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Where do these people come from, and why do they keep acting like good offense and good defense is an either/or proposition? Being an offensively oriented team isn't bad, but only being able to play one side of the ball is.
Suns comeback would be good for basketball
Ian O'Connor / Special to FOXSports.com
The San Antonio Spurs represent an international exercise in class (Tim Duncan), style (Tony Parker) and sizzle (Manu Ginobili), making them an awfully tough contender to dislike. And listen, I am 100 percent behind any team or cause that makes Eva Longoria's heart skip a beat.
But it would be good for the game of basketball, on all levels, in every corner of the globe, if the Phoenix Suns complete their mission impossible and take four of five games from the Spurs in the Western Conference finals.
This has nothing to do with Gregg Popovich's condescending tone, one he apparently kept out of the playbook when he was a college coach going 69-110 at Pomona-Pitzer. This has everything to do with honoring the aesthetic appeal of the sport.
The Suns are the NBA's eye candy, even with Longoria rooting for the point guard on the other side. They run, they stun, and then they run and stun some more. At a time when coaches everywhere wrap suffocating holds around their players' talents, Mike D'Antoni embraces the philosophy of a referee who keeps his whistle silent.
If you don't notice me, I'm doing my job.
D'Antoni hardly bothers calling plays and, on the rare occasion he does, the Suns are too busy having fun to hear him. Steve Nash dribbles, he passes, and his lucky recipients fire away as if staring down the barrel of an 16-second shot clock.
No, the Spurs haven't been too impressed. They won the first two games of the series, on the road, by wearing down the Suns with relentless execution in the fourth quarter. Parker is making Nash earn every step he takes toward the basket. Ginobili is establishing himself as the most creative and clutch slasher in the world. Duncan is being Duncan, good enough to challenge for his third le in seven years.
San Antonio can adapt faster than the Woody Allen character in Zelig. The Spurs can go halfcourt or fullcourt, inside or outside. They're not afraid to bang with the Pistons, or run with the Suns. If Greco-Roman wrestling is your game, they'll borrow Rulon Gardner's tights. If you're trying to recapture some bygone ABA glory, they'll pull a Doug Moe and paint the ball red, white and blue.
But almost singlehandedly, Phoenix is the team that lifted up a league in dire need of lifting. Scoring rose as easily as Amare Stoudemire would for a Nash-delivered lob. The Suns claimed the league MVP award (Nash), the Coach of the Year award (D'Antoni) and the Executive of the Year award (Bryan Colangelo) by fast-breaking opponents into oblivion, and still many NBA observers expected them to confront an ugly postseason demise.
Defense wins championships, the traditionalists warned. Sprinting wins Olympic gold medals, not NBA parades.
So what if that never stopped Magic Johnson's Lakers. Too much time has passed, and too many Pistons-Pacers and Knicks-Heat series have been played. When Michael Jordan was tired of being Michael Jordan, playoff basketball was reduced to Big Ten football: best-of-seven series were often lost inside a cloud of fourth-and-one dust.
The Suns arrived as the antidote to all of that. They raged against the grain of conventional thought and announced they intended to ride their regular-season wave through the back end of June.
Few gave Phoenix a chance, and here's why it's important that they crawl out of their 0-2 hole: a sweep, or a five-game defeat, might erase whatever gains the Suns have made in the name of easy-on-the-eye ball. Coaches would have their excuse to slow it back down and remind their players of the cautionary tales authored by the 2004-05 Suns.
If you love a free-flowing NBA built around the fast break, be afraid of a Phoenix fold, be very, very afraid. The league doesn't need another example of a regular season pinball machine that tilted at the first sign of playoff turbulence.
Basketball's beauty has always been discovered on the fly, with visionary point guards finding their teammates streaking to the hole. The Suns are the official guardians of this truth. If they go down, and go down hard, more coaches might send more players back to the Big Ten scrums.
That's why I'm all for the NBA's eye candy, Eva's little heart be damned.
