Hat tip from a Suns fan

[ambchang]

This really is an awesome first post, and I am glad there will be another knowledgable fan of an opposing team to argue basketball with.
The biggest difference between these Suns and the 2005 Suns is the 2007 version is a team that can get to the FT line by attacking the paint, which puts a heavy burden on the defense to react and puts people into foul trouble.
I believe the strategy to defend the 07 Suns should be similar to the 05 Suns. Limit Nash’s penetration, close out 3 pters, force the Suns to shoot mid to long range 2 pters, and get back on defense on fast breaks.
On offense, everything starts with Duncan like always, have him draw the whole defense in, kick it out to shooters like Barry, Horry, Manu, Finley or Bowen, and in some cases Bonner and Beno if they ever see the floor, and have Parker and Vaughn penetrate and break down the defense once in a while.
Seems like the same way the Spurs have been playing.

[easjer]

Great first post. I hope you stick around for the duratioon and after. I'm excited to watch this series, as I always enjoy watching the Suns play. Nash is incredible and they always bring the energy.

That said, I've already put my $ where my mouth is and stand by my prediction of Spurs in 5. I think the Nuggets helped us hone the transition D and work on overcoming adversity and playing through to the end. Suns are going to be a big challenge for us, but I think they can do it.

[mabber]

o Spurs fans!

I signed up two days ago waiting for this moment. I have a lot of respect for your team, your fans, your city, your organization. So does Suns management, who often mentions the San Antonio Spurs as the model of organization they would most like to model. I'll use this post to introduce you to the Suns rotations and some general observations.

Mike D'Antoni generally uses an 8-man rotation ...

PG Nash/Barbosa
SG Bell/Barbosa
SF James Jones/Diaw
PF Marion/Diaw
C Amare/Kurt Thomas

D'Antoni will use multiple amalgamations of the above 8 players. There's also a chance will we see Jumaine Jones, Pat Burke (in the shortest of spurts), and Marcus Banks, but that would be a sign things are going badly for this team. Banks, especially. I think the Spurs would have to win the first two games for D'Antoni to bust his short rotation.

The Suns are deeper than they were when the Spurs faced the Suns two years ago. The combination of James Jones (also referred to as Junior) and Boris Diaw at SF and Raja Bell at guard is actually a more effective trio of players than Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson. More than anything, Bell is a better defender at the 2 than Johnson while providing consistent offensive punch when needed, and Junior and Diaw are ten times more efficient at both ends of the court than Richardson (who shot a poor % and was completely useless as a defender).

Diaw is also the defacto offensive facilitator off the bench when Nash sits. Barbosa will sometimes handle those duties, but they generally like Diaw to create and set up the offense. It's also when you're most likely to see Stoudemire set up on the low-post as a newer look in the Suns' half court offense.

The gradual improvement on defense for Stoudemire and the addition of Thomas (finally) allows the Suns to gamble less. You will see them occasionally mix in some zones, but they mostly play man with a lot of help in the paint. Generally speaking, the Suns do not extend their defense to the 3 pt line unless they have to, partially because they want opponents to shoot 3s for long rebounds to kick start the break. That would, of course, change if/when the opponent starts hitting the long ball.

I don't think there's any doubt the Spurs start this series with the mental advantage. Let me add they probably have the emotional advantage, too. The Spurs have had the Suns' number for awhile, and you in tonight's post-game quotes you could already hear a slight bit of fear. When asked if he was looking forward to his match up with Duncan, Stoudemire replied: "No. I can't deny it." Furthermore, the Lakers series had the look-and-feel of a regular season match up most of the time. Both teams knew the Suns were better, the Lakers have been prepping for a major roster overhaul since March, and the Suns' system doesn't work without a lot of energy. It was the sleepiest 4-1 series win I've seen in about 20 years. The Suns enter this second-round match up with a lot of questions whether they can crank up the fire a little bit. I'm having my doubts, and expecting the machine that is your team to win at least one game in Phoenix ... probably the first one.

