Game Thoughts: Spurs @ Suns Jan. 31

[Don Quixote]

I just can't remember the good Phoenix Suns message board. I went to PHxSuns.net, but they're pretty civil, and boring.

I want the one where I went trolling and eventually got banned last year. IT's a good one. Anyone remember?

[hsxvvd]

I don't understand it. A few nights ago, Bonner got hit with a 3 sec standing in the lane on Defense, and his BB IQ was severly questioned.

Last night Duncan has:

A. An offenseive goal tending costing Vaughn 2. Luckily he was also fouled. Didn't see it, but would you expect Vaughn's shot to go in?
B. A 3 second violation on Defense. He always does this. It comes with playing a fine line with the rules
C. A technical foul. And was probably real close to a second one.This team needs a few T's to get it going
D. A foul on AS with about 8 seconds left that could have tied the game. He was moving his arm down and away - a bull call
E. Missed multiple 2 pt layups Only missed shots I saw where when he had the entire Phoenix team in his grill.
F. Committed a team high 5 turnovers.We ran the offence through him while he was doubled and triple teamed - besides Manu had 6

And we get:


It was just an all-around well fought game by #21.

What did Bonner do?

[MoSpur]

I applaud the Spurs on this win. They did whatever it took to win and hung in there no matter how ugly it got. Like Tim Duncan said after the game, I don't know how they did it.

[leemajors]

the vaughnfense was scary at times last night.

[MoSpur]

Vaughn kept letting it fly. I was very upset, but he did well. I was actually a little impressed by Vaughn.

[smeagol]

Manu was sucking big time. His only contribution was the free throughs, but they were big because of the pressure under which they were executed. To appreciate the difference, compare Manu's performance under pressure at the line to Amare's. 'Nuff said.

JV had a huge game, IMO. Muy huge!

[FromWayDowntown]

I don't understand it. A few nights ago, Bonner got hit with a 3 sec standing in the lane on Defense, and his BB IQ was severly questioned.

Last night Duncan has:

A. An offenseive goal tending costing Vaughn 2. Luckily he was also fouled.
B. A 3 second violation on Defense.
C. A technical foul. And was probably real close to a second one.
D. A foul on AS with about 8 seconds left that could have tied the game.
E. Missed multiple 2 pt layups
F. Committed a team high 5 turnovers.

And we get:


It was just an all-around well fought game by #21.

You're right; Tim Duncan clearly hasn't earned a little leeway in terms of the way he's evaluated by Spurs fans. Because his production is the same as Matt Bonner's, he should really be judged by the same standards by which we judge Matt Bonner.

[bigfan]

Man, that was a big win. We really needed it and I think what this shows is even if you are shooting like crap, if you play good defense and keep it close to the 4th quarter, you can turn on the afterburner and get a win. Props all around, esp Manu hitting his foul shots under pressure, Tim playing big all game and even JV playing pretty good. We needed this one.

[resistanze]

You're right; Tim Duncan clearly hasn't earned a little leeway in terms of the way he's evaluated by Spurs fans. Because his production is the same as Matt Bonner's, he should really be judged by the same standards by which we judge Matt Bonner.

You're just being bias!

Just because he isn't the centerpiece of the Spurs offense, anchor of the Spur's defence, not subjected to double/triple teams, doesn't put up anything near to 17/16/7/2, shouldn't mean we give TD a free ride.

[Solid D]

When the Suns can't run the break and up-tempo, it really hurts their overall game. The Spurs junked up the game and they didn't take care of the ball, particularly in the first half. The Spurs' clanking shots may have rubbed off a bit on the Suns, too. That can mysteriously work that way on an otherwise fluid team.

With that said, the Spurs transition D was outstanding and the decision to run the offense through Timmy, even with collapsing and trapping down on him actually helped the Spurs keep numbers to their advantage in transition. Duncan had 7 assists and the rest of the Spurs had 6, however, it didn't matter because the strategy of continually feeding the post ensured 3 Suns at the baseline area on any missed shot attempt. The Spurs normally had 3 out on the perimeter, versus 2 Suns when the ball went up. Numbers win the transition battle almost every time.

The Spurs played strong, tough and active rotationally on defense and since they didn't try to run much, they were able to drop three to the lane to cut off slashes on Nash drop-offs. Ugly win, but the Spurs were money at money time.

[ploto]

With the starting point guard out, they actually remembered to run the offense through Duncan, and he started finding guys like Finley, instead of Vaughn, to shoot jumpers.

[manubili]

I just can't remember the good Phoenix Suns message board. I went to PHxSuns.net, but they're pretty civil, and boring.

I want the one where I went trolling and eventually got banned last year. IT's a good one. Anyone remember?

Here's a good one: http://arizonasportsfans.com/vb/show...106070&page=14

You don't need to troll them, they are trolling themselves. Just like we were doing two nights ago. I don't mind the other teams fans proping the spurs, I like it better when they get mad!

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I don't understand it. A few nights ago, Bonner got hit with a 3 sec standing in the lane on Defense, and his BB IQ was severly questioned.

Last night Duncan has:

A. An offenseive goal tending costing Vaughn 2. Luckily he was also fouled.
B. A 3 second violation on Defense.
C. A technical foul. And was probably real close to a second one.
D. A foul on AS with about 8 seconds left that could have tied the game.
E. Missed multiple 2 pt layups
F. Committed a team high 5 turnovers.

And we get:


It was just an all-around well fought game by #21.

