The Official San Antonio vs. Phoenix Thread

[galvatron3000]

Matchups:

Center: Nazr Mohammed vs Amare Stoudemire
Advantage: Stoudemire
Clearly the one on one match up goes to Amare but trying to describe this match up as a one on one is foolish. Nazr brings something to the Spurs they didn't have during the regular season when they beat the Suns, toughness at the 5 spot and much improved rebounding. Though, the individual numbers may go to Amare, if Nazr provides the Spurs the intangibles mention previously then it doesn't matter if Amare get 35 and 7.

Power Forward: Tim Duncan vs. Shawn Marion
Advantage: Duncan
Unless Marion plans to use his quickness, then he will be murdered in the post without help. He must make Duncan work on the defensive end of the floor and try to draw some fouls on him(though Bowen will probably get this assignment). Duncan is probably the most intelligient player in the game today and will find open players that either cut when he is doubled in the post or are on the perimeter. Duncan will be a match up the Spurs have to exploit regularly.

Small Forward: Bruce Bowen vs. Quentin Richardson
Advantage:EVEN
Bowen will more than likely be guarding Marion and should do a good job because Marion is at his best when in transition and not half court. Bowen is not really an offensive threat unless he is in the corner spotted for a three, though he has shown some signs of offensive ability(though limited), don't expect to see much, as his role is to play defense on perimeter players and knock down the three. Richardson will be best suited trying to post up some of the Spurs perimeter defenders, he has a strength advantage and could do some damage. He is a streaky shooter but when he gets going, he can put up numbers quick.

Shooting Guard: Manu Ginobli vs Jimmy Jackson/Joe Johnson
Advantage: Ginobili
Manu Ginobili should be at home in this series and should thrive against a team that will not be a physical as Seattle was. He should get to the paint whenever he wants and can cause problem for his defender. Either Jackson or Johnson will have to bring their A game. Johnson handles some point duty for Nash when necessary, he is a good shooter and will need to be aggressively in attack mode, not sure how long his injury will keep him out but Jackson will be a good replacement until he returns.

Point Guard: Tony Parker vs. Steve Nash
Advantage: EVEN
The tempo of the games will be dictated by the point position. Parker needs to push the ball when opportunities are present and make Nash work on the defensive end. Nash will need to penetrate a solidified Spurs defense and find cutters and players on the wing. If Nash can consistently break down the Spurs defense, then the Spurs will be in trouble. If Parker can wear down Nash by attacking him with quick and get some fouls then the Suns will be in trouble. Nash is not a good defender and Parker has played good defense throughout the season. This will be a matter of wills, but Nash has the MVP award. You can't go by numbers to determine an advantage here, Nash has to involve his players where Tony needs to be aggressive and make Nash work defensively.

Bench:
Advantage: Spurs
Phoenix is rotating 8 guys and playing their starters 40 minutes. The Spurs are deep at every position, have many players capable of playing multiple positions and are very experienced. Not having to wear your players down and having the ability to keep fresh bodies on the floor should be enough for the Spurs to combat the physical endurance of the Suns. When you can give Duncan quality minutes with Horry, have Devin, Brent, and Robinson ready to come in to give good minutes off the bench(not to mention Nesterovic, Udrih, & Massenberg) compared to McCarty, Barbosa, Hunter and Jackson, it's a no brainer. Spurs have a bench, and the Suns don't.

[galvatron3000]

Damn...

Positives: great play from Steven Hunter. PLayed good d on Duncan (compared to what was expected) and attacked the basket hard, Amare destroyed them, Paker was held in check until the 4th
Negatives: Quentin again, Shawn didn't do anything tonight, Brent Barry destroyed the team.

Duncan was strugglin with Marion on him so it wasn't so much as good D by Hunter. Duncan got good position in the post and missed some shots he normally makes, (good D is keeping him out of his spots, which no one did)Hunter was the one Duncan came to life on. Sure he may have played good D on a couple of possesions but they have no answer for Duncan. He should play even better as this series goes on. Three days off in between games 2 & 3 should do it. Amare was htting that jumper and the Spurs will give him that. Parker had a good game starting with the second quarter, right after Bill Walton said he was none existance. Parker has a history of good games against Nash.

