God, We Were A Bunch of Natashas Out There

Game 4 recap. Relive the excitement!

Tony Stole My Razor and Won't Give It Back

First Round Game 3 @ Phoenix: Spurs 115, Suns 99

Believe it or not, I'm not completely thrilled we won last night. No, this has nothing to do with Antoine's overwhelming dominance. Well, maybe a little. No, that's not it.

What's got me bothered is my face.

It's hairy. Very hairy. And itchy. And it feels like I've got food all over my mouth and it just feels gross. I can't stand this and it's driving me insane.

You see, the Spurs won Game 1 last Saturday; an epic, miraculous game they nevertheless had no real business winning. If you think I'm shaving after such a victory, then clearly you don't know me very well. You're talking to the same guy who didn't shave after the Red Sox won Game 4 against the Yankees in the '04 ALCS and kept it going 'til the last out against the Cardinals in the World Series some two weeks later.

Anyway, yes, cute, Duncan hits a huge shot, Manu wins it and the Spurs win Game 1. Let's see 'em do it again in Game 2 before we all pop boners. It was a fluke win after all and didn't prove anything.

Except we won Game 2, somewhat convincingly. At this point I was near certain that we'd win the series, perhaps in five games. Still, the inevitable "Pussy Game" loomed. Surely the Suns would get a home blowout, or at least a solid win to make things respectable before Pop and his charges would regroup and put together a more earnest effort in Game 4, right? No way they win this one, right?

Jesus Christ I'm going to end up looking like Osama Bin Laden by the time the Spurs are holding that trophy. Watch, they're gonna go 16-0, just so God and Manolis can take turns making fun of me. The sacrifices I make. Good thing I'm not flying anywhere soon, because you know I'd be one of the "random" people security would check on.

I hate this beard. And I hate you, Tony.

(Not really. I recognize the beard and my lame superstitions are my own choice and I could shave it at anytime. I'm not crazy.)

Anyway, this game will not get the full blown 5,000 analytical treatment. For one, I'm too busy. For two, there is nothing to analyze. We played a damn near perfect game offensively. No matter what the Suns threw at us, it didn't work, and they tried everything. Traps, zones, different guys on Tony, going over screens, under screens. All of it was as useless as an asshole on an elbow. I actually started to feel sorry for Mike "C'mon Guys" D'Antoni. His players are turning on him and taking thinly veiled shots against his coaching to the press. Stoudemire questioned the "seven seconds or less" offensive philosophy and preached the need to hold the ball longer and wait for the perfect shot instead of the first available good shot. Nash questioned whether the coach(es) stayed with a strategy that obviously wasn't working (letting Tony shoot) too long without making adjustments. The team is coming apart at the seams.

The thing is, there isn't much D'Antoni could have done, given the personnel he has at his disposal. I can think of a few lhuman beings less suited to play pick-and-roll defense than Shaq and Stevie Nash, but not many. In the NBA maybe Yao (with his broken foot) and Mike Bibby. Outside of the NBA, maybe Jared the "Subway" guy and Estelle Getty.

The Spurs ran pick-and-rolls with Tony time after time after time. They literally never got bored of it. It was just cruel, really. When they got close to Spaceball he passed it, and it seemed as if every one of his dishes led to a swish. When they gave 36 space, he buried his shots. It was damn near clinical.

Look at this chart I made. It shows all the types of shots the Spurs took and their success with them. Lay-ups, "Paint shots," (Tony's floater, Manu's one hand runners, etc.) PJ's which stands for "Perimeter Jumpshots" and Threes.

.........Lay-Up..... Paint Shot..... PJ...... 3

Tim..... 5/6.... .......... 0/2........ 4/7

Manu ..................2/2.......... 1/2..... 4/7

Tony .....2/2............. 4/8...........10/13... 1/3

Bruce .......................................2/3

Fab ........1/2............ 0/1......... 2/2

Kurt ...... 1/2.......................... 3/7

Fin ..........1/1................................. 1/4..... 0/2

Brent .......................0/1..................... 1/1

JV ..............................................0/1

Ime ...........................................1/1........ 0/2

Total: ....9/12........... 7/15........... 24/40.... 6/15

The first number that jumps out at you, or should anyway, is the "lay-ups" column. The Spurs, who lived in the paint the first two games, attempted a total of 12 whopping lay-ups/dunks the whole game. That's not made, folks, that's attempted. One lay-up attempt every four minutes. The Suns could play a WNBA team and give up more than that in an average night. The Suns accomplished their defense goal and shut down the paint and closed off penetration. It should hardly be a surprise given the lay-up number that we managed only two fast break points.

Now look at the third column, the regular, routine two point perimeter jumpshots. All those baskets between eight and 22 feet that never show up in the highlights and have been our Achilles heel for months and months. We hit 24 of them. One every two minutes. In 40 attempts. That's 60%. Maybe those old Celtics teams with Bird and Ainge could do that. Or that 1970 Knicks team Big Chief Triangle is so fond of. But something like that just doesn't happen very often in the NBA these days people. Nowadays, if teams can shoot jumpers that well, they take them from behind the line. (And mathematically, that is the smart play).

I don't know when's the last time this season the Spurs hit 24 two point jumpers or hit them at a 60% rate, but if I had to guess, I'd venture that neither has happened all year. Consider that Tony, who had a very strong Game 2 overall, didn't hit his first jumper until midway through the fourth quarter last Tuesday. He made ten of them last night, plus a three. When Tony can shoot like that, say good night Aunt Gracie, because the Spurs are indefensible.

The Suns certainly don't have the people do it anyway. Hill is too old and hobbled. Barbosa is hopeless and Diaw is too slow laterally. One thing I would try if I were the Suns would be to put Bell on Tony full time and take my chances with Hill, Barbosa or Diaw on Manu. It won't work, but at this point what do you have to lose? Bell is your best defender and right now Tony is the one killing the Suns the most. Manu is hobbled, gimpy with a bad ankle, and after trying to go into the paint once and getting clobbered by The Big Elbow for his trouble, The Exception said "Fuck that" and decided to just shoot threes. 20 points on 11 shots is hardly a bad night, after all.

The most enjoyable part of the series has been the way we've mercifully exposed O'Neal. For a first ballot Hall-of-Famer, he sure does have few basketball skills, huh? Basically, he's gotten by being a freakish athlete, but it's scary how little he understands the nuts and bolts of the game. All these years in the league and The Big Joke is still mystified as to what constitutes an offensive and defensive foul, what a lane violation is on a free throw, and the basic principles of pick-and-roll defense. He's never been able to shoot the rock so he just assumes that no other big can either. Is it arrogance, laziness or stupidity with him? I could never figure it out.

