Without Manu, RJ is a spectator. I'm not sure who you start with Hill and TP. It would probably be Bogans, or Mason. Or maybe, just maybe Pop gives Temple or Hairston a shot.
I still think we are in excellent shape to win this series, regardless of what happened tonight. Pop and crew will adjust.
no more mason
eh, this was just like the mavs game one, nash was unconscious, and even then, we kept it close and could have won if the ball had bounced differently in a couple places.
GHill was just caught off guard defensively, and he'll do better in the rest of the series...
as long as we don't let them string together fast break points and 3s, and as long as we keep making Nash a scorer, and if Manu stops shooting ill-advised 3s, and everyone does a better job of finishing at the rim, we'll be in good shape
Secure the defensive rebound. PHX killed us with 2nd chance buckets after missing long range contested jumpers (i.e. the shots we want them to take).
Yeah, Bowen at least spaced the court offensively. Especially in the playoffs, teams knew that an open corner three-pointer by Bowen was deadly.
RJ's confidence on his jumper is so low right now that he's not even setting up behind the three-point line. He's getting closer and closer to the rim as these playoffs progress. The result is worse and worse spacing.
RJ is a decent enough three-point shooter that he can't be scared to attempt wide open looks. Diving to the rim when TP or Manu is penetrating because he doesn't want to shoot is unspeakably lame. He's literally trying to hide.
I would trap him here and there to give him a different look but the basic defense against him has to be just tough one-on-one coverage. TP pulled it off for much of the game. Hill has always gotten lost on pick-and-rolls against the quicker PGs, so this result wasn't too surprising.
But you can't trap Nash too much or the three-point shooters will get going. And you can't simply give him jumpers because he's too good of a shooter. Pressure him, follow him to the rim and make his attempts much more difficult. Turning Nash into a scorer is still a key ... they just can't allow his scoring to be so easy.
At this point, I don't see another option. RMJ is worthless. Bonner is pretty much worthless. Small ball will be needed and the Spurs will need a bench perimeter player to play a little bit. Bogans sucks but I think Pop just has to hope that he gets hot and knocks down like 33% of his open three-point looks.
I used to hold that theory as well ... but it hasn't played out that way in the playoffs. RJ has been spectator most of the time, with or without Manu. In fact, most of RJ's jumpers in the playoffs have come off of TP's penetration.
In the regular season, Manu's passing was allowing RJ to stay involved. But in the playoffs, that has changed. At most, Manu being on the floor with RJ is giving RJ one extra good look per game ... if that. Teams are focusing on transition defense so RJ won't get as many cheapies.
RJ needs to fend for himself. Rebound. Move to open spots. Attack the rim. Nobody can hold his hand at this point.
Last edited by timvp; 05-04-2010 at 08:18 AM.
Is your boy Bonner going to show up?
We need to do a better job getting out on the shooters, they shoot the 3 ball so well. It also seemed like we were shooting some 3's when we didnt have to. We are not as good a 3pt shooting team as them and should not try to compete in that category. This is where we really needed Bonner and Mason.
Oh one other thing to add, drop Mason from the lineup all together, I dont even remember the last time he made a shot.
Pick your poison. They were living in the paint too.
I agree with your last point. NO MAS MASON.
Start Tony. Trim George back to about 20-25 min per. Trim RMJ to 0. PLAY
GARRETT TEMPLE!!!!
Make your damn FTs and rebound the damn ball !
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