Kurt Thomas is the reason the Suns won last night. Yeah Nash was brilliant, yeah Amare finally dunked, yeah Marion did yeoman's work on Parker, but Kurt Thomas stopping Duncan on consecutive possessions in the middle of gut-check time was the ONLY reason the Suns came away with a victory.
Now Kurt Thomas does a couple of things, he puts that folded arm high on your back, defensive slides, and keeps his other arm high up at all times. Sometimes he'll put both of his arms high in the air. I believe a lot of the incidental contact that happens when Tim Duncan shoves his shooting arm forward into KT's arms is going to be called a foul once we're back in San Antonio. Kurt Thomas in foul trouble and Tim Duncan at the free throw line equals a San Antonio victory barring a monumental offensive display by Phoenix and how often has San Antonio let Phoenix do that. I don't think Phoenix can reasonably expect the Spurs to shoot 43% from the field again, either. Looking at it, the bench went 5/21, that's not happening again.