Now compare him to Duncan. Actually, don't, because there is no comparison. In addition to being ten times more intelligent, a hundred times classier and a thousand times more the leader than Shaq could ever hope to be, Timmy is first and foremost a basketball player. Not an athlete, but a basketball player. He has moves, in the post and facing the basket. He can play individual and team defense and offense. He can shoot the ball and shoot free throws. He actually works on his game in the off-season. Tim Duncan could be 6'2" and he'd be in the NBA, because he'd figure out how to do the things a 6'2" guy would have to do to be successful.

Tim and Pop didn't fall for the Shaq bait, the stupid post machismo and one-on-one crap. Instead Timmy just about abandoned the post and lured O'Neal to the paint with him, where we exploited him all night long with Tony or Manu. As a result, Duncan got more easy lay-ups than he had before the old fashioned way, plus he embarrassed Shaq, hitting all these jumpers that The Big Lane Violation never would or could. The Hack-a-Shaq was the perfect cherry on top, completely flustering O'Neal and grinding his teammates to a halt. You can see Nash practically tear his hair out, the way this tactic takes the ball out of his hands. I bet he wishes he tossed a few more lobs to Shawn Marion and kept him happier now. Maybe some bullshit platitudes like "Shawn has always been our best player, our MVP, it's not even close" would have kept him in town. In the end having Marion around wouldn't have changed the result of this series, but at least he never embarrassed them. Shaq looks like Willie Mays on the '73 Mets, stumbling around on fly balls out there.

Taking into account the frustration of having to watch O'Neal at the stripe, the feelings of inadequacy that must come from being abused so badly by Tony defensively and the stifling (and at times grabby) defense of Bowen siphoning every last ounce of energy out of his body like some alien zombie vampire, you could slowly see Nash's passion and will fade as the game went along. By the end, he was a ghost, not to mention the Suns worst player on Saturday. He had nothing left in him. He knows his prime was wasted on inadequate teams that never could withstand his defensive shortcomings or his coaches' defensive deficiencies. This is it, it's over for him. As long as O'Neal's massive contract is on the books, there is nothing they can do, unless by some act of God Alando Tucker and D.J. Strawberry develop into the second coming of MJ and Pip in the offseason.

For now though, enough about Nash and enough about the Suns. Their eulogy will come another night. Right now the Spurs have to get greedy. They have to suck all the life out of their opponent's arena. Manu's not close to 100% right now with that groin and ankle and needs some rest. Tony is banged up and bruised and I'm guessing that Tim and all the other vets aren't feeling too hot either. What this team needs is to close out Phoenix, do it in a definitive fashion that will serve notice to the rest of the league that the defending champions are very intent indeed on keeping what's theirs, and then rest up for a much tougher series with the spry and youthful Hornets. I want to play Dallas, but that's the stuff of fantasy.

As for adjustments, I don't know what more we can do. Everything we try is working. The big three are pouring in 84 a game. Again, trying to get Barry more involved would be nice. Keep attacking O'Neal until D'Antoni has no choice but to make him sit. Go to the hole hard when Diaw is their only big. Keep the Suns off the boards and away from the three point line. What will Phoenix do? Trap to get the ball out of Tony's hands I'm guessing, so Manu will need to have a big night making the decisions. The shooters have to be there for him like they were there for Tony. Also, it wouldn't shock me to see D'Antoni, in complete desperation, go to Hack-a-Bruce, Hack-a-Fab, or Hack-a-Tim, just to see how we like it. Should be a contentious game and I'm looking forward to these Suns setting for good.

And if not I'll at least get evict the family of squirrels living on my cheeks.

Three Stars...

3. Manu Ginobili - Quietly making every big play, always at the right time. Every three he made was a dagger.

2. Tim Duncan - Controlled the game at both ends, made Shaq look silly with his all-around skills.

1. Tony Parker - 41 and 12. Quite possibly the finest game of his career.

P.S. A tip of the cap to Jeff Van Gundy who worked as the TV analyst for the game. He called the Suns fans on all their bullshit. He explained that it's not the Spurs fault O'Neal can't make free throws, it's his fault. He mocked them for cheering Manu being fouled hard and noted that such tactics don't bother Ginobili and he'll happily make the free throws. Basically, he questioned the fans' basketball intelligence at every turn. It was awesome and a welcome respite from the usual ESPN bullshit about the Spurs. Hopefully we'll see more of it.

Boring Floppy Team Beats More Boring More Floppy Team 102-96

Game 2 recap, whee...

Ginobili Wins Sixth Man Award

Manu Ginobili better make some room on his mantle. In addition to the accolades already earned by the gifted Argentine -- two Lega A Most Valuable Player awards, the Euroleague 2000-01 Final Four MVP award, the 2001 Euroleague Championship, 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist and three NBA Championships -- Ginobili has now been recognized as the NBA's best sixth man.

We here at SpursDynasty congratulate Manu Ginobili, but we know better. Just because he came off the bench, doesn't make Manu a sixth man.

Ginobili led the Spurs in scoring, averaging a career-high 19.5 points to go with 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists. Ginobili came off the bench in 51 of the 74 games he played this season.

“I really don’t care about coming from the bench if that helps the team to win a championship,” Ginobili said.

“He’s one of the better players in the NBA, who just happens to come off the bench,” said Spurs starting guard Michael Finley. “Any other team in the league, he’d probably be starting, but for him to come off the bench and put his ego aside it just shows what kind of team we have, and more importantly what kind of player and All-Star he is.”

“That is what I’m going to remember when I retire, the rings I have,” Ginobili said. “Not the fact I played 28 minutes or 33 or my name being called in the starting lineup. That’s not going to make the difference in 10 to 15 years.”

“I just consider myself a player, a team player,” Ginobili said. “So this year he (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) thought it was more important for me to come from the bench, so I just try to do it the best way I can.”

Popovich gave all the credit to Ginobili, who is the first Spurs player to win the award.

“Manu is a person who’s much more concerned with the group than he is about himself,” Popovich said. “He got over himself a long time ago. … I don’t think there are too many All-Stars that coaches in this league can go to and say, ‘You’ve been great. Now you’re going to come off the bench.’ So I’m very fortunate.”

Ginobili shot better than 40 percent from 3-point range in his sixth regular NBA season and when he drives the lane—routinely picking up bumps and bruises along the way—he’s known for putting the ball in from seemingly impossible angles.

“Before I got here I used to think those shots that he made were luck, and what we called, when I was growing up, fluke shots,” Finley said. “Now that I’m his teammate and I see him on a daily basis, that’s his game.”

