Adjustments for Game 2 - Spurs vs. Suns 2010

[Big Empty]

Sit Matt Bonner.

[lefty]

We all know what Pop has to do


The question is if Pop is going to make those adjustments

He is so ing stubborn; what does he see in Bonner and Mason? They are the opposite of what modern basketball players should be

Bonner should have played in the 50's; he reminds me of those unathletic white guys from the Minneapolis Lakers who were riding Mikan's domination

[nkdlunch]

release Mason, sign up Eduardo Najera

[Brazil]

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

I disagree with you it was not like game 1 against the mavs not at all. We lost the mavs game 1 by 6 points with a huge FTs differential. The mavs didn't outplayed us totally like yesterday.
We have lost yesterday by 10 points with the same amount of FTs, the suns outrebounded us, they are deeper than the mavs. This serie is going to be tougher than the mavs one. I still believe but I'm more worried today than I was after mavs game 1.

[pawe]

Man, what happened to playing the best 5 players of the team to start the game. Phoenix does it, why cant pop do it? Is this his version of gimmick offense?
No more Mason, he seems so lost in the court.

[vander]

Is your boy Bonner going to show up?

I wish he would start hitting the open 3, but at least he guarded Stoudamire pretty well, better than TD.
he needs to learn to "pull the chair" when stoudamire lowers his shoulder and drives through him.

also, god help this team if it is actually dependent on Bonner hitting 3s to have a chance to win. no contending team is dependent on it's 6/7th best player

[blkroadrunners]

What are y'all's thoughts on this lineup for Gm2?

C Tim Duncan
PF Antonio McDyess
SF Keith Bogans
SG Manu Ginobili
PG Tony Parker


Bench
George Hill
DeJuan Blair
Richard Jefferson
Matt Bonner
Roger Mason
Garrett Temple
Ian Mahinmi

[ManuTastic]

The first half was horrible. But after that it was nothing to get too unhappy about. No unfixable problems there. Hill won't play that bad again. Tim was awful in the first half, he needs to wake the up, and he will. Spurs historically don't play well until their backs are against the wall; I figured they'd lose this one, same as game 1 vs. Dallas. It's always the same. They'll make adjustments.
My theory is they're too cerebral a team: they have to know intellectually how to handle their opponent before they can actually do it physically. First half they were tentative, missed easy shots, didn't know whether to pass or shoot, all that that shows they're thinking too much. Once they get a theory in their heads about how to beat Phx, they will. I expect big bounceback games from Hill. And Tony looked good!

[slayermin]

Tim was awful in the first half, he needs to wake the up, and he will.

Didn't you see Dragic fall into his knee? That was scary.

[TD 21]

I didn't claim that they didn't control the whole game. But despite ther commanding performance we were not too far away from winning the game. I'm trying to comment it, they shot their best and we shot one of our worst; and it was a close game under these situations.

Duncan didn't dominate as we hope, but i don't believe that Hill and RJ and helped us too much also. If at least one of those 2 guys could show a better performance, it would diminish the pressure over Duncan.

Yes the packed schedule of this series will affact Duncan badly, but it will affect Nash either. And we all know what will happen if Nash slows, it will hurt Suns too much. Not only the offensive production of Suns will decrease, but also their defense will be damaged.

Moreover Suns was not too bad from 3 point territory tonight, %35 is an ordinary average when you come to deeper play-offs and against Spurs. Even we assume that their regular average was %40, it means only 3 more points for Suns(8-20 instead of 7-20). But their 2 points performance is nowhere near to what they usually do. Their 2 points avarage was 34-59(%57.5) This is better than career play-off average of the most dominant center of game Shaq(%56). Moreover this was against a team like Spurs, not against a team like GS.

That's why you can call it fools gold, but i'm still not feeling to pessimistic after this game.

Here's the thing you fail to realize about this game: The Suns played a regular game by their standards. This wasn't one of those games where it was the best the opposition could play and the Spurs still had a legitimate chance to win the game coming down the stretch. Go look at their team stats throughout the regular season, then look at what they did last night. The scoring was dispensed differently than it usually is, but it was a typical Suns game all the same. You say their two point percentage was high, but their three point percentage was low.

Duncan was fine. Could he be and do the Spurs need him to be better? Yes, on both accounts. But at the same time, people are being too hard on him. The expectations are through the roof. He's 34 with bad knees and quad tendonosis. I don't care who's on him, at this late date in the season he's not going to throw up an efficient 30/15 (or thereabouts) more than on occasion.

Nash slowing is a bigger blow to the Suns than Duncan slowing is to the Spurs. Duncan will always be 6-11 with long arms, so he'll still be able to provide rim protection and rebounding, even on his bad days. Nash, on the other hand, controls the Suns offense. If he's hampered in any way, they're not winning this series. For as proficient as they are offensively, they don't have a lot of shot creators. Whereas the Spurs could easily play with the ball in the hands of Ginobili or Parker throughout a game, the Suns have no such option. It has to be Nash. That's why the Spurs need to put him on his ass when he comes down the lane, hope he falls awkwardly on his ailing hip and isn't the same for the remainder of the series.

Good for you that you're not feeling pessimistic. I was I could share your optimism, but I know better. The reality is the Spurs probably needed to win game one to win this series.