# Playoffs - Game 1: San Antonio @ Phoenix



## KokoTheMonkey

* March 22nd, 2005 2:30 PM (Central Time)*









VS.












*Projected Starting Lineups: *

















































































*Reserves:*











































































































First off, Popovich said Duncan is probable meaning he's playing unless a disaster happens. Second, Glenn Robinson isn't with the team because of "family issues", so he's not going to be there at all. Third, Joe Johnson won't be playing, unless Phoenix sneaks him in for "pay back" for the the Spurs keeping out Duncan and Manu in the 3rd meeting. Alright, guys and girl, this is big time right here. I'm glad that these two teams are meeting right here, because it's such a climatic showdown, and we'll find out just who the better team is once and for all. I don't feel worried, but I don't think we're going to win this game. I think it's going to take a slap in the face to get us going in this series, and I think Phoenix will come out and not blow us out, but have control of the game for the majority of the game. I just feel that for some reason, kind of unexplained. We're capable of beating them in Phoenix, in San Antonio, and in my backyard (and vice-versa), but it's going to take a special effort for us to get a win. 




*Koko's Key's to Victory:*



- Tony Parker. There's nothing more straight forward than this. He's going to have to play at his best, or there's a good chance we won't win. Not only does he need to score and defend Nash admirably, but he has to control the tempo, take care of the ball, and make good decisions. 



- Points in the paint. I saw a graphic in the PHO/DAL series that showed Phoenix averaged about 45-50 points in the paint. That's just flat-out amazing. We have to make them earn their baskets, and giving them 50-60 points in the paint isn't making them earn baskets.



- Value offensive possessions. This means two things: 1) Limit the TO's, 2) Crash the offensive board. Sure, we have a great defense, but Phoenix will get theirs. It's important that we don't get foolish offensively and give them even more opportunities to score. 






I'm very excited for this. I feel like a 10-year old on Christmas Eve. I'll try not to go ballistic if we lose Game 1, and I'll try not to get over confident if we win. This will be a long series, and as long as we play our best ball I'll be satisfied. If Phoenix beats us playing at our best, so be it. If they beat us playing foolish and lay, that's a different story. 




Prediction: Suns 107, Spurs 99


----------



## SpursFan16

Suns will beat us.

Suns 109
Spurs 99


----------



## TheRoc5

this will be hard faught and a good gm, i think that duncan will dominate matrix and manu will dominate the paint. also i look for this gm parker to equal out nash wich is huge.

Roc Soild plan To Beat the Suns

Transition d- we must get back, they are very good at running the floor though i know we can get back fast b/c dennver had more transition points then the Suns.

defend the pick and role- we got killed by this by the sonics. we must do a lot better against this, we have to step up our deffense to another level, we havent dont our best defense this playoffs so we must go through this stretch.

Parker vs nash- this match up is huge, parker must pentrate and set up players and play fantastic d on nash

second chance points- who ever gets more offense reb has a huge adv.. in this gm

i think we can win it though, it is acutally a big gm since we dont have hca. i wouldnt be surprised if it goes either way. if we win it we gain a huge momentum advantage

key match up= parker vs nash key player= duncan

Spurs 110
Suns 104
Go Spurs Go 1-0 take it


----------



## MagnusPinus

I remember the incredible win in the regualr season with the SpuerManu who ent for 40+ (46 I think).. I believe he will be the key player..he is a question matk for Suns' defense


----------



## TheRoc5

1hr to gm time! im pumped


----------



## Darth Bryant

20k on spurs.


----------



## Darth Bryant

Wow, SA running the fast pace Basketball... Honestly, they look better than I expected at playing that type of game.


----------



## Kirk20

They're playing alright thus far ... 14-12 Suns


----------



## Darth Bryant

To many outside jumpers.. Need to go inside more..


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Good start defensively, bad start offensively. 



I had the feeling that when Hunter came in the game things were going to change, because he's fronting Duncan and Duncan really isn't doing anything to get around it.



Parker hasn't done **** yet. He had a layup, and missed a couple of layups already.


----------



## Darth Bryant

Nice play by manu... :biggrin:


----------



## Kirk20

Great shot by Ginobili!! Finally some of the Spurs' shots are starting to drop


----------



## Darth Bryant

AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH half court three.. Games over. AHAHAHAHA


----------



## Darth Bryant

If that isn't a confidence boost going into the second quater, I dont know what is.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Alright, defensively we were awesome in that quarter. Phoenix will start making those shots through the rest of the game, but as long as we keep them from getting layups and dunks we'll be alright.