A Ho Hum Game One

Game One vs. Phoenix: Spurs 117, Suns 115 (2OT)

So... what'd I miss?

What, no bankshot?
(Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

Just kidding, I watched the game. I watched it while alternately cussing, screaming, clapping, yelling, giving myself high fives, doing Tiger fist pumps, and at the end bellowing out "JI-NOH-BLEEE" like a more maniacal version of the Chuckster.

"I SAID MA-NOOO JI-NOH-BLEEE!!!!"

Jesus on a boat what a game. If that's not our biggest playoff robbery since Sean Elliott's Memorial Day Miracle, it has to be in the top three, along with the "Robert Horry Game" at Detroit in 2005 and the "Brent Barry Game" vs. Sacramento in 2006, when he hit that three at the end of regulation that bounced straight up in the air off the rim before gently falling back through to send it to overtime.

For me though, this will always Always ALWAYS be redemption for Game 7 vs. the Mavs in '06. This ending is like how that one should have ended, in an alternate universe. You had the same elements at play: A home playoff game against a fearsome, trash-talking opponent, a big early deficit, Duncan and nobody else showing up for the first half, a furious second-half comeback where a Michael Finley three finally tied the game very late in regulation.

Of course you know how the original ended. Manu made a really dumb defensive play and then couldn't make up for it with a last second lay-up attempt. This time around Hulk came up with a big play in his own end, stripping Stoudemire when the Suns were up five in the first overtime with 1:30 or so to go. While the turnover didn't lead to any Spurs points, it did give S.T.A.T. his fifth foul, and it would prove to be huge after he barreled into Kurt Thomas for a charge on the next trip down.

And yes, this time the last second lay-up went in. That was kind of noteworthy as well.

These are all mere snapshots of a 58 minute classic though, and it would be impossible for me to encapsulate everything that went on in one of the most thrilling, unbelievable, miraculous Spurs wins we'll ever see. I can't do it, I'm not good enough of a writer. I don't know if anyone can do it.

Here, anyway, is the good ol' college try.

The way the game started and the way my day started were similarly frustrating. After going to mom's house just so I could live blog the thing for PtR, I had to sit there angry, annoyed and frustrated after realizing her internet was out and there wasn't a thing I could do about it. And my cell phone was out of juice. Of course it was. I could watch the game, I just couldn't share the experience with anyone. What I would've shared, if I could, would've been a lot of four letter words aimed at Pop, Tony, and yes, Manu. We had so many stupid, unforced turnovers, the guards couldn't make a shot, even when taking it to the basket, and the defense was practically non-existent. The only positives were the guys making some free throws early to keep the game close, Duncan hitting a few shots in the latter part of the quarter and Phoenix missing some open ones. Also, Shaq was in immediate foul trouble after elbowing Fab on offense and flopping against Timmy inside the semi-circle on the other end. Duncan weighs like 60 lbs less than him and pulled up enough to barely touch him, but yeah, I’m sure the force of the “collision” was enough to send Shaq sprawling. Uh-huh. 24-20 Suns after one, and now Timmy had to go to the bench to rest.

The 2^nd quarter got off to an even more miserable start. Udoka came into the game and bricked three of four shots, and a couple of them weren’t in the flow of the offense at all. Manu still couldn’t buy one and Tony was letting Barbosa score all over the place. The Suns got off 19-7 (with Barbosa scoring 10) in the first 7:30 of the quarter and we were at our nadir, 43-27. Again, offense looked to be the biggest culprit for the Spurs. The only bright spot in that stretch was seeing O’Neal pick up his 3^rd foul, mere seconds after checking in after bulldozing Marbles out of the way on a sideline out of bounds play.

That led to this sequence on the bench after a time out that the cameras caught:

O’Neal sitting next to Gordan Giricek, asked him, “That’s a foul?”

Giricek without hesitation nodded affirmative, and then pantomimed what O’Neal did to get whistled.

O’Neal responded by telling him, “Get the fuck outta here.”

Giricek had a look on his face like, Well next time ask one of your flunkies then, you big dope.

I love European players. They don’t sugarcoat anything and they retain their objectivity. Like last year, when Deron Williams got so incensed because AK-47 and Mehmet Okur acknowledged that the Spurs were the better team and were likely to win their series. Giricek is now my favorite Sun, by the way.

Anyway, the last four minutes the Spurs managed to crawl back into the game a little bit, thanks to, in Mike D’Antoni’s words, the “Hack-a-Skinny” maneuver. Hey, whatever works. We also got a couple of lay-ups from Antoine, a couple more hoops for Goat Puff (who had 20 at half) and a couple of bad offensive plays from Boris Diaw. Still, another 24-20 quarter for Phoenix, we’re down eight points at half and Manu is MIA. Not good.

The third quarter brought us some good and some bad. It seemed like we scratched and clawed and made real progress there, but all told we only made up two points on the deficit. By this point Snaq was so conscious of being called for his fourth foul that he really didn’t protect the basket at all. Amare wasn’t much better. Finley finally hit his first two shots and then Tony and Manu started going to the basket with impunity and all of a sudden, after struggling with offense the whole game, we had scored 15 points in the first five minutes. We weren’t any closer though because Stoudemire was scoring at will on the other end, thanks to numerous defensive lapses by Fin and our center (first Fab, then Thomas). Plus, the guy is just really frickin’ good. You have to give Amare credit for constantly working on his game. Every year it seems he can do more than before, shoot from further out, and now he’s a terror from the stripe and strong enough to finish even after being fouled, far and away leading the league in and-1s.

The standing-under-the-rim-with-your-arms-up defense has surprisingly little effect on Stoudemire.
(Photo by D. Clarke Evans/NBAE via Getty Images)

Despite our backcourt regaining their scoring touch we couldn’t trim the Suns’ lead any because their role players, Diaw, Barbosa and Giricek combined for nine straight points at the end of the quarter. What really turned the tide in the quarter though was Nash drawing a charge on back to back Spurs possessions from Manu and Tim. Both were dodgy calls but they totally turned the momentum of the game just as the fans were getting back in it and making noise.

The fourth was where the drama and the seesaw nature of the game came to the forefront. BLOG got abused by Bell on a back cut fake but then got it back with a smart and-1 against Diaw. Phoenix got it back up to nine and threatened to run away with it, but then came the play that I think really changed the game – B.O. shot a three and it went straight up like Barry’s did in ’06 vs. the Kings, but this one didn’t quite appear to have the right trajectory to fall right through. Shaq grabbed it high above the rim anyway though and got called for the ultra-rare three point goaltend. That was big. The Suns never got it above six the rest of the way.

