# 1st RD: Game 2 - #6 Phoenix Suns (0) @ #3 San Antonio Spurs (1) - 4/22



## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

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* Phoenix Suns (55-27) * 

*
Starters: 






































[PG] Steve Nash [SG] Raja Bell [SF] Grant Hill [PF] Amare Stoudemire [C] Shaquille O'Neal

Bench:































[PG] Leandro Barbosa [SF] Boris Diaw [SG] Gordan Giricek [C] Brian Skinner*


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* San Antonio Spurs (56-26) * 

*Starters: 






































[PG] Tony Parker [SG] Michael Finley [SF] Bruce Bowen [PF] Tim Duncan [C] Fabricio Oberto 



Bench:































[SG] Manu Ginobili [SF] Ime Udoka [C] Kurt Thomas [PG] Jacque Vaughn *​


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## Aylwin (Jan 29, 2007)

Okay, this is it. It's the turning point. We take this one and the Spurs will be on their heels.

Duncan's not going to score 40 again and I guarantee that he's not going to make any more 3's. If we can limit Manu to under 20 points then we'll be okay.


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## PaCeRhOLiC (May 22, 2005)

Shaq needs to keep cool and stay out of foul trouble, because the few minutes he played his defense was nasty....Just continue to play him one on one with Duncan. Nash should have another great game as usual, the key also is having Boris continue to play strong.....No way the Suns lose 2 straight...Should be a great game, can't wait!


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## Jammin (Jul 3, 2005)

We NEED at least 1 game in San Antonio to steal away home court. Commeee onnn!!!!

I'm still not confident though. We always do poorly against the Spurs until this year.


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## Tiz (May 9, 2005)

fairly confident we can win this one. just can't give up a lead again.

get it into shaq and amare all game and should be fine.


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## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

Stay out of stupid foul trouble, and Suns have the game. 

Even IF the Suns somehow lose this game, I still can see them winning the series.
But no doubt, this game is pretty important for them.


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## All Net (Nov 28, 2007)

I had a dream last night, and we won this game in it. A rookie was playing for the suns, and he was tearing it up and locking people up on d. I was also playing for the suns, lol....


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## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

I had a dream we beat Boston in the Finals in game 6 on a Nash buzzer beater from almost half court. You callin' my dreams a liar?!?


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## bircan (Jul 17, 2005)

Wow parker schooling us. Stop those easy layups and content! Otherwise we started ok here

edit- ok we didn't get schooled. It just looked ugly the way parker blew by Nash lol.
Well looky here, raja knocking down some 3s!! Thats wat we need as well as stat attacking the rim
edit no2. Ok, its true, parker will rip us up if this continues and our lead will be wiped


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## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

No foul problems = BIG problems for Spurs!


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## bircan (Jul 17, 2005)

worst 3rd quarter ever, get barbosa out of there, the guy is cold


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## AZsportsDude (Feb 8, 2008)

starting to smell like 0-2. crimany..


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## AZsportsDude (Feb 8, 2008)

IceMan23and3 said:


> No foul problems = BIG problems for Spurs!


not hardly...

no offensive production in second half=big problems for suns

no heart, no drive, little basketball IQ...


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## Aylwin (Jan 29, 2007)

Geez...

LB can't shoot and Hill didn't even try. Is Hill's injury still a problem?


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## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

I ****ing hate this team.


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

Shoot me.


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## All Net (Nov 28, 2007)

oh, this is just perfect, now we are in a deep dark hole... Ill shoot you than myself dis.


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## Aylwin (Jan 29, 2007)

Talent-wise, I think we have a considerable advantage. But coach-wise I think we're clearly outmatched. I know I'm not allowed to ***** about the rotation anymore but Pop played 11 players and threw in everything but the kitchen sink to beat us. He'll mix things up and try different ways to beat us. D'Antoni on the other hand...

If we accept that we're not a very good defensive team then we should be quite good against the Spurs. They only have 3 scorers and we only need to worry about 2 of them. And of those 2, we only need to stop 1 of them. So why not focus all of our defensive energy on stopping either Parker or Ginobili. I'll say this again, we need to limit Manu to under 20 points if we want to win.

Having said that though, I guess it's easier said than done. The Mavs only need to stop 1 player and still he's averaging 33.5 points and 13.5 assists in the first 2 games.


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## Jammin (Jul 3, 2005)

I can guarantee that NOT ONE TEAM could beat the Spurs if they played the same D they played against the Suns in the 3rd.


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## Aylwin (Jan 29, 2007)

Well, there are 4 quarters in a game. That means there are 3 quarters to make up for a lousy one.


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## Kekai (Jan 12, 2005)

Ouch....I couldn't even finish the game because I knew what was coming. Always the same, ****in hell of a start, then the collapse watching slowly before my eyes. Every single time. Its a three man show for us, Nash, Amare, and Shaq, with boris doing ok in my eyes. Everybody else is just ****ing waste. We need to sustain the damn energy the whole 48 minutes, but I know its hard when we play 7 deep, with grant doing nothing this game (wtf why now grant). I dont know...things don't look so bright right now, but I'll still believe, its not over til its over.


