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Good stuff!
Spurs vs Suns
Sunday, May 6, 2007
by: MistiLynn
http://www.mistilynn.com/game05-06-07.htm
I was definitely in enemy territory but had no qualms about going in there with my Spurs Robert Horry shirt. The fans around me were not amused.
When I was in San Antonio last week, they gave out silver pom-poms to all the fans. Tonight, all the fans were given metallic orange pom-poms. The thunder sticks were given to the fans in my area for the first half to try and disturb the Spurs during free throws. I didn’t join in that until the second half, I pounded my thunder sticks when the Suns players went to the free throw line. Again, the fans around me were not amused. I actually had to stop because the guy I went to the game with was a Suns fan and he made me stop.
As far as atmosphere, the crowd was incredible tonight. They were energetic, excited and they HATE Manu Ginobili. They boo’d him every time he was on the screen, every time he touched the ball, whenever he came into the game, every chance they got. I heard a variety of taunts yelled towards him, including, “I can see your bald spot from here!”. Poor Manu.
What impressed me most about the game is that the Spurs forced the Suns to play half-court offense, they had very few fast-breaks and I don’t remember any Amare Stoudemire dunks. Jacque Vaughn just disappeared, made bad decisions and got called for a foul every time he so much as looked at someone, it just wasn’t his night. Fabricio Oberto played well but I think TP was frustrated with him. I saw several plays where TP was pointing for Fabricio to come up and set a screen or telling him to back off because Oberto wasn’t in the right spot.
Speaking of Parker, tonight was his night. Every shot he took seemed to fall. The fans around me were begging for someone to play defense on him which made me laugh. Phoenix play defense? Yeah right. Defense wins championships.
What can I say about Robert Horry? Once again, he was Big Shot Rob as well as Big Block Rob. I remember two emphatic blocks during the game and I went crazy on both. At the start of the game, the fans around me were mocking him for being 50 years old but by the end of the game, they had nothing to say.
They had a “legends tour” where they had three NBA legends at the game. At the game today were Spud Webb, Cedric Cebellos and Larry Nance. In fact, Cebellos did the Suns starting line-ups announcement as well as several timeout announcements. He brought out the championship trophy and presented that at one point.
One thing I’ll say about seeing a game in Phoenix is that this team has more fan gimmicks than anywhere else I’ve seen a game. Fire rockets, blimp that dropped coupons, shirts falling from the ceiling with parachutes (three of which got caught on the wires for the ESPN floating camera), two mascots, a motorcycle, fan games and more. There’s no way I can remember all of it. Halftime entertainment was the dog that catches the Frisbee (sounds boring but it’s actually pretty cute).
The Nash/Parker collision at the end of the game was not pretty. It was hard to see what happened from there, thanks to the Angel for texting me updates on what was going on! I saw TP fall and stay down for a long time, when he finally got up the Suns fans gave him an ovation, which showed class. After the timeout, Nash came back in and had a bandage on his nose but I hadn’t realized that he was hurt at all. He was dripping blood, it was awful, in every timeout the players would point out spots of blood on the court for the ball boys to clean up.
The final couple minutes were a match up of free throws and trying to stall the game long enough that Nash could come back. Phoenix wasn’t able to pull it off and the Spurs held onto their lead to take the win. I was directly on top of the Spurs tunnel (yes, you can see me on TV at the end, thank you TiVO!) so I congratulated all the Spurs as they were leaving. Ginobili, Horry, Duncan and Parker all said hi.
Being that I was at the game with a Suns fan, people were making comments as we were leaving because he was very upset by the loss and I just couldn’t stop smiling. He drove me to the airport to catch my flight home and recommended that I change out of my Spurs shirt first but I decided not to. I was amazed at how many comments I got from people at the airport, random strangers congratulating me on the win or asking me what the final score was.