From there Parker and Duncan really carried us for a good stretch and we got a few lay-ups against the Suns soft underbelly, Snaq, who was afraid to be too physical playing with five fouls. We tried the Hack-a-Shaq on him (though it was more like Hug-a-Shaq) and it worked out, as he missed two (three really) FTs and D’Antoni had to take him out for a few minutes. After the game The Big Humble mumbled “Mathematics has never worked against me.” I don’t even know who should be more offended by that comment, Shaq’s grammar teachers in elementary school or his priests for the outright lie. Then again, Shaq has never had a strong grasp of mathematics in the first place, once famously telling a reporter that his game is as impossible to figure as the Pythagorean Theorem.” Because you know, A squared + B squared = C squared is like, totally complicated. Anywho, Desperate Jumpshot really had a strong fourth quarter actually and had a couple of dimes as well. The first, to Fab got us within three and the second, to Fin, tied the game for the first time, at 84.

Duncan and Amare traded a couple baskets but Stoudemire was strong enough to get a three point play out of his, despite being raked hard by The Hooligan. With a 91-90 lead came another big play, when Manu drove it and was blocked by The Big Appetite. O’Neal got a lot of arm and face, but again, it’s tough for Gino to get a call driving against these guys (as it will be against LA as well). When Barbosa scored at the other end we were down three with 1:10 left. We had three shots at the next possession but all were bricks and again it looked bleak. However we had our best defensive stand of the game and forced a shot clock violation on the Suns penultimate possession of regulation and we had one last chance with the ball to send it an extra period.

Finley hit it, from the wing, off a Plainview pass, and really he wasn’t that open. Maybe that’s why he made it, who knows? Amare missed the rotation there, for sure, and D’Antoni was mighty steamed about it afterward. We still had to stop them the last play just to get to OT, and we did, thanks to a good close out by Tony on Barbosa forcing him into an awkward floater. Bowen had a good rotation there as well. Overtime here we come. It was close though. Amare rebounded Barbosa’s miss and put it back in on a turnaround baseline jumper, but a half second after the buzzer.

In the extra period we were again quickly behind the eight ball, falling into a five point hole thanks to a trio of Nash jumpers (including a three) and two from S.T.A.T., with the little hoser assisting. The little shit was incredible in extra time. Manu’s second steal of the game led to another clanked three pointer, but Bank was Johnny on the spot and managed to get the offensive board and put it in. Then he and Amare traded lay-ups to keep the margin at three. After that they traded turnovers, with Manu again stripping Stoudamire and he in turn stripping Timmy with just 29 seconds to go. The Suns definitely had the game in the bag now, right?

No. For some reason, maybe they thought they’d catch us off guard, but the Suns ran their play a little quickly, sooner than they had to. Amare got the ball with like eight seconds left on the shot clock and instead of raising up for the clinching jumper he decided to pump fake and go for the lay-up. Kurt Thomas made a huuuuge play and rotated over in time to draw the charge for Stoudamire’s third turnover of the extra period, and even more importantly, his sixth foul. That set up one last chance for us, down three again, and naturally we ran the Manu curl play where he drives left and sucks in the whole defense before kicking it out for a three in the corner. Honestly I don’t know why defenses don’t just leave him the hell alone and let him dunk the damn ball to keep the lead. How stupid are people?

But this time of course Manu didn’t kick it to the corner. No, instead he tossed it back to Fran, even though he also had 36 in the corner. Duncan was wide, wide, wider than Shaq’s ass, wide open. He thought about passing it to Tony for a microsecond I think but decided to let it fly himself. Incredibly, unbelievably, miraculously, the ball rattled in. And Timmy the boring stoic sure as shit showed some emotion, you best believe that. Still there were three seconds left but the Suns for some reason gave it to Diaw (D’Antoni said he had a mismatch on him) and he traveled before launching an awkward turnaround J from the baseline that was short and to the right. Double OT, sans S.T.A.T.

Error. Error. Does not compute... does not compute... does not compute.
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Now I truly thought we’d pull this off.

Again it was back and forth. Manu had a lay-up and a Nash jumper tied it. Manu missed a shot and then a follow but Tim made it on the third try to score his 39^th and 40^th points. Diaw tied it with a driving lay-up off a nice pump fake. Tony had a nice driving lay in with help from a Thomas screen to give us the lead, but when they tried that play again Kurt was called for his sixth. On the ensuing possession Tony smacked Nash on the elbow for his sixth and luckily Stevie only made two out of three FTs to keep it tied. Manu made another runner and O’Neal slammed home a rebound to tie it again at 112 with 1:21 to go. We just couldn’t put together any kind of run on them. The Exception squirted through for yet another lay-up to put us in front and we were fortunate when Nash missed an open three. I swear I think everything he puts up is going in. Manu missed the three that would’ve iced it and then we got really lucky when Diaw had a lay-up squirt out on him. Really, Duncan could’ve been called for a foul on it but wasn’t. He sure made more contact on that play than that one jumper of Amare’s that he blocked in the third quarter but was called for a foul for. The bottom line is that we had the lead and the ball with under 24 seconds, so the Suns would have to foul.

We brought the right guy in I thought with White Jesus, but he clanked his first freebie. He made the second and one would think that would be the game. Surely a team couldn’t hit three desperation threes in one game, could they?

You betcha they could. The Spurs didn’t foul and the Suns took advantage, with Nash hitting a ridiculous fadeaway corner three to tie the game at 115 with 15 seconds left. But since the Suns had wasted all their timeouts discussing strategy previously in the period they were all out of them. Pop knew this and wasn’t about to do the Suns any favors setting up their defense and personnel. He put the game in Plainview’s hands and well you know how that goes. He drank Nash’s milkshake. HE DRANK IT UP!!!

Raja Bell: Manustopper.
(Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

Blame D’Antoni. I can’t believe he let him go one-on-one with Raja Bell. Maybe he couldn’t communicate on the sidelines. Maybe he was too lost in the moment and became a spectator. If I’m the coach there I’m screaming at my guys to trap him and get the ball out of his hands, regardless of who I have to leave. Gino passing it to anyone is a better option for Phoenix than him taking it one-on-one in a situation where you can’t foul and you have no shotblockers. Manu of course played it perfectly, taking the clock down to the end, bumping Bell a little with his right shoulder to gain separation, then banking it home with 1.8 seconds left. He had good lift with his legs on it, which was surprising considering that he’d played 45 minutes and he’d already gone to the well a few times in the period. Nash missed a 80 foot heave at the buzzer and that was it, we won a game where we led at most for three minutes total out of 58 and never by more than three points.

