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The Suns trolls have left the building.
So what is the excuse this time, Phoenix fans?
So what is the excuse this time, Phoenix fans? Was it Cheap Shot Bob? David Stern? The refs? It had to be something, because apparently the Suns don't get beat, they get robbed.
Last year, it was "Wait till we get Amare back." This year, it's "the suspensions killed us."
Call me crazy, but shouldn't the two-time MVP be able to elevate his team to another level for the biggest game of the year, at home no less, and send a big "F*** You" to the team they accused of being dirty? I seem to remember Ervin "Magic" Johnson having to play center in Game 6 of the 1980 finals because their first team all-NBA, first team all-defense, league MVP center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was hurt. All he did that game was score 42 points, grab 15 boards, and dish out 7 assists. On the road. As a rookie. To clinch the le. That, my friends, is an MVP.
Then again, MVPs used to mean something back then. Now it has turned into the BPBT (best player on the best team) award. Steve Nash won two consecutive BPBTs without playing any defense aside from sliding underneath someone to draw a charge. Yet I'm supposed to be surprised when that doesn't translate into playoff victories?
Brace yourself, Phoenix: Steve Nash is overrated. Wildly overrated. He's no better now individually than Jason Kidd was before his knee surgeries, with less playoff success on a more talented team. Look at the numbers. Kidd in 2002-2003, the year they got beat by the Spurs in the Finals, averaged 18.7 points, 8.9 assists, 6.3 rebounds, 2.2 steals, and shot 41% from the floor. In his two BPBT seasons combined, Nash averaged 17.1 points, 11 assists, 3.7 rebounds, .9 steals per game, and shot 50% from the floor. Seems pretty much like a wash to me.
Now look at the other players playing with Kidd that year: Richard Jefferson (in his first year as a starter), Kenyon Martin, Kerry Kittles, Lucious Harris, Rodney Rogers, Aaron Williams, Dikembe Mutombo, and Jason Collins all averaged over 19 minutes per game. There isn't a single all-star, all-NBA, or all-defensive player on that team. Yet they were 14-6 in the playoffs that year.
Compare the players listed above with the 2007 Suns: Amare Stoudemire (first team all-NBA), Leandro Barbosa (Sixth Man of the Year), Raja Bell (first team all-defense), Shawn Marion (all-star), Boris Diaw, and James Jones all played at least 18 minutes per game. I don't care how deep the West is compared to the East in 2003, there is absolutely no reason that a team with that much talent should ever be outperformed by the group of players that the Nets had in 2003.
The difference clearly comes from the point guard position. Both players have that once-in-a-generation ability to see the floor and get the ball to teammates. The difference is that Kidd played defense and Nash doesn't. As my big book of sports clichιs tells me: offense wins games, defense wins championships. Kidd's Nets won 49 games that year; the Suns won 61 this year. Which team was better suited for a deep playoff run?
You can say whatever you want about Phoenix playing an exciting brand of basketball or whatever, but the fact is that their style of play will never, I repeat never, be successful in the playoffs. Their approach is to try and play some defense and if not, oh well, we'll just try to outscore them. San Antonio's approach is to play great defense and wear their opponents out, then outplay them in the fourth. Which team do you think has three rings?
It's not that San Antonio can't get out and run like Phoenix; they have the talent, the athleticism, the shooters, and a point guard good enough to make it work. It's just that they know better. Phoenix plays a risk-reward style that pays off in the regular season because teams are too busy preparing for the other 29 teams that don't play like that to worry about them. Come playoff time, a coach like Greg Popovich coupled with a talented team will find a way to beat their style every time.
There is a reason that Nash never peaked as a player until he got into this system. He was a nice player for his previous teams, but it wasn't until Mike D'Antoni turned Nash into the player that he is now by seeming to encourage him to be terrible defensively to save his energy for his offensive-minded Euroball system.
So go ahead and make your excuses for the rest of the playoffs, Suns fans. Next year, you will forget all about the suspensions because you will win 60 games, score 110 points per game, and have false hope going into the playoffs. Then you will get completely dominated in a seven-game series (again) and find another excuse.
The Suns trolls have left the building.
I want to see the link to what ducks posted.
That's not your typical ducksese rhetoric.
Whoa? Really? We better check to make sure.
Raja Bell is a flopper!
nothing?
Barbosa is a joke of a 6th man!
Are you serious? One last check.
