Game Thoughts: Spurs @ Suns Mar. 9

[Xylus]

Spurs played stupid. They had both Shaq and Amare with five fouls with lots of time left in the game. Did they try to take advantage and get them fouled out? NO! They played perimeter basketball and didn't challenge them hardly at all.

Shaq got away with a lot. Remember that time that Ginobilli was called for a foul when he was down on the ground and Shaq fell over him?

The reason Manu was on the ground was that Shaq cuffed him with that big hand and arm over the neck and shoulders and literally bashed him to the ground. Refs should have seen it.

Blaming the refs? That's ing lame.

[41times]

I am very concerned about some Spurs' player, and in particular, Pop's stubbornness to continue giving them minutes:

• Michael Finley: He has had some good stretches during the regular season, but he has been consistently bad this year. I mean really bad player. He is well below the replacement value of an average player in the league... in other words, he has been consistently worse than an average player in the league. While some defensive specialists (e.g. Bowen, Bell, etc.) also suffer in their value since many of their contributions are not registered in the boxscore and some other charts that most scouts use, I would not consider defense (neither one-on-one nor help) one of Finley's forte. Right now, he is hurting the starting lineup, but Pop is very stubborn about him.
  
• Robert Horry: I've seen a couple of games where he looks fresh, in particular on the defensive end, but other than that, he looks very slow, out of place, with no rhythm, and with his shot not falling. In other words, he is looking very old.

.

Old and Older. you decide which one is first.

Both guys can stand out there and hit an open 15-20 footer. But if you ask them to do much else, you might be asking too much.

[T Park]

Sounds like Jason Kidd.

[timmy21_4rings]

Spurs made Suns to smell the playoffs and a possible defeat by Suns in playoffs. Last time similar thing happened to Mavs when Mavs had a chance to eliminate Golden State in the final weeks.

[timvp]

Shaq had a good game against the Spurs. Duncan who for all his accomplishments has never developed a near reliable mid-range shot and is not as mobile as most offensive big men is a set-up for a slow, in the paint Shaq. That ain't going to work against most other teams that can put bigs on the floor willing to take and abloe to hit a 16 foot outsiede shot. So whottt pray the Suns matchup with the Spurs so they have any shot at all of getting out of round one and making you look like you know what you're talking about.

On another note I think Duncan as a player is sliding and I've been thinking that all season.

LMAOFLOL. All your Shaq bashing backfires on you so you throw Duncan under the bus?

Classic.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

I unfortunately missed the first half of the game, so take this for what its worth..

I am damn proud of Duncan taking it straight to Shaq in the possessions I watched. Yes, he missed every single layup attempt, but you guys make it sound like he shot nothing but jumpers. I saw him take it straight to Shaq at least 3 times out of 5 touches in the 2nd half. That is not an old strategy. Duncan normally always takes the off balance fadeaway, or passes when guarded by Shaq. I like the aggressiveness Duncan showed, seriously doubt he'll miss point blank layups every game, and want to see him keep up that aggressiveness next time we play the Suns.

[RonMexico]

LMAOFLOL. All your Shaq bashing backfires on you so you throw Duncan under the bus?

Classic.

Yeah, picnroll appears to flip-flop just as much on his Spurs' takes as he does on those for other teams.