Just fucking crazy. If we have to do this every time we’re done for.

What I Liked:

- Our heart, our passion, our resiliency. The Spurs fought, they clawed, and they gave everything they had in this one. They didn’t give up on themselves, they trusted each other, and they trusted Pop. Frankly I’ve missed us making spirited comebacks like this against good teams, it just hasn’t happened very often this year. Far too often the guys just folded their tents and told the masses that things would be different once the playoffs would start. Perhaps they weren’t full of it after all.

- Timmy Freakin’ Duncan. I think he answered Matthew’s challenge quite nicely, don’t you. He took the ball to the basket repeatedly no matter who was on him and really didn’t settle for jump shots or his banker very often. He had four turnovers, but none of them were the result of a bad decision or anything, he just mishandled the ball sometimes. Timmy had a great passing game and was aggressive and alert defensively as well, even though Pop kept him off Amare as much as possible.

- Tony’s 4^th quarter. If 36 plays like that more often then we can’t call him 36 anymore. Parker was terrific down the stretch offensively and played really courageously, considering his head was all cloudy and foggy from an early collision with Stoudemire. Maybe he didn’t know it was the fourth quarter.

- Manu’s driving. He had no jumper at all, especially from the three point line, so BLOG had to bury his head and drive inside far more often than he usually does. 24 points on 24 shots doesn’t look impressive, but considering that he missed all six of his long range attempts and was awarded only five freebie attempts, he scored all his points the hard way, he URRRRRND them.

- Kurt Thomas. Mug played heroically taking three charges, grabbing ten rebounds and making numerous plays that didn’t show up in the box score. This was precisely the environment we acquired him for. I’m sure the next game we’ll use his baseline jumper against Shaq more.

- Finley’s clutch shooting. The Caribbean Queen didn’t play all that well, he missed numerous defensive assignments, didn’t rebound much, and if Grant Hill was healthy he would’ve gotten smoked all afternoon. But he did drag his withered body up and down the floor for 48 minutes and he drilled three bombs in the fourth quarter (with a little help from The Big Goaltend).

- Pop. Get Off My Lawn always does this, doesn’t he? He takes the year off like Horry and then becomes the coach we all want him to be in May. The trademark stubbornness, the unwillingness to make tactical adjustments, and especially the inability to dole out playing time based on who’s actually playing well or poorly in a given game were all gone. He stopped playing Udoka and Vaughn because they were crap and went with Barry. He used Manu as a backup point. He played big all day, except when Duncan sat. He used Hack-a-Snaq. He played most of the game without Bruce or Ime, an unbelievable concession for a defense first, second, and third coach. Pop’s eyes were wide open for this one.

- The Suns classiness. You read that right. If you look at the postgame quotes I really thought the Suns handled themselves pretty well. D’Antoni, Nash, and particularly Stoudemire all said the right things and didn’t blame the refs for the loss. At one point Raja Bell bristled when Express News writer Mike Finger kept repeatedly asking him about the greatness of The Exception and spat out, “I’m not going to suck his dick for you, dog” but that was understandable, given the circumstances. Finger pressed him pretty good. Sure, if I was the reporter, I’d have given Bell the Chris Farley Show treatment, but I can see why Bell would snap.

What I Didn’t Like:

- Our pick and roll defense. Look, I know Nash is the all-time master at it, but if we keep giving S.T.A.T. these easy lay-ups I’m gonna throw up on my rug. Why is our whole team staring at Nash when he’s parallel to the basket? The only guy who should be looking at him is his man. Amare’s guy, particularly should have his back turned on Nash at all times. I think we’d handle the play better with Bruce’s length than Tony’s but I’m not sure if we can afford to play Bowen all that much because…

- Bruce Bowen’s offense. A big goose egg in 21 minutes and he makes life way too easy on Nash, who gets to rest on defense the whole time The Funneler is in there. The Suns have so much size now that scoring on them isn’t a mere formality and we need as many guys who can score as possible in the line-up. Pop can’t afford having Bowen in there because the difference he makes over the next guy on defense isn’t as wide a gap as the difference on the other end of the floor. Especially if we’re playing big, we need all our perimeter guys to be threats. Either make some shots Bruce or ride the pine. A -9 afternoon won’t cut it.

- Ime Udoka. Grimace was unequivocally awful, a team worst -12 in seven minutes. He couldn’t guard Diaw at all, he forced bad shots on offense and he just didn’t look like he had a clue out there. Plus as soon as the game ended, he just headed straight for the tunnel instead of embracing his teammates at center court. I didn’t care for that at all. That seemed selfish to me. I think Pop’ll give him another chance, but Barry could easily swallow up his minutes.

- Manu’s three pointers. Ugh. None were even close. Short and flat like my sister. I don’t get it. I thought Buck Harvey said the groin wasn’t an issue and he made 11 in a row in practice. And his legs certainly looked strong enough on the drives. I hope he finds his shot soon because we won’t beat these guys with Manu not canning any long ones again. Also, his defense for much of the game wasn’t all that great.

- Tony’s three point defense. Not only did Parker get toasted by Barbosa in the second quarter, but he committed two fouls on three pointers, which is really inexcusable. In his defense, asking him to be a focal point on offense and to guard Stevie on the other end (I shudder to think of the 2^nd round matchup with Paul) is asking an awful lot. He and Manu should really alternate every possession on him just to confuse the Canadian and to save each other’s legs.

- The incessant whining/flopping. Despite the drama, this game must have been damn near unwatchable for most neutral or casual fans. The bitching and moaning after every call was very annoying. Neither team ever thinks they commit fouls. And now, more than ever they try to outflop one another. Each side has some of the all-time greats, with Manu, Fab, and Kurt for us and Nash and Bell for them. We couldn’t go a trip or two down the floor without somebody falling. Shaq even tried flopping against Duncan. These teams bring out the worst in one another.

- Shaq’s boorishness. Of course he was the one notable 400 lb. exception to the Suns otherwise classy postgame behavior. He credited all of the Spurs success to flopping while ignoring the flops of all his teammates (as well as his own). He refused to admit that his free throw misses were a factor in the game and tried to play revisionist history when he blurted that the strategy never works. He sounded like a fool. To top it off, on Sunday he basically inferred that Manu can’t play in an expletive laden rant about flopping, and you can imagine how I felt about that. Give The Big Fucktard credit though, he’s only been a Sun for a couple of months and he’s integrated himself to the team seamlessly. Already he’s my least favorite guy on the team and I HATE these guys. O’Neal swore (literally) that he wouldn’t change anything with how he played in Game 2 or beyond. So I guess we can expect more idiotic offensive fouls until he gets to five and then matador defense down the stretch because you know, he’s so valuable out there on the floor on offense that it’s worth him to allow lay-up after lay-up to stay on the court. Heh.