[Amphatoast]

This one will go 7 only because Phoenix has home court. I did a game by game predicition for Detroit and Miami so I'll do one for this one.

Game 1: San Antonio 88 Phoenix 86
Game 2: Phoenix 105 San Antonio 100
Game 3: San Antonio 99 Phoenix 95
Game 4: San Antonio 92 Phoenix 84
Game 5: Phoenix 112 San Antonio 103
Game 6: Phoenix 107 San Antonio 96
Game 7: San Antonio 89 Phoenix 88

But, I am rooting for a Miami-Phoenix final. But I see a San Antonio-Detroit final on our hands.

lol are you serious?? you need some 120point games there! in other words the suns will score no matter what

[Null17]

^apparently the Spurs will be doing that as well

[cyanide]

^ lol, definitely. I'm sure Dweaver would agree since he'll never forget that time in the regular season when the Spurs played along with the Suns and outscored them much similar to what they did today in game 1.

[Drex]

To galvatron, there's no way that Bowen will guard Marion. He actually could guard Nash, but not Marion. Bowen's not a PF.

[MaD_hAND1e]

Just the fact that the spurs scored 121 is promising for the Suns, as that is the high offense style they like to play... the Spurs aren't gonna go 16-22 in every 4th quarter, and they only have one Bruce Bowen to go on either Q or JJ when he comes back (btw, when is that? anyway, JJ should just come back and remove the stitches to freak out Bowen when he's guarding him). I have a feeling the Suns will take the next game, if not, then I think it'll be Spurs in 6. lol.. anyway... the Spurs seem to be playing the same type of teams throughout this playoffs.

[Matt]

To galvatron, there's no way that Bowen will guard Marion. He actually could guard Nash, but not Marion. Bowen's not a PF.

exactly, and that would leave Duncan on the perimeter guarding Q.

JJ should just come back and remove the stitches to freak out Bowen when he's guarding him

you know that Bowen would probably poke him in the eye

[Null17]

^ lol. that's probably not far off from actually happening...especially if you ask Ray Allen and Wally Sczserbiak (or however you spell that)

[Jugs]

anyway... the Spurs seem to be playing the same type of teams throughout this playoffs.

true they haven't come against a defensive team like themselves or Detroit. but Offence wins games, Defence wins Playoffs.

but Spurs vs. Detroit in the Finals
too early for the FINAL finals to be predicted

[MaD_hAND1e]

but Spurs vs. Detroit in the Finals

I'm scared to think about that..... I don't wanna see a 34-32 game with 21% fg.

[Matt]

like i said before....Spurs vs Pistons would be THE best Finals since Pistons whooped Lakers ass!!!

What it would be though it 2 teams that matchup REALLY well. Coach vs Coach....players vs players....style vs style.

[galvatron3000]

To galvatron, there's no way that Bowen will guard Marion. He actually could guard Nash, but not Marion. Bowen's not a PF.

He guarded him stretches of the first game, and Marion is not a PF either, just plays that position on that team this season because of the offense they run. Devin Brown played PF back when the Spurs beat them in OT

[J@3]

Nash can't guard Parker worth sht.

I think Nash would struggle guarding me at the moment.

[Drex]

He guarded him stretches of the first game, and Marion is not a PF either, just plays that position on that team this season because of the offense they run. Devin Brown played PF back when the Spurs beat them in OT

Duncan guarded Nash for stretches during the first game, too
We're talking about right now. If Bowen guards Marion, that leaves Duncan and his bad ankles on Amare.

[galvatron3000]

He guarded him stretches of the first game, and Marion is not a PF either, just plays that position on that team this season because of the offense they run. Devin Brown played PF back when the Spurs beat them in OT

Duncan guarded Nash for stretches during the first game, too
We're talking about right now. If Bowen guards Marion, that leaves Duncan and his bad ankles on Amare.

no because Spurs guard Amare, not just one player. They play team defense. Help D. Amare got lots of free throws and hit lots of long jumpers on Sunday. By the way I wasn't talking about switches but the players on the floor. Duncan, Barry, Bowen, Ginobili, & Parker.