The Suns' biggest concerns are Nash on Parker and getting Marion involved in the offense against Bowen. I'd say Duncan, but the Suns would likely prefer him to shoot more, fearing most what he does as a distributor. They would probably gladly give Duncan 30 if they could limit other contributions, but I'd say that's unlikely. In addition, Ginobli has always preferred playing the Suns because of the tempo and I look for him to be more productive on a game-to-game basis in this series. The Spurs look deeper on the bench, but the Suns have been getting much better production from Barbs, Thomas, and Diaw the last month. In terms of scoring of the bench, I think the Suns might have an advantage there.

So those are my initial thoughts. I look forward to interacting with you and watching (finally!) great playoff basketball!

Well done! In my opinion that was a very fair & accurate assessment coming from a fan of one of the teams. You don't see that on here very often.

I'm looking forward to watching this series and hopefully this kind of quality analysis will prevail throughout.

As the series progresses you will definitely have to overlook the many "the refs screwed us" posts that will populate this board. It's just the nature of any hoops forum.

[Testing]

multiple amalgamations

Suns fans are smart.

[Testing]

I actually think as the series progresses, Bell will be put on Tony Parker, Diaw on Ginobili, and Marion helping out on Duncan. Parker is the Spurs x factor in this series because he controls the tempo for hte SPurs and he will make his defender work on the other end of the court since the Suns inside defense is weak. Suns best bet is to get hte ball out of parkers hands early. Bell on him then later switched to Manu would help.

Bowen will/should be on Nash and sometimes Marion. I think Barbosa should be the scariest thing for the Spurs because if he has a good game...and he can give you 30 points on a given night, that adds a 3rd player to beat them. Plus, Spurs have no one who can defend him.

Suns in 7.

[2centsworth]

I hope Diaw guards Manu. Also, it doesn't matter who guards Tony. It's just Steve Nash on Tony is laughable.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

What? A fan of another team with an intelligent take?












Mavs fans take note. (That means you should look at how this Suns fan posts and try to imitate his style.)

[ratm1221]

Spurs in 5.

[DarrinS]

The Suns player that worries me the most (believe it or not) is Barbosa.

[tlongII]

I don't think this series will be all that compe ive. The age of the Spurs will show in this series and the Suns will win it in 5.

[ratm1221]

What? A fan of another team with an intelligent take?
Mavs fans take note. (That means you should look at how this Suns fan posts and try to imitate his style.)

Just because Mav fan don't bow down and kiss spurs fan ass don't mean they aren't intelligent. This Suns fan will learn how to talk after the spurs drop one and blame everything on the officiating.

[dbreiden83080]

Good first posts nice info but i am taking Spurs in 6. Suns wide open style of play is tailor made for Parker and Manu to have huge series and our half court D is the best in the league. Tim and Amare will basically cancel eachother out on O but Tim is so much better on D he will be a bigger factor overall in the series than Amare. Marion is the key for you guys but Bowen has really owned him over the years and i don't see that changing much in this series.

[ratm1221]

I say Tim Duncan and Manu get ejected in the first game for giving high five.

[SpursWoman]

Going to be fun. If Suns take it I'm betting it won't be with a transition or three point shooting game. They'll have to beat the Spurs the old fashioned way.

Hack-A-Duncan & whining to the media about their lack of love from the refs?





Welcome to the forum, Gaddabout!

[Bruno]

Nice first post.

To me the key of the serie will be the Bell/Manu matchup. Bell is a great defender and if he gets in Manu's head (like Artest last year), Spurs will have a lot of troubles.

[CubanMustGo]

I don't think this series will be all that compe ive. The age of the Spurs will show in this series and the Suns will win it in 5.

This from the same man who said:

Nuggets in 6.
Warriors in 4.

You'll forgive me if I don't run off to Vegas.

[dbestpro]

o Spurs fans!

I signed up two days ago waiting for this moment. I have a lot of respect for your team, your fans, your city, your organization. So does Suns management, who often mentions the San Antonio Spurs as the model of organization they would most like to model. I'll use this post to introduce you to the Suns rotations and some general observations.

Mike D'Antoni generally uses an 8-man rotation ...

PG Nash/Barbosa
SG Bell/Barbosa
SF James Jones/Diaw
PF Marion/Diaw
C Amare/Kurt Thomas

D'Antoni will use multiple amalgamations of the above 8 players. There's also a chance will we see Jumaine Jones, Pat Burke (in the shortest of spurts), and Marcus Banks, but that would be a sign things are going badly for this team. Banks, especially. I think the Spurs would have to win the first two games for D'Antoni to bust his short rotation.