Siddown and shut your pie hole already, you big fucking baby. You had the worst +/- on your team.
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Possible Game 2 Adjustments:

- More Brent Barry. Play him instead of Vaughn and give him some of Finley’s as well. 38 minutes in regulation for B.O. is far too funky for my taste. I can’t believe the Mango Tree only got one shot off in ten minutes. Did the Suns never leave him? No matter what I like the spacing on the floor he gives for Tony and Manu.

- More Bowen on Nash. But only if Bruce can shut down the pick-and-roll, which is almost an impossible thing to ask of him. As I said before, the bigs have to keep their eyes locked on Stoudemire and not look at Nash. Also, I see no reason why Bowen can’t score 12 a night against these guys (except for the part about him being completely unable to shoot of course).

- Keep Nash guessing. Bruce, Ime, Manu, Tony. Let’s throw as many different looks at Nash as possible and wear him out mentally. Let’s trap every now and then, especially on sideline plays with the shot clock low. Either get the ball out of his hands or force him to just be a fadeaway shooter. His passing is terrifying.

- Play Matt Bonner when we’re in the penalty. I’m really proud of this one. If Shaq is in the game and we’re in the penalty, we have to bring in Bonner and go to the Hack-a-Shaq. On offense we can run pick and pops with him all day long and he’ll get one open jumper against Shaq after another. On defense he can use all six fouls to send O’Neal to the line and we can stretch a two point lead into a ten point lead in three minutes. Plus by the fourth time he hugs O’Neal and gives him an “I’m just doing what I’m told” shoulder shrug while Shaq is contemplating his latest 1 for 6 stretch from the stripe, Snaq might just lose it and slug Mary Ann right in the face. Two technicals, our ball, and the big fella would be gone for the series, amid more Suns fan conspiracy protests against David Stern. Uh… sorry about that Matty! Way to take one for the team.

- More pick-and-rolls with Manu and Tim. I was surprised we didn’t go to this more, especially with Shaq in there. Hopefully we will in the future. Neither one can be guarded in that situation.

Well that’s that. A lucky win, but a win nonetheless. If we can grab Game 2 we put immense pressure on the Suns, knowing they have to win four of five. Hopefully the guys will come out faster this time around. I can’t believe we didn’t open with Tony going to the cup at will. At least it’ll be a night game on Tuesday. Let’s really give Suns fans something to whine about.

Three Stars… (sorry boring)

3. Tony Parker – 26 and 5, with only two turnovers. He shot over 50% and had a great second half. Again, the defense needs work.

2. Manu Ginobili – 24-4-5, with three steals, and a team best +9 in 45:00. He carried the mail in the second OT, came up with the game winning points and had the assists on both game tying threes from Fin and Timmy. Now we just need him to be able to shoot a little.

1. Tim Duncan – 40-15-5, with three blocks. He shot 16-24 and that’s with three attempts blocked. One of t two or three greatest games he’s ever played, and for once a 40 point effort wasn’t wasted on a loss. Now he just has to do it about fifteen more times.

Spurs-Suns Could be Among Best in History

The 2008 playoffs just started an hour ago and conventional wisdom has it that the Celtics will face the Lakers in the Finals and the San Antonio Spurs' season might be over two weeks from now.

No doubt, with all the drama of last year's series, when Robert Horry checked Steve Nash into the scorer's table during game four and Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw were suspended for game five for leaving the bench, the first round matchup between the Spurs and Suns is the series to watch.

Dan Bickley writes for The Arizona Republic:

As battle-scarred basketball fans in the Valley can attest, the Suns meet almost all the requirements of a classic, timeless sporting tale. The only thing missing is the happy ending. And to get there, they must finally slay that dragon, that black-and-silver beast living in San Antonio.

Across the NBA, this playoff series between the Suns and the Spurs is attracting major attention. Given the caliber of teams involved and their respective championship aspirations, it could rank among the best first-round series in the sport's history. It's that good.

But in these parts, it's also deeply personal. It's about revenge and settling the score. It's about standing up and defeating the schoolyard bully. It's about closure and putting a long-standing nightmare to bed.

"It's mostly for the fans, and three-fifths of our starting lineup was not here when this all started," Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni said. "But they (the Spurs) do represent the defending champions. They do wear black. So they do serve the part, (representing) a little bit of evil. And the players know there's a rivalry going on. You can come in late and still pick up on that."

Suns fans have every right to be hopeful that they'll find redemption this year, after losing to the Spurs in the second round in 2007.

Paola Boivin writes for The Arizona Republic:

The Spurs have issues. They've lost three of their past six games, including that 90-64 fiasco against Utah. Let's not forget the 21-point defeat to the Lakers and the 17-point loss to the Suns.

For all the good things that an experienced roster can bring, sometimes experience is spelled A-G-E down the stretch, and you can't help but wonder if that's what's going on here. Look at some of their second-half point totals recently: 26, 33, 34.

Yuck.

Last season they led the NBA in point differential. This season, they're barely in the Top 10. Offensively, they can't spread the floor the way they have in the past. This is not exactly a team heading into the postseason with a lot of confidence.

The Suns, meanwhile, finally have shed their one-dimensional tag.

Their flexibility was evident in back-to-back games against Memphis and San Antonio.

They played like the old up-tempo Suns against the Grizzlies, and the newfangled Suns against the Spurs, thanks to tough defense and fourth-quarter dominance.

"We're more equipped to handle different things that come at us," D'Antoni said. "That was the whole point of the trade."

Ah, yes. The trade. Have you noticed what Shaquille O'Neal has done to Tim Duncan, recently? O'Neal has limited Duncan to 15-of-40 shooting in their past two meetings.

The super-sized Saguaro gets giddy when talking about defending San Antonio's cyborg in the post.

Kiwi Sean Marks is giddy about his career-high 16 points and 13 rebounds against the Blazers. Less so about facing his former Spurs teammates.
Suns fans should keep this in mind, lest they get too 'giddy' and start counting their trophy too soon: four-time NBA champion Tim Duncan has never been eliminated in the first round. And that fact won't change this year.

Straight forward first round picks

For the record, here are my quickie playoff picks. Feel free to make yours...

East

1) Boston over 8) Atlanta in four. I'd love for something cute to happen just to frustrate Simmons, but the Hawks were running on fumes for the past two months just trying to hold on to the last spot and are obviously thrilled just to be here.

