Breaking News!!! Shaq eats the Suns!!!

[SPURSX3]

Tight game, but glad we pulled it out.  Our guys seemed to play less like what they did in the first three games.  Hope we will be rested and ready for the Hornets.

Hope the Suns like fishing...lol

[Reality]

What a break.  Pop coached a great game for Phoenix but the Spurs were still able to pull it out.  Cousin Lurker and westkoast, loved that "tough D as usual" Finley played on Diaw to erase the 10 point halftime lead in all of about 4 minutes.  Phx was just dropping everyone back and letting Diaw go one on one with Fins.  That was a genius matchup, especially given how Fins was on fire offensively and pulled down 2 rebounds in 31 minutes.  Going repeatedly to GNob in the second half, an obviously injured or funked out GNob was also brilliant, altho i think 2-11 could have become 2-21 if Pop would have insisted the O be run thru GNob even moreso.  Because Ime played so poorly in the 1st half, why give him more PT.

Duncan seemed afraid to go at Shaq one on one.  Couple times the Spurs did a complete stip back isolation and it was nothing but Duncan and Shaq for 20 feet of court.  Duncan looked perplexed and hesitant.  Dont get that.  He would miss a three footer but then drill all his 15 foot + jumpers   

Kurt Thomas was awesome.  His rebounding and D were outstanding.  Could have closed out a lot of shots better and settled for jumpers when he had space to take it to or closer to the rim.  But all in all great.

Fabs hit a couple very timely baskets when the Spurs were in the throes of their Pop induced O coma.  Those baskets kept the Spurs from going into major deficit.

Ime was fantastic.  Great contributions on both O and D esp rebounding.  Only Pop could stop him.

Bob Horry is the recipient of the Barrdog Award altho Ime could just as well recieve it.  His trey was sweet and that steal of Nash late was vintage Bob.  I'm sure there is some good reason Pop had Finley in instead of Horry.

Barrdogs reticence to take a shot rendered the Spurs 4 on 5 on offense.  Thankfully Tony P and Duncan pulled it out.

[Randy]

I think it's funny that you expect Finley to be able to guard Diaw -- he can't do it, but neither can Barry or Manu.  Bowen could but Diaw isn't going to beat you by himself -- at least not for a series.  Pop is smart enough to know that -- he focused on stopping Nash and Amare and look who was right, Reality.  Pop won the series -- you wouldn't have won the series.  You would keep making adjustments just to make adjustments and it would confuse players and send them all into a funk.  You don't dump a player because he isn't playing well in a game -- you tell him that you have confidence in him and keep sending him out.  Otherwise, you could take one of your best players and send them into a multigame funk instead of just a single game funk. 

I think that Kurt Thomas made the difference in this series -- with Thomas, you didn't have to double on Shaq, with Fabs you did.  If the Spurs had to double on Shaq, it would have given Amare a lot of room to work and keeping Amare from having breakout games gives the Suns a win. 

Your analysis of games is comical -- is that what you are going for?

[westkoast]

LOL @ mentioning Finley's play against Diaw when clearly its a mismatch.  Finley's defense is still better then Brent Barry's and that is why Lurker and I keep bringing up Finley's defense.  Brent Barry was not going to be able to guard Boris Diaw yesterday.  If you think he would have you are a bigger moron then I thought prior to coming into this thread.  Why did Pop have Horry in instead of Finley?  Not for his defense as much as it was to get players rest lol.  Horry did not stop Diaw either.   I guess Bowen doesn't play good defense because Kobe has got the best of him this year.  Ron Artest stinks as a defender because I watched him get lit up by the lowly Clippers last year.  Hay whatever you want to do to deflect the POOR game by Manu.  He completely disappeared last night.  Ill give him a pass for the first half due to foul trouble but what about the second half?!  Are you going to say he is a crappy defender because Diaw was abusing him as well?  Don't try to get around this one.  If you want to talk bad about Finley's defense last night then Manu should be brought up as well.  He might have been one of the worst players on the floor last night by your standards since his defense was so bad and his offense was as well.



It's funny how everyone who watched this series has been commending Pop for his coaching and adjustments.  Yet somehow, once again, you think you could do a better job.  It's pretty easy to point out what the team should have done AFTER THE GAME IS OVER.

Great win.  Good job closing out the series.  One thing that probably won't get mentioned about this series is how well the Spurs were able to grind out wins.  Two of the games in the series were won due to experience, poise, and just all around determination.  Sucks for the Hornets that the Spurs are 100% in playoff mode already.  Last year I didn't get the same feeling from them until the middle of the second round.

[Ted]

That's why D'Antoni is a better coach than Cheeks and doesn't deserve to be fired. He chose to have Diaw guarded by Finley instead of someone bigger--brilliant move. Unfortunately the Spurs were just too good in the long run.

And of course Popazit fell right into his trap and basically gave the game to the Suns . . . until Brent Barry blinded the Suns players with his laser vision.

[SPURSX3]

That's why D'Antoni is a better coach than Cheeks and doesn't deserve to be fired. He chose to have Diaw guarded by Finley instead of someone bigger--brilliant move. Unfortunately the Spurs were just too good in the long run.

And of course Popazit fell right into his trap and basically gave the game to the Suns . . . until Brent Barry blinded the Suns players with his laser vision.

Huh? this 'reality' talk is getting too strange now....

[westkoast]

That's why D'Antoni is a better coach than Cheeks and doesn't deserve to be fired. He chose to have Diaw guarded by Finley instead of someone bigger--brilliant move. Unfortunately the Spurs were just too good in the long run.

And of course Popazit fell right into his trap and basically gave the game to the Suns . . . until Brent Barry blinded the Suns players with his laser vision.

Huh? this 'reality' talk is getting too strange now....

Rick said in another thread that Mo Cheeks sucked as a coach because he allowed Prince to guard Andre Igs.....

[Lurker]

Funny thing...the only positive words out of Doug Collins mouth last night about the Spurs were the most insightful.  He talked about Pop not doubling or forcing the ball out of Diaw's hands.  The reason he used was to keep the perimeter defenders on the 3 point line.

Having the offense run through Diaw was the best move D'Antoni could have made for the Spurs.  Change your entire offensive flow in the middle of the series.  It effectively took Nash out of the game since he wasn't in there for his defensive prowess.  Any strategy that keeps Nash under wraps offensively is a good one and Nash didn't get an assist until the 3rd quarter.  And since Diaw operated in the low post it also effective took Shaq/Amare out of the offense also.  

And Diaw did a great job on slowing Parker...Tony only got 31 and 8.  Not bad for a second tier point guard.

[westkoast]

Funny thing...the only positive words out of Doug Collins mouth last night about the Spurs were the most insightful.  He talked about Pop not doubling or forcing the ball out of Diaw's hands.  The reason he used was to keep the perimeter defenders on the 3 point line.

Having the offense run through Diaw was the best move D'Antoni could have made for the Spurs.  Change your entire offensive flow in the middle of the series.  It effectively took Nash out of the game since he wasn't in there for his defensive prowess.  Any strategy that keeps Nash under wraps offensively is a good one and Nash didn't get an assist until the 3rd quarter.  And since Diaw operated in the low post it also effective took Shaq/Amare out of the offense also. 

And Diaw did a great job on slowing Parker...Tony only got 31 and 8.  Not bad for a second tier point guard.

But Lurker....it was Pop who did a wonderful coaching job for the Suns!!  Are you dense? 

You act like this was the 2nd or 3rd time this series where Popavich took one of the Suns adjustments and used it against them.....oh wait it was