Diaw better show up this series... no one will expect him to because he's been such a ing daisy on both ends of the floor since Amare came back.
As a Spurs fan, I hope to see as little of Kurt Thomas as possible. He's historically one of the best defenders in terms of defending Tim Duncan.
Duncan fairs rather well against pretty much everyone else on the Suns. Although I have been impressed by Stoudemire's improved defense this season.
The Suns maybe a better half court team than the Nuggets (although I'm not so sure), but not a better half court team against the Spurs. The key to going at the Spurs is to be physical, clog the paint, and hit the boards hard. The Nuggets did about as good a job as I've seen in a while through the first 4 games, and I know the Suns don't have the physicality to go at the Spurs in the half court. It may make sense to play Thomas big minutes if the Spurs are controlling tempo anyway, but to D'Antoni that is surrendering his controlled chaos to play the Spurs game that the Suns cannot win anyway. His best chance is to try to get the Spurs to play the Suns game, and he has zero chance of doing that with Thomas in the game for extended minutes.
Also, personally I am hoping Kurt Thomas plays a lot. The more the better. He's a good defender but we can just double off of him defensively just like we did to Najera. Najera was the 2nd worst minus player (after Smith) for the Nuggets after four games because they couldn't score at all with him on the court. We doubled Carmelo like crazy when Najera was in the game.
just let him do his thing, so we can concentrate on good team defense and avoid transition points, that way TD can destroy him on offense once again
Duncan almost gets shut down by KThomas - he's like Rasheed used to be to him.
But I don't think D'Antoni will play him a lot because of offense.
Bowen has always done awesome on Marion - but I know this series he'll switch between Marion and Nash and Tony will switch between Nash and Barbosa.
The Suns are an underrated half-court team this season. They have a reputation of being a poor half-court team, but I think they've done a good job of proving it wrong this year. They can now win in any sort of game because they have so many offensive threats. Even when the game slows down, Amare and Barbosa can score handily, and Diaw isn't so bad himself.
We all saw it in the last Suns-Spurs game. Duncan was dominating Amare inside, hitting any shot he wanted, basically. Then Kurt Thomas came in for about 7 minutes (2nd quarter) and shut Duncan down, forcing him to miss 4 or 5 straight shots. For some reason, D'Antoni pulled him and Kurt didn't see any playing time after that. If D'Antoni refuses to play Kurt, our best low-post defender, I think the Suns will lose.
I feel most comfortable with Bowen on Marion. With that matchup, you can take Marion out of the series.
But yeah, when Barbosa is on the court, Parker pretty much has to guard him. I don't know anyone else on the team who has a chance against him. Even Bowen and Vaughn would probably get lit up.
I love Manu on Bell because that keeps Manu fresh for the other end.
I think they are better than they were with Q, but I think their strengths in the half court play directly to the Spurs strengths in defending the half court. The Suns don't have anyone outside of Thomas to beat up on Duncan and get him off his rhythm, but with Thomas in the game the Suns half court offensive game is not as effective. Keeping Thomas in the game will keep the game a low scoring, grind it out game, and the Spurs are the masters of that kind of game. The Suns playing that game is as dumb as the Spurs trying to run the Suns out of the building.
You might be right. I think D'Antoni is probably following the same train of thought.
God damn ing Catch 22's!
I've seen various line-ups the suns listed on here, but my question is don't they ever go super big in the front court, with Thomas/Diaw, Amare, and Marion at the 3?
If it's that line-up, and then a Nash-LB backcourt, I really don't know who Pop could have Manu guard. Marion I guess. Or maybe he wouldn't even have him playing.
He pretty much has to guard Jones or Bell most of the time, right?
Hopefully we can see a repeat of this ...
I don't think it's about Bowen to keep Marion out of it. We just have to take away his threes, his transition and his rebounding. Finley or Manu should be able to do that just as well as Bruce could. He's not this big slashing/driving/cutter that only Bruce can guard.I feel most comfortable with Bowen on Marion. With that matchup, you can take Marion out of the series.
But yeah, when Barbosa is on the court, Parker pretty much has to guard him. I don't know anyone else on the team who has a chance against him. Even Bowen and Vaughn would probably get lit up.
I love Manu on Bell because that keeps Manu fresh for the other end.
This is going to be a tough series for both teams. I'd bet on the Suns beat any team in the NBA in a seven game series ... except for the Spurs. The Spurs matchup about as well as you can matchup against the Suns.
With the Suns having homecourt, I'd say this series is a coin flip.
For the Spurs fans who remember the 2005 Suns, you should just forget about that Phoenix squad. This team is much, much better. Stoudemire is a smarter basketball player. Nash is playing better than ever, especially defensively. Marion might be the most dynamic player in the league. Bell is a hard ass who will do whatever it takes to win. Barbosa is playing at a very high level. Diaw is talented. Kurt Thomas can guard Duncan with success. James Jones is like a sane Stephen Jackson.
The Spurs can win this series, but it's not going to be easy. They'll have to play better than they did against the Nuggets.
With homecourt advantage, I'd be confident that the Spurs could win handily. Without it, it's now a toss up.
I don't want Manu to have to work very much on D this series. Give him an easy assignment.
This is his series to go off offensively.
According to 82games.com, the most efficient and most common Suns lineup is Nash-Bell-Marion-Diaw-Stoudemire.
Would the Spurs trot out a Parker-Manu-Bowen-Horry-Duncan lineup to counter?
Well who's he supposed to guard if Bell and Jones are off the court then Kori?
I personally like the idea of changing up who guards Nash. Nash is the key to their offense, and he's too great of a player to lock up one defender on him. He'll adjust and pick the Spurs apart if only TP or only Bruce guard him. IMO throwing Bruce at him and switching TP and possibly Manu for a possession or two early in the game will keep Nash in the process of trying to adjust to his defender. That tandem could make it difficult enough for him.
Needless to say, keeping an eye on your man and good old fashioned denial defense is going to be essential for the Spurs.
Before Bowen joined the Spurs, Marion was a top Spur Killer in the league. Even his rookie season, he tore the Spurs up in the playoffs.
Perhaps the Spurs have figured out as a whole how to slow Marion, but I have bad memories of the days that Marion would run the Spurs right out of the gym single-handedly pre-Bowen.
Bell is averaging ~37 mpg in the playoffs. I don't think that will be a big factor. Manu can guard someone else in very small stretches but most of the time he's on the court, Bell will be on the court.
That's a good question. I guess you have to put Manu on Marion. You might be able to get away with Manu on Barbosa if the tempo is slowed but that's probably risky.
I know, that's what I am saying.
I still feel confident that the Spurs can win in 6. Get a split in games 1 and 2 and the HCA is theirs. I don't know if Diaw and Jones are ready to take the big step and man up against the Spurs in the playoffs. Nash, Amare, and Bell will bring it, but the others I'm not so sure about.
Marion.
Good point. Bell was brought on board to the Manu Stopper. He'll probably see a lot of time against Manu.
I think Manu should be fine as long as Manu is put into pick-and-roll action and doesn't try to take it one-on-one against Bell.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