On the plane, I sat in the aisle seat with a Spurs fan next to me and a Suns fan next to him, both were also at the game. The Spurs fan used to play for Coach Pop (he called him “Pops”), they’ve kept in touch and was there thanks to some tickets from Pop and said he got to talk to him after the game. The flight attendant made sure to announce that there were two Spurs fans* on the plane, everyone boo’d us.
Incredible game and great win. Spurs in 5!!!
* I am not actually a “Spurs fan" but being that I was representing and supporting the Spurs today, I let the description slide.
Duncan gets ready to shoot a free throw
Tony Parker looks to pass
Tony Parker takes the shot
Tim Duncan on Leandro Barbosa
A crowd shot of the arena
Robert Horry and Tony Parker
Bruce Bowen preparing to guard Steve Nash
Robert Horry and Tony Parker
A timeout near the end of the game
Bruce Bowen boxing out as Amare Stoudemire shoots a free throw in the final minute
Spurs with a one-point lead
Good stuff!
Thanks for posting, as always!
why do so many people hate manu?
and i mean hate him to th epoint fo booing him on every possession
i think there are a lot of players who can be disliked on the road but ot the extent that manu gets boo'ed is ridiculous.
i mean, yeah he flops (which he has toned down) but I don't get what he's done to warrant so much hatred. if it's because he usually plays so well then duncan should get jeered everytime he holds the ball as well
wtf
Sweet pics. Great timing on the Parker jumpshot - you caught the form perfectly.
I actually asked the Suns fans around us why they hate Manu as well. They all told me it's because of the flops and because of how he complains every time he's called for a foul. I countered that there are a lot of players that do that. Then they relented that it's because he's a Suns killer. Every one of them said the same thing.
Wonderful update- great to text with you as always. I think it's lucky- Spurs seem to win when we do.
Way to represent us! I am sure Rob was proud.
thank you for that misty, i guess it really is jeering as a sign of respect.
and great photos as always
I'm sure that the hate for Suns fans is more exagerrated because of the Barbosa incident and him kicking STAT in the balls. Not saying it's right, but that's probably the reason.
Misti--I think I saw you on TV! You were wearing a really low-cut blouse and were hanging down from the stands giving our guys high-fives as they went into the tunnel, right?
what happened with barbosa and manu again?
Back in '05 Manu flopped and fell (unintentionally IMO) into Barbosa's knee and Barbs sprained it.
oh yeah i forgot about that
Nice text and great pictures MistiLynn.
I was wearing a black t-shirt (not at all low-cut) but yes, I was leaning over the tunnel as the players were walking down the tunnel after the game.
good girl....if they were killing you like that i wonder how mr parker was holding down on her end....
Thanks Misti!
Feels good being booed on in a hostile environment while wearing the classy silver and black, doesn't it?
since when is Cedric Cebellos a legend?
Great shots and nice review of the game!
thanks again, Misti. great report and pix
Well, Suns fans hate Manu as he has flopped into hurting two different Suns players. (Barbosa the most recent)
I agree that if he were on the Suns, we would probably like him. I equate it to the Raja Bell/Kobe situation. Kobe gets booed everytime he touches the ball in Phoenix, and the same with Raja in LA.
Oh, that was a great report hearing it from a Spurs fan.
I am surprised that you couldn't get a shot of Nash's nose. (realize it was the opposite side of the bench)
"Jacque Vaughn just disappeared, made bad decisions and got called for a foul every time he so much as looked at someone, it just wasn’t his night."
LOL. Yeah - the Suns were able to push the pace when Vaughn was in, and I noticed to that he more than ANYONE from either team was not getting any calls.
Let's be real. Vaughn didn't deserve any calls. He played about as bad as he could. During his brief stints he missed two open jumpers, traveled, charged twice, threw a lazy pass that was easily intercepted, and was obliterated by high S/Rs.
I haven't followed the Spurs enough to know why Beno Udrih isn't getting any PT, but after the game from Vaughn, I'd reconsider.
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