Don't let me forget.....Giinoooooobiliiiiiiiiiiii


----------



## TheRoc5

ginobili!!!!!!!!!! for 3.... i missed the first few min how did duncan do? as far as i saw it was a good 1st qt and it was a qt of runs


----------



## Drewbs

....and thats Greg Popovich in a nutshell. Ginobili makes a great shot, and all Pop is doing is yelling in Udrih's face.


----------



## FreeMason Jr.

An 18-4 run capped off by 3 consecutive three pointers, including Manu's half court buzzer beater gives the Spurs a 20-30 lead after one. The Spurs have really dominated thist 1st quarter.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Drewbs said:


> ....and thats Greg Popovich in a nutshell. Ginobili makes a great shot, and all Pop is doing is yelling in Udrih's face.





I know, what the hell was that about? Beno didn't play terrible or anything, so I don't have any clue why he was getting chewed out.



I forgot to praise Mohammed and Horry.


----------



## Darth Bryant

Damn, Nash is insane.....


----------



## FreeMason Jr.

Barry with another three. Could this be a sign of good things to come from him?


----------



## Darth Bryant

Monster slam... OUCH


----------



## Kirk20

Nazr is playing good so far. Getting some easy shots & offensive boards


----------



## TheRoc5

barry is actually doing well! but duncan looks injured, as long as we win i dont care, koko and others lets stop picking on duncan hes hurt and is still doing a hell of a job. we should be very happy with him, hes still as great on deffense. were only up by 6 but i think we can take it as of the style of now. i look for parker to do well when he gets put back in


----------



## TheRoc5

o and let me say narz is great


----------



## TheRoc5

Duncan is realy starting to pick it up, hes got 8 or so. we need to pick it up better on d, thought this might ve our stradagey to go run with them and then go to a half court offense to slow it down


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

I won't stop picking on Duncan. I understand he's hurt, but I'm not asking that he be Superman or something. 



Phoenix is starting to heat up, namely Amare, so we have to get some offense going. It's like whenever Manu leaves the game we are desperate for offense.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Amare is killing us right now. That's alright though, as long as nobody else gets going for them.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Bowen for two! Holy freaking cow. That's a one in a million.


----------



## FreeMason Jr.

woah...Bowen with the moves?...He must have done something dirty to get that off


----------



## TheRoc5

we need to make sure they cant tip it in and rebound the ball a little bit better. we have to match there injury there crowd is getting into it. duncan is coming back so hopefully that will help. up by 3


----------



## TheRoc5

bowen is coold


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Not too comfortable with a 3-point lead right now, but I'm pretty damn pleased with our defense. Our offense stinks right now, no movement, no aggression.


----------



## texan

I just got home from a tourney I had in San Marcos this weeekend(we got 3rd), and so far my impressions from this game are that our defense is doing really well, we could do a bit better on the boards, and Parker looks to be on his shot right now, which is good.


----------



## FreeMason Jr.

Parker with the great transition D to pick up the steal :clap:


----------



## texan

55-49 at half. We have played some good defense so far, and the score tells me we aren't giving them easy buckets and we are keeping the tempo at a comfortable level for us. All this is good. We have started to pick it up on offense, and Parker is doing really well esp. with his shot right now. Hope he can keep it up in the 2nd half.


----------



## TheRoc5

tony is doing great he has 11 and duncan and manu are doing well. were doing great on offense just on defense were slacking abit. i think we can take the win but its still along way to go. Gosh i Hope we win


----------



## TheRoc5

Manu Ginobili G 18 
3-5 
1-1 
2-3 
0 
4 
4 
2 
1 0 2 0 9 

Tony Parker G 17 
5-11 
1-2 
0-0 
1 
4 
5 
1 
1 2 1 0 11 

Tim Duncan F 19 
4-9 
0-1 
3-4 
2 
7 
9 
2 
1 0 2 0 11 

Bruce Bowen F 16 
1-4 
0-3 
0-0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 0 0 0 2 

Nazr Mohammed C 17 
4-6 
0-0 
1-2 
3 
3 
6 
1 
2 0 0 2 9 

Brent Barry 15 
2-5 
2-4 
0-0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 2 0 0 6 

Robert Horry 11 
2-4 
1-2 
2-2 
1 
1 
2 
0 
2 0 0 0 7 

Beno Udrih 7 
0-2 
0-0 
0-0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
1 1 0 0 0 