Horry said hes coming back next year to do it again!
Crickets....yep, they must be fishin' already.
The Spurs are so boring their own fans don't even watch.
And we all have the numbers to prove it.
YOU THINK
the link
So whats the boring excuse this time?
Spurs could possibly beat their own record for lowest rated finals.
Small market?
The entire country doesn't know whats exciting?
spurs are not responsible for marking
the nba is
spurs can not help stern market
stern would be smart to market manu,duncan and tp more though
No one liked the Celtics when they were winning 8 in a row either...
You better hurry. You might miss American Idol.
Our trophy case is getting full. Mind if we borrow yours?
That was a pretty good article. I never thought that Nash was that overrated but the article presents some good arguments I think.
Excitement drained out of NBA playoffs
(May 21, 2007) The rest of the NBA playoffs aren't likely to set any positive TV ratings records.
When your league is playing basketball in June, the Finals matchup had better be dazzling.
The Detroit Pistons vs. the San Antonio Spurs won't be.
The two most entertaining teams in the eyes of most NBA fans the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns have been eliminated. At least the Mavs lost fair and square to Golden State. The Spurs might not have needed a big assist from the NBA office to beat the Suns, but they definitely got one and we'll never know what would've happened had both teams been at full strength for their series-turning Game 5.
But before we get a rematch of the 2005 Finals (San Antonio over Detroit in seven games), we have to survive a pair of mismatches in the conference finals.
San Antonio in five games over Utah.
Detroit in six games over Cleveland.
Utah's best player is Carlos Boozer, probably the most underrated power forward in the NBA. San Antonio's Tim Duncan probably is the NBA's all-time best power forward and he has a much better and more experienced supporting cast.
The Spurs on Sunday in Game 1 of their series won 108-100 (it wasn't that close) at home over the Jazz for the 17th straight time. That streak isn't likely to end before next season.
Cleveland vs. New Jersey might have been the most difficult playoff series to watch since the shot-clock was introduced. Slow-paced, low-scoring and boring partly because the defense was decent but mostly because the offenses were horrible. The big difference was LeBron James playing well for the Cavaliers and Vince Carter predictably playing poorly for the Nets.
Cousins Carter and Tracy McGrady were teammates in Toronto for two seasons and some people have wondered how the Raptors would've fared had they both stayed. Judging by their disappointing playoff histories, probably not exceedingly well.
Detroit has too much big-play experience and plays too much defense to lose a playoff series to Cleveland. James' brilliance should help the Cavaliers win once or twice but it isn't going to happen four times.
Sept for the fact that Nash's numbers are so much better than Kidd's from 02-03 its laughable he would even make the comparison...
This lost credibility with the underlined statement.
By the way, fans of Mavs/Suns style basketball can always watch the WNBA.
A chance at a fourth championship is all that matters to Spurs fans. The Spurs are not boring to me, my family and friends, both in America and abroad. Those questions you pose go in one ear and out the other. Sports exist to entertain, and I'm having a blast. I could care less whether Joe Blow in Phoenix or Ohio is on the wagon or not.
talk about beating a dead horse. for all the fans saying they couldn't wait to get past the controversy, the suns trolls, the dramatic coach and players and fans, the suns in general. then post like this. way to prove your own point.
Really?
Kidd: 18.7 PPG, 8.9 APG, 6.3 RPG, 2.2 SPG, 41.4 FG%
Nash: 18.6 PPG, 11.6 APG, 3.5 RPG, 0.8 SPG, 53.2 FG%
Kidd has the edge in a few, Nash has the edge in few. I wouldn't call it laughable.
Exactly!
And nothing like a quick slap at the soft Suns to awaken the trolls.
Why are people responding to mouse? He's not even a Suns fan.
What the makes the Mavericks an entertaining team? They play as much like the Spurs as anyone in the league. They don't have a dynamic off-the-court presence; their superstar is almost as bland (save and except for the photographic evidence of his off-season drinking exploits) as the Spurs' superstar. What a ridiculous take!
While Boozer is underrated, I refuse to believe that Boozer is the most underrated power forward in the NBA, given how few people seem to really grasp Tim Duncan's greatness. After all, this is a season in which Duncan only managed to finish 4th in the MVP voting.
And Kidd is a triple double beast on top of it all...
we're so tired of the drama from the last series that we'll continue to post lame articles about it much after the fact.
---spursfan
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