Reply With Quote
What is it you're trying to show?
By the way, 8 years have passed.
So Kurt Thomas starts no big deal. Quick reminder about Tim Duncan statistics vs Kurt Thomas during the 1999 playoff season
Tim Duncan
CAREER PLAYOFF TOTALS
Year Team G GS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF DEF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
98-99 SAS 17 17 733 144-282 0-3 107-143 55 140 195 48 13 45 52 50 395
Kurt Thomas
CAREER PLAYOFF TOTALS
Year Team G GS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF DEF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
98-99 NYK 20 12 419 45-118 0-0 16-23 38 72 110 7 15 12 19 76 106
What is it you're trying to show?
By the way, 8 years have passed.
In all fairness Thomas has become a better defensive presence since then. Duncan has too - but the issue is Thomas' ability to guard Duncan straight up and not the other way around.
I presume Thomas has become a slightly more experienced and skilled defender since 1999.
Marcus Camby also played on that Knick team.
Thomas is by no means a Tim Stopper. Timmy's still going to get his. But Thomas is a much better defensive match-up than Amare, Marion, or Diaw. 33/16 is less likely this time out.
One thing that really hasn't been mentioned. As ineffective as Jones was for the Suns on Sunday, the Spurs were still respecting him as a shooter, he was constantly shadowed when he was in the game. Now, the Spurs only have to extend on Thomas out to about 10 feet. Makes it easier to collapse on Nash/Amare.
BTW, not sure if it's been mentioned but Antoni said that if KT starts he doesn't plan on changing any of the minutes in the rotation.
So the talk of KT's effect over the course of a game against TD may be premature.
Antoni has promised before that he would get KT more PT and then doesn't follow through.
I think the key is just to keep Amare out of foul trouble early in the game. But was not enough Amare really the problem on Sunday? He doesn't play defense anyways, so it's not like he was softening up at the end of the game.
'Well the biggest effect I see is that by starting him, more of his minutes will be against Duncan.
I don't really care what Thomas did against Duncan in 1999. I have seen it with my own eyes in recent games and Thomas guards Duncan better than almost anyone in the league. I don't think it will be a huge factor because Duncan can work through it and because I still doubt D'Antoni gives Thomas a lot of playing time.
I really don't think stats from 8 years ago is any indication of how one player does on another one today.
I think we can probably all agree that neither of these guys is the same player he was back then.
Not even to mention you are putting up nbrs from 17 and 20 games for the two. And that Tim played almost twice the minutes Thomas played.
I fail to see how any of those stats relate to a Thomas vs Duncan matchup.
Obviously his minutes will be against Duncan.
Here's more from Antoni...
Suns coach Mike D'Antoni promised changes for Tuesday's Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinals, a strategy that likely includes inserting Kurt Thomas into the starting lineup.
Center Amaré Stoudemire told reporters Monday that he thought Thomas would start against San Antonio's Tim Duncan in US Airways Center, but D'Antoni wouldn't confirm anything.
"Everything's in question right now," D'Antoni said. "We're not going to stray too much time-wise. Some people might see (minutes) at different points in the game.
Looking at an entire playoff run from 8 years ago is completely irrelevant to what might happen in the rest of this series. I don't even know that looking at what happened in the 1999 Finals would make one bit of difference in analyzing how Thomas might fare against Duncan. I went back to look and Thomas basically didn't play more than 20 minutes in any of the last 4 games of that series, while Timmy played at least 44 minutes in all 5 games. In the one game in which Thomas got extended minutes (Game 1), he put up good numbers -- numbers that would be good enough to make Spurs fan get nervous about the game tonight:
31 minutes
5-11 FG
3-4 FT
16 rebounds (7 offensive)
4 steals
13 points
Thomas' numbers fell off after that game (20, 17, 19, 18) and his other numbers fell off as well (he shot 6-21 for the rest of the series, putting up a total of 15 points, while grabbing 22 rebounds (6 offensive)). Regardless, none of that is relevant to this matchup starting tonight. 8 years is a long time ago. A lot has changed.
By the way, here's Duncan's numbers for that series by game.
33 and 16
25 and 15
20 and 12
28 and 18
31 and 9
He averaged 45+ mpg and was guarding primarily by Larry Johnson and Camby. Thomas only played over 20 minutes in one game (and he had 13 and 16, as noted by FWD).
Amare plays way different when he's in foul trouble. See game three against the Lakers and compare that to the rest of the series.
But isn't Amare foul prone?
Thought I heard them say Sunday he committed the most fouls in the league. Or at least was in the top few for most fouls or something like that.
I think if Tony goes at him hard and quick, he will be forced to foul him.
There is more than one way to put him out of his comfort zone.
Game-by-game, Duncan looked like this:
Game 1
44 minutes
13-21 FG
7-10 FT
16 boards (3 offensive)
33 points
Game 2
45 minutes
9-17 FG
7-9 FT
15 boards (5 off.)
25 points
Game 3
47 minutes
8-16 FG
4-4 FT
12 boards (3 off.)
20 points
Game 4
47 minutes
9-19 FG
10-12 FT
18 boards (3 off.)
28 points
Game 5
46 minutes
12-22 FG
7-9 FT
9 boards (0 off.)
31 points
For the series, Timmy's numbers were:
45.8 mpg
51-95 FG (.537)
35-44 FT (.795)
70 boards (17 offensive) -- 14.0 rpg
27.4 ppg.
I'm not sure it's reasonable to think that he's going to put up numbers like that too frequently any more, particularly with a rugged and able guy like Thomas getting minutes against him.
In the end, I think the best thing the Spurs could do for themselves tonight is to get out early and get Timmy involved. Make D'Antoni believe that his only chance is to stick with his up-and-down style and that Thomas won't make enough of a difference to change the series. Even if Thomas makes some plays, the more the Spurs can put the Suns at a disadvantage, the more it would seem likely that D'Antoni will revert to his original plan.
He's definitely foul prone, I wasn't disputing that. And that's a huge problem for him, because after he gets three or four fouls he turns into an absolute pussy defensively. I think that the Suns strategy for game two should be the same as game one in regards to Parker, let him shoot jumpshots. He only had like three layups the whole game, and if we can keep it that way hopefully Amare can stay out of foul trouble.
2 problems starting KT for the Suns:
Foul trouble. If he gets in trouble early, Pop will KNOW that he won't be back for the rest of the half, and can work his rotation against the absence of Thomas being around.
It also limits the ability of the Suns to run a fast break. Not that it cripples them, it merely means the Spurs can use a bigger rotation because they don't have to respect all 5 Suns players flying down the court. It gives us one more chance to get another rebound, although Thomas will probably get more than his share.
Should be a good game. I think Duncan could easily get KT in foul trouble very early, though.
Unless the officials are as bad as we fear they will be tonight....
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