Fox Sports Article
Last edited by timvp; 05-26-2005 at 09:45 PM.
Where do these people come from, and why do they keep acting like good offense and good defense is an either/or proposition? Being an offensively oriented team isn't bad, but only being able to play one side of the ball is.
I think he's pissed off at Tony cause he would rather be ing Eva.
The point is basketball began because of the offense and that's what people want to see. Would you rather see a 3pt shot and a spectacular dunk, or a steal and a blocked shot? These 72-70 games are boring and take away the flare that high paced games give the fans.
You have to admit, watching the first two games of this series has been amazing. We Suns fans get to see this every night...and it looks like Manu, Parker and Duncan enjoy playing that style too. And if the US wants to win again in international play, this is the style they need to adopt.
But you're right, defense does count, but I would shoot myself if a team consisted of five Bruce Bowens.
Well, fortunately you don't have to shoot yourself, huh? The Spurs have a uva lot more than just five Bruce Bowens - and the scores prove it!
Repeating a banality, the Suns are half team that can't make stops. Their powerful offense has carried them, but the Spurs have out-offensed them 3 Ws this year, and shut them down with defense @SBC. Spurs can beat you with slow-down defensive battles, or run-n-gun horse races, with offense or with defense.
I dont get the impression the writer is bashing the Spurs, I don't even think he is saying that the Spurs should not win the series, my impression is that by "the suns can't fold" he means get swept or lose in 5 games, he wants them to make the Spurs work for it.
What a loser!That's why I'm all for the NBA's eye candy, Eva's little heart be damned.
Yeah, I'm sure the Suns' stellar defense has nothing to do with the scores...have you seen the Suns' opposing scorer average during the season?Well, fortunately you don't have to shoot yourself, huh? The Spurs have a uva lot more than just five Bruce Bowens - and the scores prove it!
completely stupid article. so many logical pratfalls i dont know where to begin.
how about this:
if the suns style of play does get bested by the spurs style, perhaps in 4 or 5 games, wouldn't it be better that this run 'n gun, playground isn't copied by everyone?
is the goal of the game to be pretty or to ing win? i honestly don't think this writer, or the majority of basketball "fans" in this country know.
Honestly I'd rather see a blocked shot that leads to a dunk, which means I want to see it on both ends of the court, these guys are paid far too much to take a break on one side....
Actually I find a good blocked shot or a good steal more intesting than about 99% of your "spectacular" dunks or uncontested three point shots.
I usually don't bash sportswriters, but this guy is a complete ing loser.
Whyn't we root for the Kansas City Chiefs all the time then? They're the Phoenix Suns of the NFL.
Why doesn't anyone say that baseball would be better if the Texas Rangers won the Series. They can't play defense for either.
Complete, utter, hopeless moron.
I don't think the suns play a pretty brand of basketball at all. Keep the And1 out of the NBA
Somebody tell his weed that MJ's Bulls were defensive oriented teams and that was the peak f NBA popularity.
I agree the premise of the article is re ed. This guy represents the borderline basektball fan, he wants his basketball and entertainment at the same time. Little does he know the Spurs are doing both now but he's still looking at the Spurs of 02 to notice it. That's what the NBA has now degenerated into. There are those that watch the game who love teams like the Spurs and Pistons because they execute, play team ball, and win. Then there are those that love the Suns because they need to be entertained by dunks, posturing, and yelling, team defense/offense/winning be damned.
I guess I'm a traditionalist and want to see it hold up. The Suns lack of playing defense is the main reason I want them to lose. I don't want teams adopting this style of trying to outscore their opponent instead of putting effort on both ends of the floor. It disgusts me to watch how the Suns players don't even make an attempt to close out on their man or at least put a hand up. Any team that has a lazy at ude like that on the defensive end deserves to lose.
Depends on which one gets my team a victory.Would you rather see a 3pt shot and a spectacular dunk, or a steal and a blocked shot?
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