Devin Brown 0 
- 
- 
- 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 0 0 0 0 

Glenn Robinson 0 
- 
- 
- 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 0 0 0 0 

Tony Massenburg 0 
- 
- 
- 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 0 0 0 0 

Rasho Nesterovic 0 
- 
- 
- 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 0 0 0 0 


TOTAL 120 21-46 
5-13 
8-11 
7 
19 
26 
9 
8 5 5 2 55 


.457 .385 .727 Team Rebs: 4 TOTAL TO: 5 
only 5 tos :clap: hopefully we can continue


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

ABC cut to Walton with about 4 minutes left in the quarter and he said "Parker is a no-show"....then Parker goes out hits a three, and two jumpers. Good job Walton.



Defensively we're doing a great job. Amare is getting his points, but he's had to earn them, and he's doing a damn good job of it. Hopefully Parker's confidence carries over into the 2nd half, because we desperately need his offense.


----------



## JonathanL

Hey, could someone tell me what the defensive match-ups in this game are? Who is guarding Marion?


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Team stats from the game:


FG%

SA - 45.7 (21/46)
PHO - 43.5 (20/46)


REB

SA - 26 (7 OFF)
PHO - 24 (7 OFF)



AST

SA - 9
PHO - 10



TO

SA - 5
PHO - 5



Everything is pretty even, but the difference has been out 5 three pointers compared to their 5. Free throws are pretty much even as well.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

JonathanL said:


> Hey, could someone tell me what the defensive match-ups in this game are? Who is guarding Marion?





Either Duncan/Horry, depending on whether or not Nazr is in the game.


----------



## TheRoc5

bowen is guarding marion.... amare is killin us


----------



## TheRoc5

where is our defense?


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Oh boy, Phoenix will have a one point lead already not even 3 minutes into the quarter. You go to be kidding me.


----------



## TheRoc5

suns take the lead


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Joey Crawford. :clap:


Dumb ***.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Nash is butchering us now along with Amare.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

We're getting killed now. ****ing ****. 



We made Phoenix earn their baskets in the first half, and we aren't even close in this half. They have a damn 6 point lead already. ****ing ****.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Parker is playing some good ball right now. I love the offensive aggression.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Tie game now.




A Rasho sighting!?


----------



## TheRoc5

what the hell are we doing, our offense sucks and our deffens is horrific wtf is our problem, im so freakin mad why cant we play d how hard is that to do :curse: 
Suns up by 7


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Well, after a good first quarter, we've been owned by Phoenix the next two quarters. They are destroying us this quarter. 



My main problem is the keeping Phoenix off the boards. They are getting offensive rebounds almost every time they miss.


----------



## TheRoc5

i hope pop yells at the spurs so much right now they deserve it


----------



## TheRoc5

o come on tim is getting banged uphard where are the fouls?


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Our defense isn't doing fantastic, but overall it's still good enough to win. It's our offense that isn't up to par.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Now make both of these damn free throws Manu.


----------



## TheRoc5

another horrible possesion and example of our bball iq in this gm. do i smell something o ya its us, we need to get over and play d, were respecting them to much. play harder down by 4


----------



## TheRoc5

anybody relize manu doesnt do well with free throws in the clutch


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Down by 4. Phoenix outplayed us in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, so it's huge that we finish this game off strong. 




Parker and Duncan have played well, where are you Manu?


----------



## TheRoc5

nocomment
90
90


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Tie game. This has been a great game so far, but it's going to be better if we come out on top.



Barry and Horry have made a big impact to start the 4th quarter off.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

TheRoc5 said:


> nocomment
> 90
> 90





Amazing. :laugh:


----------



## TheRoc5

KokoTheMonkey said:


> Tie game. This has been a great game so far, but it's going to be better if we come out on top.
> 
> 
> 
> Barry and Horry have made a big impact to start the 4th quarter off.


no kidding, barry is now worth alot more then 2 cents well for now lol


----------



## Kirk20

They've got to figure out a way to slow down Amare. He's getting too many dunks


----------



## TheRoc5

100 spurs
98 suns

we need to extend our lead, we need to make our d go to another level. let duncan get the ball and put manu in and take over the gm, horry needs to be in at the 4 while duncan at the 5 and have parker and barry as the 1 and 2. defend defend defend


----------



## TheRoc5

barry for 3!!!! he is doing great today, barry has like 18 or 21 pts good job


----------



## Kirk20

Barry with two big 3s ... Spurs by 8


----------



## TheRoc5

were up and we can take it. we can play great deffense to finish off the gm. we have to play smart and waste the clock.