[Jay-Peso]

I was disappointed on how many 3's they were giving Barry wide open. There defense is terrible and sometimes they don't even know what happened to who they were gaurding. If they pick up their D a little bit, I'd say they got the series but we will see.

Also, it's crazy how easy Nash can just get to the hoop I love watching him on offense! For the Spurs, they were giving way to many open shots to Amare. You'd think after what, 3 or 4 wide open shots that go in for Amare that they could atleast put a hand up

This should be an interesting series......

[galvatron3000]

Spurs gave Amare those looks because you can't go to the line taking jumpers and he is less dangerous shooting long j's than attacking the basket with his quickness. If Tim had ran at him Amare then Amare would probably have run by. Though in some cases a hand should have been in the air by someone. He hit it consistently and you have to applaud him for that.

The Suns don't play D, haven't all year and won't now that they are in the Conference Finals. I think they are in trouble, with or without JJ. You have to be able to stop people, even if you can put up big numbers, SA can make stops and score, but Phoenix can only score.

[Drex]

no because Spurs guard Amare, not just one player. They play team defense. Help D. Amare got lots of free throws and hit lots of long jumpers on Sunday. By the way I wasn't talking about switches but the players on the floor. Duncan, Barry, Bowen, Ginobili, & Parker.

You can't take the risk of leaving Nash/JJ's/Q/Marion open. They all can hit the 3 or long jumper. With Duncan, Barry, Bowen, Ginobili, & Parker, who's defending who?? That would cause many problems in the Spurs. Bowen can't play PF or C on offense. He doesn't rebound like Nazr or Horry. It causes too many problems on both sides.

Spurs gave Amare those looks because you can't go to the line taking jupers and he is more dangerous shooting long j's than attacking the basket with his quickness.

No way, man.

[cyanide]

Spurs gave Amare those looks because you can't go to the line taking jupers and he is more dangerous shooting long j's than attacking the basket with his quickness.

No way, man.

Amare's more dangerous in the paint. That's where he gets high percentage shots and gets sent to the line, whereas if he has a poor shooting game, he's not going to make very many jumpers.

[galvatron3000]

no because Spurs guard Amare, not just one player. They play team defense. Help D. Amare got lots of free throws and hit lots of long jumpers on Sunday. By the way I wasn't talking about switches but the players on the floor. Duncan, Barry, Bowen, Ginobili, & Parker.

You can't take the risk of leaving Nash/JJ's/Q/Marion open. They all can hit the 3 or long jumper. With Duncan, Barry, Bowen, Ginobili, & Parker, who's defending who?? That would cause many problems in the Spurs. Bowen can't play PF or C on offense. He doesn't rebound like Nazr or Horry. It causes too many problems on both sides.

Spurs gave Amare those looks because you can't go to the line taking jupers and he is more dangerous shooting long j's than attacking the basket with his quickness.

No way, man.

I meant they gave him the jumper because he is more dangerous in the paint, just a mis print on my part.

In regards to the first part of my statement, I was answering a question, Bowen did guard Marion on Sunday,( Even Doug Collins pointed out that Bowen was on Marion during the game, I didn't even notice until Doug mentioned it so I mentioned it too.)
on defense and I listed the line-up I think was on the floor at the time. Just because he guarded him on defense doesn't mean he played pf on offense, it doesn't matter Tayshaun guarded Wade and Hamilton guarded Jones, it is a game of match ups. If it works then use it and if the other teams doesn't exploit it's advantage and you do, then who's fault is that? Where did I say anything about leaving someone open, I was talking about a match up or line up so to speak .

[galvatron3000]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA052305.3S.BKNsuns.marion.29eaadb4b.html

[4live]

I think Phoenix win's 4:2

[air gordon]

i dont think phoenix has much of a chance, now they run into a team that plays good D, and now they will really fall.

1-0, spurs, i rest my case.

121-114
hardly a defensive struggle

the series is over after 1 game?

[iKe7in]

i dont think phoenix has much of a chance, now they run into a team that plays good D, and now they will really fall.

1-0, spurs, i rest my case.

well than at least you wont talk anymore.