2) Detroit over 7) Philadelphia in six. A terrible match-up for a veteran Pistons squad looking to avoid too much of a hassle in the first round before moving on to the nitty gritty. Philly has youth, size, energy and they're not afraid of the paint. They're going to make Detroit work like hell to advance.

3) Orlando over 6) Toronto in six. On paper the Raptors are just as talented but they underachieved terribly all year and Bargnani was a big disappointment. They're playing Ford too much again and Calderon not enough. I almost get the sense that they know they're not good enough to do anything, so you might as well showcase Ford as much as possible to deal him in the offseason. Also, there is a massive coaching edge to Orlando. The one chance the Raps have is if both Rashard Lewis and Hedo both choke in the playoffs, and both have feeble postseason resumes thus far.

5) Washington over 4) Cleveland in six. Well, here's where the "David Stern controls the league and the refs and it's all rigged" conspiracy theorists will be watching with rapt attention. If the zebras call it straight the Wizards are clearly more equipped and healthier and better coached and should pull the mini-upset. If LeBron gets 20 FTs a game, then be very, VERY worried about the fate of your Spurs. The Wiz have Arenas back and they're using him as the sixth man these days, which is the perfect role for him. He's like the Manu of the East, but with much worse shot selection and he's certifiably insane.

West

1) LA Lakers over 8) Denver in five. The more I look at this series the more uneven it seems. Denver has nobody who can even remotely check Kobe, but LA can throw Kobe at either Iverson or 'Melo and have decent success with it. Also the coaching disparity is massive - MASSIVE. I can't stress this enough. Unless both Gasol and Odom both play like scared little girls (and they have in the past, kinda like the Magic forward tandem) this should be a formality. A high scoring formality.

2) New Orleans over 7) Dallas in seven. I'm tempted to pick the Mavs, but I can't do it. I can't buy into Jason Kidd staying with Chris Paul for seven games. I can't buy into Kidd hitting open shots. Byron Scott knows Kidd better than anyone and I'm sure he's bitter as hell that Ason got him shitcanned in Jersey. That's a huge factor. Also, I don't think Dallas has the personnel to contain David West or Tyson Chandler. Unless Dirk and The Big Bug combine for 60 a game, I don't think they have the firepower to outlast the younger, springier Nooch.

3) San Antonio over 6) Phoenix in seven. I've already discussed and previewed this. I'm gonna be conservative here and say this will be an old school late 80's early 90's style series where the home team wins every game. Obviously our backcourt will have to come up huge because Phoenix will have the frontcourt scoring edge. Again, the coaching disparity should make a difference, but not if Pop is overly stubborn. Like I said, if Stern wants the Suns to win, they can win, but if he plays it straight, the home court and our experience can be enough. I'm not betting against Timmy and Manu.

4) Utah over 5) Houston in five. Houston gets game 3, that's it. They just don't have the horses to compete with the squad that Hollinger thinks is best in the West. It really sucks that Yao got hurt. I want everyone to compete at full strength and I like the big guy a lot anyway.

Mental Note: Do Not Refer to Our Point Guard as a "Surrendermonkey" on the Radio

Game 82 vs. Utah: Spurs 109, Jazz 80

Well that sure was a different slice of meatloaf than the hard, crusty, flavorless but sure as heck not odorless brick of dog crap we've had forced down our gullets for the past two weeks, eh?

The Spurs played defense. The Spurs hit open shots. The Spurs (waitforitWaitForItWAITFORIT!!!!) actually RAN A FAST BREAK or ten. This, ladies and germs is the team I've been in love with for the past 19 years. That 64 point abomination we had to endure two weeks ago at Utah, or two Mondays ago vs. the Suns, or even more recently last weekend against LA? That shit ain't us dog.

These are the STONE COLD ASSASSIN PUT A MOTHERFUCKIN' CAP IN YOUR ASS WORLD CHAMPION SAN ANTONIO SPURS.

I mean, what a performance. Tony got us started on the right foot right away and he was like some possessed demon in the 1st quarter, except he was like passing the ball to open people. Plus, he was actively involved in the defense and coming up with steals and loose balls and actually creating havoc and mayhem in his own end. Possessed by a demon indeed, by the name of Manooooooo.

Duncan too was a beast. By far the most active he's been on defense in weeks, and on offense he actually came up with the novel approach of taking shots close to the rim instead of perfecting his turnaround fadeaway circa '99 MJ. When Timmy plays like this he's still the best player on the planet, without question.

And yes, it sure as shit was good to see BLOG back, even if it was for a mere 19 minutes. He had about as perfect a cameo as one can have, except for the part where Korver and Price each got a lay-up against him (see timvp, I pay attention to that shit, you pompous jackass). Would it have been nice to see Manu shoot more than four times? Could he have tried a couple threes? How about a nice dunk in the mug of that big dirty no good Turk bastard Okur?

yes, Yes, a thousand times YES.

But forget it, now the real season is upon us, and we have bigger fish to fry than the spectacularly overrated Utah Jazz. We WILL NOT be facing those boys again in 2008 , I promise you. David Stern's Lakers are the wrong club to be roughing up and sending to the charity stripe over and over and over again. If Kobe doesn't average at least 15 FT attempts that series, then I don't know anything.

I'm looking way ahead though, and I do apologize.

Actually I have one final thought about the Jazz, an epilogue if you will.

They tanked tonight. Absolutely, undoubtedly, unequivocally. A complete Cliff Clavin Special, if I've ever seen one. The only way they could've made it more obvious would've been to have their entire starting lineup wearing suits at tip-off.

And you know what? Jerry Sloan is a smarter man than I thought, because it was absolutely the right move.

If you're the Utah Jazz here were your two options coming into the Spurs Game:

A) Bust your ass to beat the Spurs, run Boozer and Williams to death, and try to break your nine year losing streak in a city against a team that really wants to win tonight. And if you beat them, your reward for doing so is to play them in the 1st round for a bunch more games, except now you're not facing the regular season Spurs who want to win but the MOTHERFUCKING DEFENDING CHAMPION SPURS WHO WILL CUT YOUR HEART OUT AND EAT IT IN FRONT OF YOUR HORRIFIED FAMILY to win. Yeah, you'll have home court advantage, and that'll be a factor, but you know deep inside the Spurs won't go down without a fight and even if you somehow do escape a Game 7 after a grueling series, you'll have absolutely nothing left in the tank for the young, athletic New Orleans Hornets.

Or...

