I don't blame the loss on the refs but they took the Spurs out of their game by giving ticky-tack calls on Duncan over a 5 min stretch. This made him less aggressive--he would never have let Amare have easy shots down the stretch there. Nash could do anything---Suns were falling all over the floor the whole game and getting calls.
The Spurs let the calls get to their heads. They played better for most of the game and felt they were en led to get the win after three quarters because of that. Some calls didn't go their way and they reverted back to the whining that's gotten them in trouble in the past.... completely took themselves out of the game mentally.
Phoenix played the 4th quarter with a sense of balls-to-the-wall urgency and they were rewarded for it.
Spurs did the same thing against the Mavs in games 2-4. Its been a trend for a couple seasons now. Nothing new.
Spurs lack leadership in the 4th quarter. They become predictable. Dump it to duncan or have Manu iso and turn the ball over. Have Parker drive with nowhere to go and TO.
Horrible game that will ultimately cost the Spurs a series that they should have won....for the 2nd consecutive year.
THough I have to admit, based on replays that "flagarant" by horry on Nash...I just don't understand how that was such a big issue? Horry hipchecked him but Nash milked it and definitely flopped into the sidelines...it was not that big of a foul...
So true. This was nowhere near what happened last year in some of the games against Dallas.
The Spurs choked. That should be the beginning and end to any article about this game.
The Spurs lost this one. They had the chance to almost put away the series and now this will be an uphill battle.
Manu continues to brick threes.
I'm so ing pissed!
Duncan's last 2 fouls were made up.
Refs don't blow 11pt. leads when the Spurs were dominating up to about 7 minutes left in the fourth. Some calls didn't go our way, but we still had ample opportunity to win. Suns executed and took it right at us, and got the win. Duncan sitting on the bench while Phoenix made their run killed us. Pop should've had him out there even with 5 fouls.
I could live with a lot of the ticky tack fouls duncan was hit with...the one that really got me was the charge that nash so "valiantly" took where his entire 2 feet where inside the circle. It wasnt even close.
i mean c'mon...be realistic here..how could that be a missed call.
Kerr was commenting that it was good strategy to leave Duncan on the floor even when he just commited his 5th foul... that is when Pop decided to sub Duncan out of the game. Damn!
Yeah, we have ample opportunity to play defense in the last minutes, but when 2 defensive plays got botched up by dubious calls/non calls, what else do the Spurs need to do? When shots are not falling, Spurs rely on defense.
And yes, Horry deserves the ejection/suspension.
To say that calls don't matter or don't affect the outcome of a game is stupid. Every game is a game within a game. Calls can and do shift the momentum of a game whether it's Suns or Spurs. With that said taking Duncan out with five fouls was pretty dumb considering that Amare also had five fouls.
Tim is smart enough not to foul out. I didn't see the game but it seems that Tim should have gotten a few more ft attempts and the attempts should have been more balanced between the teams. To me a HOF PF should get a least 10 ft attempts with the number of touches Tim gets.
Phx played hard the last few minutes with the run and wanted it more in the end.
This series is going seven. It's too bad the games are so close that the ref card is played by both teams. I expected more calls in Phx favor after D Antoni's press conference reaction the last game. It always seems to happen in the playoffs with any series.
Does anyone ever know of a game where the result was overturned because of bad calls in the 4th quarter that seemed to favor one team? No.
Let's win the next two on our own.
the spurs didnīt get no calls yesterday.bell fouled every big man setting a screem on Manu,He fouled Manu at least twice in the last 4 mins and didnīt get no calls.Bell shouldīve been fouled out but reminded on the floor all the time,while bruce got every call from the refs yesterday.that was really pathetic.
I can't believe you (of all posters) started this thread.
awawawwawawawawa, thats is all u spurs fans do
I guess whining is just part of the game in the NBA today, kind of sad actually....
another reason why David Stern needs to take a hike
I'm not going to complain about officials because it's pointless but I've always wondered something. Why do refs seem to respond to a coach that calls out the officials? I don't get it since it seems to go against logic. You would figure that the refs would stick it to your team more if you complain.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1179...googlenews_wsj
Suns Come Back to Beat Spurs (Wall Street Journal)
As a Budding Rivalry Heats Up
May 15, 2007 12:29 p.m.
In the first three NBA quarterfinal playoff series to complete Game 4, one team had emerged with a 3-1 series lead and three changes to clinch. The San Antonio Spurs were 142 seconds away from making it four for four last night, leading the Phoenix Suns by five points at home.
Then Steve Nash took over. He hit a jump shot, made two behind-the-back passes that were converted into layups, and received a flagrant foul from Robert Horry that led to some angry words exchanged but no brawl. After the muck was wiped away and order restored, Phoenix emerged with a most unlikely, 104-98 victory and regained home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series.
That tension boiled over when Mr. Horry left his feet to deliver a hip and forearm to Mr. Nash that sent him flying into the press table along the sidelines. Mr. Horry risks suspension, as do two Suns players also wandered over from the bench after the flagrant foul. "I don't know what Robert Horry was thinking," Buck Harvey writes in the San Antonio Express-News. "He came in for the final 32 seconds and hadn't had time to get mad about anything. And I know what Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were thinking. Nothing. They left their bench out of reaction, because Horry took out Steve Nash the way a linebacker takes out a quarterback on the sideline. My punishment? I'd fine Horry and nothing more. And I wouldn't care exactly how many feet and inches Stoudemire and Diaw strayed from their bench. I'd make them all come back. Because I want to see what happens next."
Does the NBA want to see what happens next, or affect it? The Fix doesn't buy conspiracy theories about officiating, but columns like Michael Wilbon's in the Washington Post today (and several calls yesterday that went the Suns' way, as True Hoop points out) could at least explain the tension that Mr. Horry was feeling. Simply put, good times for the Spurs are bad for the NBA. Mr. Wilbon points out that San Antonio ranked 21st in the league in road attendance, and has been a TV-ratings killer.
"They're polite in public dealings, accept coaching and are personally accountable," Mr. Wilbon writes. "They're smart, creative, and civic gods where they live. They're never, ever involved in embarrassing off-court drama. Yet, it all adds up to induce one big yawn from basketball consumers."
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