Overtime breakdown
Nash return not enough to halt Spurs
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 22, 2005 12:00 AM
Basketball utopia nearly returned Friday.
The Suns might have been down to nine players after trading for Jim Jackson, but one of them was Steve Nash.
Nash returned to the court along with Phoenix's confidence, swagger, dizzying style and spunk. That was not enough to take down San Antonio, the outright NBA favorite, which rallied from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Phoenix 128-123 for the Suns' sixth straight loss.
It was as good as a loss gets. It said that Phoenix belongs among the elite. It screamed "Nash for MVP" until Tim Duncan took over in overtime to make his own statement.
Phoenix's defense crumbled through a 40-point fourth quarter, and when the Spurs scored on six of their first seven overtime possessions.
San Antonio maintained the league's best record, 33-9, but Phoenix at least reminded everyone how it was once 31-4.
After Nash left hurt early in the second of five straight losses, the Suns never were the same. It was not just that the man who makes nearly every on-court decision was gone. It meant an instant makeover for a team that did not know how to dress any differently than its usual fast-paced glitz.
Back to a comfortable look, Nash's teammates stepped up. Joe Johnson had more points and assists than Nash at halftime. After a scoreless first quarter, Shawn Marion ripped off 28 points and 12 rebounds in the middle two quarters.
Best of all, Amaré Stoudemire was to be feared again. Stoudemire scored 15 points in his first 13 minutes on the court, finding the jumper range that makes Phoenix's spread look daunting for even the league's most respected defense. Quentin Richardson, whose shot has been up and down of late, even had a pass go into the hoop.
The Suns went on a 20-4 run over the back half of the third quarter, opening an 88-71 lead that was all too easily erased at home. Marion scored 14 straight Suns points on the tear that shut out Duncan.
It was a long way from the 115-94 whipping San Antonio handed the Suns on Dec. 28.
This time, the Suns were adamant about making San Antonio run. Defensively, they were much more up to the task, handling screens so much better than when Tony Parker scored 29 on them that Parker was sitting in crunch time.
Phoenix controlled everyone not named Duncan (30 points) or Manu Ginobili, who had a career-high 48.
But that defensive effort disappeared late with a series of open threes and unchallenged drives by San Antonio. A 40-point Spurs fourth quarter required Marion to hit a leaning, buzzer-beating three-pointer just to get to overtime.
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Other than Amare's jackassing, Suns have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. When Shawn hit the buzzer beater, I said to myself: "I'm satisfied. Win or lose in OT, the Spurs showed incredible, champsionhip guts and fight (that had been missing so many times on the road this season), as a team and as individuals, in the 4th quarter comeback"
Funny; the Spurs, on the road against the (until recently) best in the league, come into the 4th down 17. Going through Manu, with an unorthadox 4 guard lineup, we thunder to an amazing come-from-behind victory in OT.
FINALLY satisfies Buttons' "we aren't clutch" and "we can't beat good teams on the road" issues.
I'll admit, I'd take a blowout of an elite team over a nail biter any day for my team, but it IS more fun to watch.
So true.Other than Amare's jackassing, Suns have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.
Are we in agrrement then that they are better than the Sonics?
"FINALLY satisfies Buttons' "we aren't clutch"
But, "it's only one game", bringing the Spurs to 2-6 in such games.
The save of the Clips game @SBC and the comeback win @PHX are extremely encouraging indications of the Spurs getting some toughness and clutchness.
One of the above "6 road losess to playoff teams": Spurs have some serious making up and paying back to do @SAC to compensate for earlier fiasco there.
I LOVE how the article starts off with excuses, it's too bad the three guys that didn't play are totally useless and would have had no impact on the result of the game....
I like this one too, if anything I think it's worse to give up a seventeen point fourth quater lead and loose by five AT HOME....
^definitely
that article is ridiculous
How conveniently they fail to mention...Robert Horry's absence and the loss of Rasho in the first half...two players who contribute much more than the 3rd string players they were missing.
Your on-the-ball better than I am, I hadn't even thought about that, I guess when you win like we did last night you forget about those fallen guys...
A 10 day contract player, and three big guys, not much they were going to use off the bench even if they went to it, but its still no excuse, Spurs were clutch from the ft line, and Suns were not. I missed the Amare thing everyone is talking about, i don't like that when players do what he did, but i he's young and has some maturing to do and hopefully when he watches the tape, he realizes that he shouldn't do that. Even though we lost, i think this is the way basketball should be play, and you can tell manu loved it too, seeing this is europe style basketball, and old school basketball...Who said the spurs couldn't go small, and run and gun...2 best game this year both involved the Suns. So my question is did you enjoy the small ball spurs, or the slow down spurs? or does it just matter who they play?
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