----------



## TheRoc5

119spurs
110suns
26 seconds remain


----------



## TheRoc5

our not so good freethrow shooting is scarying me a bit still sometime in the gm


----------



## TheRoc5

we won!!!


----------



## FreeMason Jr.

Great game

HC belongs to us now! :banana:


----------



## TheRoc5

we take it
121 to 114

brent had a huge gm and there number 3 player didnt play but its still a win. im glad we take it here are the stats.



Manu Ginobili G 37 
5-10 
1-2 
9-13 
0 
6 
6 
5 
3 1 2 0 20 

Tony Parker G 36 
13-22 
2-5 
1-4 
2 
5 
7 
2 
4 2 4 0 29 

Tim Duncan F 40 
10-21 
0-1 
8-10 
3 
12 
15 
4 
3 0 3 1 28 

Bruce Bowen F 27 
1-5 
0-3 
0-0 
0 
1 
1 
1 
2 0 1 0 2 

Nazr Mohammed C 23 
4-7 
0-0 
1-2 
4 
3 
7 
1 
5 0 1 2 9 

Brent Barry 34 
8-12 
5-8 
0-0 
1 
1 
2 
1 
2 3 0 0 21 

Robert Horry 27 
4-7 
2-4 
2-2 
3 
4 
7 
3 
2 2 0 1 12 

Beno Udrih 12 
0-3 
0-0 
0-0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
2 1 0 0 0 

Rasho Nesterovic 4 
0-0 
0-0 
0-0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 0 0 0 0 

Devin Brown 0 
- 
- 
- 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 0 0 0 0 

Glenn Robinson 0 
- 
- 
- 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 0 0 0 0 

Tony Massenburg 0 
- 
- 
- 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 0 0 0 0 


TOTAL 240 45-87 
10-23 
21-31 
13 
32 
45 
18 
23 9 11 4 121 


.517 .435 .677 Team Rebs: 10 TOTAL TO: 11


----------



## TheRoc5

parker, manu and duncan big gms! we could of done better on d but now we can look at tape monday. im glad we get the rest of the night off. fatiuge is going to start taking effect


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Hells ya! 



Very nice win for us. It's only 1 game, but just like in the regular season matchups we showed that Phoenix has to play better defense. Parker attacked the rack strong, Duncan was solid, Manu was decent, but Barry and Horry were the difference makers. Thank you Brent Barry. You've stripped your "Turkoglu" label away already. 




Again, very nice win for us, but it's a marathon, not a sprint. We have to play at least this well every game to win this series, so hopefully we don't get comfortable.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

43 points in the 4th quarter. Holy freaking cow. 




Our offense was just flat-out too much for them. We were just aggressive on the offensive end, and that was the difference. Seattle was there to meet us in the paint with bodies and physicalness, and Phoenix didn't do that at all.


----------



## Camaro_870

awsome awsome game.......theres not much more to it... the transition D was great... BB finally had the game i've been waiting for him to have, pheonix didnt play D like i expected, but its only 1 game and i wont be satisfied till we get 4

btw it was an awsome game


----------



## TheRoc5

giv major props to bowen. marion didnt do well at all


----------



## texan

Overall, we played a very good game, and we came out with a lot more umph than I had expected. Parker did great this game. He found a stroke, and he was attacking the lane. He had almost a perfect balance of drives and shots, and I was really happy to see him do well. He should be able to exploit the match-up vs. Nash all series long. BB and Horry did a great job in the supporting role, and if BB can hit the 3 the way he did today, this could be a shorter series than I expected. TD was solid as usual, and Manu was as well.


----------



## Darth Bryant

Just wanted to say tonight the Spurs showed why they ware Champions at heart, and deserve that title again this year. They looked great. One thing I respect is the amount of weaponry the Spurs have, it seems one someone struggles, someone else steps up in its place. I think Tim Duncan did ok, but there going to need a lot more out of him if they want to win the series, but this is a damn good start.

27 out of the last 30 series in the finals, were won by the time that won the first game. I smell a championship comming.