When Bonner starts drawing triple teams like Duncan was at times last night then we can start posting Bonner-Duncan comparisons. Timmy was one of the few guys semi-holding things together for the Spurs. I thought Timvp's assessment of his play was spot-on.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

-Jacque Vaughn didn’t get the start but came in and played decently well. Usually, Vaughn is asked to take as few shots as possible. However, tonight the Suns were daring him to shoot the ball and Vaughn obliged by hoisting up 15 shot attempts. At one point in the game, Vaughn had more shot attempts than Duncan and Ginobili combined. Usually that’s a bad sign but with the Suns totally ignoring him, Vaughn had to shoot. He finished the game with a season-high 17 points on 6-for-15 shooting from the floor. He also got two assists and three steals in his 31 minutes of play. It’s going to be interesting to see who will be higher in the depth charts come playoff time – Vaughn or the newly acquired point guard Damon Stoudamire.

When Vaughn had 11 points at the half I looked at it as a statistical anomaly because his play was so bad, IMO. His feeds into the post kept getting picked off, he was pulling the trigger on his jumper but you could tell he had no confidence in his stroke, and he was running an ultra-conservative offense (which was probably by design). Overall, though, the team as a whole did play a little better with him running the point. Whenever he took the ball to the hole he did pretty well finishing I just felt like he didn't do it enough.

Vaughn just isn't suited to play point for this team for extended minutes. 5-10 minutes a game, tops, where he can come in and give us energy on D, and not make too many bonehead mistakes is his perfect role.

When I was watching the game I thought that Damon would have run the offense better. He'll garner some defensive respect so opposing teams won't be able to sag off of him and blanket the post. This will allow Timmy to do his thing much more freely than he was able to last night.

I like Vaughn, but after watching the game last night I'm really grateful Stoudemire is going to be a Spur.

[Don Quixote]

Here's a good one: http://arizonasportsfans.com/vb/show...106070&page=14

You don't need to troll them, they are trolling themselves. Just like we were doing two nights ago. I don't mind the other teams fans propping the spurs, I like it better when they get mad!

Yes, that's the one. Thanks.

[Slippy]

Timmmy did a fantastic job of not letting the refs get to him in playing a great game. There were some BS calls, he just kept plugging on. He was all over the suns on D too.

The Suns did well to not allow Manu into his comfort zones out on the perimeter, manny times forcing him to the right. Didn't help that Vaughn's guy kept sagging off him to help on Manu and clog the lane-way.

Vaughn was a liability on offense untill he started driving to the basket. I was tearing my hair out when he kept missing those wide open jumpers.

Still a great effort on Defense and a gutsy win.

[MrChug]

Worse than Mavs fans?

By a long shot!

[CubanMustGo]

Ya know, glad we got the win, yadda-yadda-yadda, but I'll be happier when we actually play a whole game instead of part of one quarter.

We won because Phoenix sucked, not because we played well. Yeah the defense was good but our offense stunk against a team that doesn't do D. Let's not read too much into one win a couple of nights after losing to the friggin' Seattle Subsonics.

[ShoogarBear]

Truthfully, the Suns played poorly. This was far from their best effort. It was like the Spurs lulled them to sleep by slowing the pace of the game. Usually the Suns play with a lot of energy – especially at home. That was just not the case tonight.

That's exactly the case. The game plan wa to keep it as slow and ugly as possible and try to steal it at the end. This was one game where PHX's inability/refusal to rebound killed them, as the Spurs could do things like play Udoka at PF and still hold the boards. If the Spurs weren't intent on official NBA ball giveaways to the Phoenix fans in the first half, they might have led most of the game.

-Manu Ginobili played the worst half of basketball in his career the first half, but came back strong enough at the end to seal the win with FTs.

FIFY. At the end of the first half, he should have had as many TOs as FGAs but someone must have taken pity on one of his passes out of bounds.

But, ugly ball = Spurs Ball. Good to see one of those again.

I think Jacques Vaughn played a pretty good game as well all things considered.

JV played tough, but he made Avery Johnson look like Ray Allen tonight.

[Spurminator]

I like Vaughn, but after watching the game last night I'm really grateful Stoudemire is going to be a Spur.

Yeah I really liked Vaughn's effort... He did what he needed to do; unfortunately, he's just not very good at doing it.

[Don Quixote]

Some nuggets from the Sons' board ...

azsouthendzone: unreal......we are their plain and simple until further notice. They are also our daddy.

boldinfan18: Man I feel so sick right now ugh spurs beat us without parker this sucks

Proteus: Sigh...the Spurs own us still.

azsouthendzone: Phoenix Suns, Paper Champions 1993, 2006, 2007, 2008

Proteus: Suns = Horrible chokers and mental midgets in the face of the Spurs

azsouthendzone: DiAntoni will never, ever, get this team over the hump. This season will end like it always does. We all know it.

Bufalay: Stern saves the day

azsouthendzone: Spurs win 12 out of last 16. They own us. We are their . They are our daddy.

Ouchie-Z-Clown: they own us. we're a soft team.

[J.T.]

This was the first Spurs game I've watched in a long time when I didn't feel confident that the Spurs could bridge the gap of a four point deficit. The Spurs were down six at halftime and in a typical game you would think, just play good defense and follow through on your first three possessions and the game is tied, but not this game.

The Spurs need to beat the Celtics when they play them next week. A win against them would be a huge confidence booster, just like the win against Detroit on the rodeo trip last year gave them momentum for the post-ASG surge.

[TampaDude]

Turning point? I hope so. At least they get 4 days rest now.

[Windbush]

Ime plays a solid game and was key. He plays big in the small ball lineup and can cover the forward when Bruce has to drop down to cover the guard. He can shoot too. I can't remember how many times I winced every time Bruce took a shot inside the three point line or drove for a layup that always bounced off the rim.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

I loved seeing Ime and Bruce at the same time.

Coupled with Duncan must make it a nightmare to score on the spurs