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## bircan (Jul 17, 2005)

Its definitely not over, but if they make it out alive, it will be because they played smart and defended enough. If not, then i guess they clearly wouldn't deserve to advance. 

If we continue to collapse, then it maybe its a sign we need a new culture. Could be D'antoni's head.


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## Kekai (Jan 12, 2005)

Aylwin said:


> Well, there are 4 quarters in a game. That means there are 3 quarters to make up for a lousy one.


That third quarter was just plain terrible. We need to start off the half like we do to start off the game. Seems like every game we have we shoot the ****ing lights out, the announcers always say wow the suns off to a fast start, amare on fire, **** like that...but we cannot sustain the gd energy.


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## Kekai (Jan 12, 2005)

Seuss said:


> I ****ing hate this team.


Come on brotha...believe...as the philosopher dr seuss once said..



Seuss said:


> Biggest thing the Suns can do, is continue to go with the same strategy. Don't lose hope in what they were doing, after all it got them a 16 point lead at one point. What they're doing out there is very effective against the Spurs. I don't see the Spurs pulling out another miracle like they did last time.


GO SUNS


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## Aylwin (Jan 29, 2007)

Kekai said:


> That third quarter was just plain terrible. We need to start off the half like we do to start off the game. Seems like every game we have we shoot the ****ing lights out, the announcers always say wow the suns off to a fast start, amare on fire, **** like that...but we cannot sustain the gd energy.


I think the point is that no matter how good we are at shooting, we simply can't be on fire the whole game. But we CAN sustain the energy by focusing our efforts on defense. So if the Spurs play fantastic defense for 1 quarter and we can't score, then why not also divert our attention to defense so we can at least limit the damage while our shooting is cold? We only need to limit Parker or Manu. We just pick up one.

If we lose, I'd like to see 5 or 6 of their players in double figures. That means the others had to step up. But it makes me angry when most of their scoring comes from the same 3 players again and again. That means we haven't made any necesary adjustments defensively. And that goes to the coach.

If it were up to me, Nash wouldn't spend ANY time guarding Parker. If LB's shot isn't going in then I might let Giricek play more minutes. When Nash is resting, I'll let DJ have a go at defending Parker. I might have done this in the 3rd quarter when our shots weren't falling anyway. I'd use Skinner more to backup Shaq.

Would any of that work? I don't know, I'm just a fan. But at least it's something different. D'Antoni seems to play his team only 1 way. When the stars and the planets align, his way is a thing of beauty. But things can't always work the same way. He needs to be flexible and adjust to the situation at hand.


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## Kekai (Jan 12, 2005)

Aylwin said:


> I think the point is that no matter how good we are at shooting, we simply can't be on fire the whole game. *But we CAN sustain the energy by focusing our efforts on defense. So if the Spurs play fantastic defense for 1 quarter and we can't score, then why not also divert our attention to defense so we can at least limit the damage while our shooting is cold?* We only need to limit Parker or Manu. We just pick up one.
> 
> If we lose, I'd like to see 5 or 6 of their players in double figures. That means the others had to step up. But it makes me angry when most of their scoring comes from the same 3 players again and again. That means we haven't made any necesary adjustments defensively. And that goes to the coach.
> 
> ...


BIG WORD right there. I don't expect us to shoot the ball 60+ percent every quarter, but the energy just needs to be there, but it seemed like this past game our guys just simply came out tired to start the third. We weren't pounding the ball down to shaq like we did to start, Amare just seemed like he wasn't trying, and the pick and rolls weren't working either. 

Hopefully we go back to the drawing board, and find something that will work for game 3, because these next two games are must wins already, no more **** just get the ****ing wins. Remember was it 04? the Lakers were down 2-0 to the Spurs, then came back to win 4 straight. Just win baby.


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## Tiz (May 9, 2005)

just could not believe this game, what a disappointment.

the one thing that was really irritating last night and I lost count on how many time it happened but remember at least four times. Diaw posting up on a smaller player (once against parker, once with manu and twice with finley) and cant hit the shots. so frustrating!

that and the league needs to change the rule for fouling a player away from the ball. luckily shaq was hitting some of his shots and they backed off a bit. but still ridiculous.


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## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

AZsportsDude said:


> not hardly...
> 
> no offensive production in second half=big problems for suns
> 
> no heart, no drive, little basketball IQ...


Don't even pretend that what I said was shortsighted or wrong. Fact of the matter was that the Spurs didn't have to guard Hill, who was a step slow and he couldn't guard anyone. (You can feel free to replace Hill's name with Barbosa and change "step slow" to "useless on offense") Who would have thought that the Suns would not score a SINGLE point for 7 MINUTES!?!


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