But Im not going to underestimate Nash, he is SICK. But damn, what a start! :banana:


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Final Team Stats:



*FG%*

SA - 51.7 (45/87)
PHO - 48.8 (42/86)


*3PT*

SA - 10/23 (43.5%)
PHO - 6/15 (40.0%)


*REB*

SA - 45 (13 OFF)
PHO - 41 (13 OFF)


*AST*

SA - 18 (11 TO's)
PHO - 19 (12 TO's) 


*FT's*

SA - 21/31 (67.7%)
PHO - 24/29 (82.8%)


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

Just to add on to my post above, you can see the Spurs did several things very well. They took care of the ball extremely well only 11 TO's), and they equaled Phoenix's offensive rebounds. That's huge because if you give Phoenix a ton more opportunities to score, they will punish you. The Spurs got to the line more, but only because Phoenix had to foul at the end. Another huge thing was the three pointers. If the Spurs wouldn't have had 10 three pointers, they wouldn't have won.


----------



## Kirk20

Barry had an amazing game. I liked that Nazr was getting all kinds of O. boards as well. I think Game 2 will be a tough one to win since I know Phoenix will have made adjustments and won't want to lose both games at home.


----------



## texan

Brent Barry was absolutely huge in Game 1. If he continues to do what he did today(and he doesn't even have to do it at the extent he did today), then this series will be shorter than I thought it would be. Phoenix is already uhh subpar defensively, and if Barry continues to be a 3 point threat, then that makes us even harder to guard.


----------



## KokoTheMonkey

I wonder if Glenn Robinson will get off the pine at all in this series? In case you didn't know, he didn't travel with the team because of family issues, and I don't have any idea if/when he'll be back, but I'm assuming he'll be back. 


He's a very good source of offense, but if Barry is playing to what he's capable of, I don't see Glenn getting much PT.


----------



## TheRoc5

we missed 10 free throws and still won wow, but we played almost a perfect gm so its going to be hard to repeat that


----------



## Cloud786

robinson's mother passed away i believe, thats why he didn't come


----------



## sheefo13

Wow what a game...... I didnt see this one coming!!! Crazy abll right here


----------



## XxMia_9xX

i didn't get to see the perfect game... stupid work! i'll be watching the re-run in like 20 mins.

anyway great game! so happy barry is shooting well. parker also, but then again he usually do really well in the beggining and then fade


----------



## ballstorm

Great win . Like Pop said , "You got to score points to beat these guys because you are not going to hold them to 82" . I am really admirative of the ability of the team to figure out quickly what they need to do to pull away the win from their opponent . And once they have figured it out , they stick to their plan . It is a fact that the Spurs' defense is underrated , they proved it yesterday , but like you said Koko , it's still their ability to play defense when needed that makes the difference . 

Now , the second game will be a totally different game . I hope the Spurs won't try to compete offensively with the Suns from the begining of the game , because you can't always beat phoenix at their own style . The team needs to keep playing smart , alterning offense and defense , looking patiently for the best tactic  .


----------



## Dissonance

texan said:


> Brent Barry was absolutely huge in Game 1. If he continues to do what he did today(and he doesn't even have to do it at the extent he did today), then this series will be shorter than I thought it would be. Phoenix is already uhh subpar defensively, and if Barry continues to be a 3 point threat, then that makes us even harder to guard.


Well, if theres one good thing about our D. Our perimeter D is not that bad at all. Except this game would be no evidence of that..lol. And it actually may not even matter in this series. Just may be good to know? But in regular season we allowed the 2nd least 3pt fg% in regular season. Our defense's fg% allowed as a whole was 12th(2 behind Indiana who is said to be a good defensive team) but even though scores were high. I think of a lot of it was cuz when we scored 110 a game, you expect the other teams score to be high. You won't see 110-85 or 90 blows out much

As for this series, Spurs did a nice job at adjusting to Nash going inside and having everything he wants. Lets hope you forget that next game . And getting nothing from Q and Marion hurts with the lack of depth. Surprised we even kept it that close. We need Joe Johnson bad. I hope defensively we start playing Duncan one on one more like Seattle did, and try and stay at home with others. We have a better team than Seattle but may not match up as well as they did though. I'm already starting to panic but thats my pessimistic nature. Good luck game 2. We need it bad.


----------



## SpursFan16

i love Barry


----------



## ballstorm

> "We're willing to be the chameleon. We usually change according to what other people do. We don't try to impose our will too much. We try to see what is out there and do what we think we need to do against what we're seeing. That's usually how we play it." -- Gregg Popovich


That's exactly what I was saying . Thanks Pop  . I like this nickname :" The Chameleons "


----------



## TheRoc5

ballstorm said:


> That's exactly what I was saying . Thanks Pop  . I like this nickname :" The Chameleons "


yep i like the name thats exacly what we are


----------