The Suns are deeper than they were when the Spurs faced the Suns two years ago. The combination of James Jones (also referred to as Junior) and Boris Diaw at SF and Raja Bell at guard is actually a more effective trio of players than Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson. More than anything, Bell is a better defender at the 2 than Johnson while providing consistent offensive punch when needed, and Junior and Diaw are ten times more efficient at both ends of the court than Richardson (who shot a poor % and was completely useless as a defender).

Diaw is also the defacto offensive facilitator off the bench when Nash sits. Barbosa will sometimes handle those duties, but they generally like Diaw to create and set up the offense. It's also when you're most likely to see Stoudemire set up on the low-post as a newer look in the Suns' half court offense.

The gradual improvement on defense for Stoudemire and the addition of Thomas (finally) allows the Suns to gamble less. You will see them occasionally mix in some zones, but they mostly play man with a lot of help in the paint. Generally speaking, the Suns do not extend their defense to the 3 pt line unless they have to, partially because they want opponents to shoot 3s for long rebounds to kick start the break. That would, of course, change if/when the opponent starts hitting the long ball.

I don't think there's any doubt the Spurs start this series with the mental advantage. Let me add they probably have the emotional advantage, too. The Spurs have had the Suns' number for awhile, and you in tonight's post-game quotes you could already hear a slight bit of fear. When asked if he was looking forward to his match up with Duncan, Stoudemire replied: "No. I can't deny it." Furthermore, the Lakers series had the look-and-feel of a regular season match up most of the time. Both teams knew the Suns were better, the Lakers have been prepping for a major roster overhaul since March, and the Suns' system doesn't work without a lot of energy. It was the sleepiest 4-1 series win I've seen in about 20 years. The Suns enter this second-round match up with a lot of questions whether they can crank up the fire a little bit. I'm having my doubts, and expecting the machine that is your team to win at least one game in Phoenix ... probably the first one.

The Suns' biggest concerns are Nash on Parker and getting Marion involved in the offense against Bowen. I'd say Duncan, but the Suns would likely prefer him to shoot more, fearing most what he does as a distributor. They would probably gladly give Duncan 30 if they could limit other contributions, but I'd say that's unlikely. In addition, Ginobli has always preferred playing the Suns because of the tempo and I look for him to be more productive on a game-to-game basis in this series. The Spurs look deeper on the bench, but the Suns have been getting much better production from Barbs, Thomas, and Diaw the last month. In terms of scoring of the bench, I think the Suns might have an advantage there.

So those are my initial thoughts. I look forward to interacting with you and watching (finally!) great playoff basketball!

You should give classes to Mav fans on how to be an intelligent fan.

[Sasha]

Suns fans are smart.

A little pissed, are ya?

[LilMissSPURfect]

I say Tim Duncan and Manu get ejected in the first game for giving high five.

if the game took place @ AA arena I wouldn't doubt it one bit...


I see spurs in 5 (100+ pt games); bench play being the deciding factor.

[hafey]

Another Suns fan here. Should be a great series. You guys have a very good basketball board here.

I think the interesting thing about this series is that Duncan and Amare will see very little of each other. Neither coach will risk foul trouble on his inside presence.

[MoSpur]

I don't think this series will be all that compe ive. The age of the Spurs will show in this series and the Suns will win it in 5.

Is that you Kiki Vandeweghe?

[MoSpur]

BTW, great first post from Gaddabout. This is going to be a good series. The Spurs age does worry me from time to time, but I think the Spurs will be able to pull it off. Barbosa is good. Very good. I don't see Amare playing like he did in '05.

[timvp]

Nice first post.

To me the key of the serie will be the Bell/Manu matchup. Bell is a great defender and if he gets in Manu's head (like Artest last year), Spurs will have a lot of troubles.

Artest is a better defender than Bell. Bell will try to be physical with Manu and won't back down from committing a hard foul or two.

The key is to set a lot of screens for Manu and keep him in motion. Bell can stop him in one-on-one settings, but I think Manu has the advantage on pick and rolls and off screens.

[bdictjames]

Professionalism at its finest.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Very well written.