B) You take a dive tonight and do just enough by the book so it doesn't look too blatant to the untrained eye. You play your starters some minutes, but nobody has to hustle, nobody has to go all out on defense and for the love of god, don't injure yourself going after a loose ball. Just make it look good for a quarter and a half, hope the Spurs hit open shots and get the important players the hell off the floor.

And what do you get? A First Round Bye. A vacation. A free pass.

Now just in case I'm being too subtle, as is my wont, let me put this in terms nobody can confuse.

The Houston Rockets suck. They're a patsy. A joke.

Sure, not in the general sense. Not in the say, Eastern Conference sense. The Rockets are probably the 12th or 13th best team in basketball right now. But as far as the '08 Western Playoffs go, if I had the power to let the Spurs play any team out there I'd pick the Rockets every day of the week and twice on Sunday. I wouldn't care if they had home court. Hell, they could play every game in Houston for all I care.

The 22 game winning streak was cute, but please, let's be serious here. It was a regular season anomaly, a fluke. It was the equivalent of Shaq having a 10-10 game at the FT line or the backup PG of Milwaukee dishing 24 assists in one game. Weird things happen in sports. As a fan of the San Francisco Giants, I remember one year Mike Benjamin, a career utility infielder who probably only had a four or five season career had 14 hits in a three game series against the Cubs.

Houston's season ended a microsecond after the team doctors diagnosed Yao's foot, period. Anyone who doesn't understand that is a sappy fool. All the inspirational mumbojumbo and the rejuvenation hype about Grampa Cookie Monster don't mean a damn thing. If the GM of that squad had any sense he would have thrown in the towel on the season, lost as many games as possible and gotten himself a high draft pick in the lottery. Instead they're going to get their feel good story asses handed to them by the Jazz in at most five games. It'll be a cakewalk and I'll be shocked if most of the games don't get farmed out to NBATV. While the Lakers face the pressure of having to score in the 120s to beat the Thuggets, the NOOCH face off against the Mavs in a morbidly amusing battle to answer which squad will have tighter postseason sphincters and our Spurs gallantly square off against the Suns, the refs, the idiot fans and every single employee of ESPN, the don't-mind-us Jazz will merrily skip their way to Round Two, surely less winded than the Lakers who'll meet them, eventually.

Utah's travel secretary might as well get book the hotel rooms in LA now.

I may not see eye to eye with Jerry Sloan on his basketball philosophy and definitely not on his personal politics, but give him credit, he played this one absolutely right. Saying you beat the defending champs in the playoffs is a nice thing to be able to brag about, but you're better off letting somebody else try if you can. Now he has to hope that the Nugs actually make Kobe break a sweat.

As for our series with Phoenix...

Well, I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you youngsters, it won't be easy. Before we always had an edge on these guys because we could neutralize Shawn Marion like nobody else could. Against everyone else the guy is a superduperstar. Against us in May he was basically Drew Gooden. Ten, twelve points, and maybe a dozen or so mostly defensive rebounds. Decent numbers but nobody you concern yourself with at the end of the day.

We made Marion a non-factor because "The Matrix" as he fancies himself can only score in one of three ways: Transition, 3 pointers, and putbacks. Well guess what our defensive specialties are kiddies? Getting back on defense, limiting threes, and defensive rebounding. Stopping Marion didn't involve a single extra sentence in our game plan, it was all stuff we do well with regularity anyway.

But now Marion is gone and in his place is the Big Fatso and all his HILARIOUS quotes. To my shock, the jerkass has proven that he can still be an effective scorer when inspired and it really is pretty stupid at this point for us to guard him one-on-one. He's still too damn big and as accurate from two feet away as you'd expect a seven footer to be.

We gotta double him. Simple as that. Gotta double him and make him give it up. The guy is a turnover machine and just the act of making him think or pass will give us a half dozen easy fast break points. "Shaq" and "Thinking" go together as well as "Blimp" and "Hydrogen." It's like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but the exact opposite.

Besides, the Suns aren't nearly as scary from three point land as they used to be. Marion's gone. Grant Hill doesn't really shoot them too well. Barbosa is streaky as hell and I've never been all that impressed with Raja Bell. The only guy that makes me wince when he gets an open look is that whiny little hoser bitch.

Besides that little defensive adjustment the other stuff is pretty common sense. Bowen on Nash at all times because his length bothers the timing of the pick and rolls, and we have to hope the refs don't give Bruce too many ticky tack fouls. I'm more concerned about those in Phoenix than at home really. If Bruce is in foul trouble, then put Udoka on him. Or Manu. NOT TONY AND NOT VAUGHN in case I'm being subtle again.

Mr. Parker can make himself useful on defense by once again shutting down the Brazilian Banana-polisher, Leandro Barbosa. Tony owned his ass last year and he's gotta do it again.

Also, and I can't stress this enough... NO SMALL BALL, and certainly not when Shaq's in. Trying to outrun him sounds tempting in theory, but we're just not a running team with only two finishers and you can't run a fast break offense unless three or four different guys can dribble and go to the hoop hard. I'd rather see us play it straight and secure the rebounds and keep the game at our pace, hit more threes than they do and try to get dumb and dumber in foul trouble. Besides, I expect to see Bowen on the floor a lot with Nash playing and you know my feelings on playing Tiny with Bruce...

Offensively the gameplan in pretty simple. If Shaq is guarding Timmy then we run pick and rolls with Tim and Manu. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. If Amare is guarding Timmy than we post him up and laugh with glee as S.T.A.T grumbles on his way to the bench in foul trouble. That Tony takes Nash to the hole every time he's "guarded" by him is a no-brainer. If they double Tim, and I expect they will whenever Shaq is off the floor, then we have to hit some threes. Manu, Udoka, Fin, and perhaps Brent Barry have to knock those down. Really we need to hit probably 3 or 4 more bombs a game than they do, because they'll go to the line more.

I don't think I'm being a homer when I say we can do this, if we get a fair whistle. Getting home court is huge and frankly I'd be much more worried if we had to face these guys in the desert right off the bat. At home we can control the pace and play with more energy. Tony will be better as well, especially early.

Speaking of Antoine, he is definitely peaking at the right time. I'm giddy as shit that he's combined for 56 points and 23 assists in his last two games, particularly by the latter number. Plus now all his mid-season injury issues will be a positive for us. This will be the freshest Parker has ever gone into the playoffs.

Also, both Finley and Udoka seem to have their strokes going, and that's big. I don't expect either to have a monster series, but 24 points from the two of them sounds about right. We need it.

I'm not sure what Brent Barry's role will be, but he looked roughly 4,151 times better tonight than he did at Sacramento. And he always plays well vs. these guys for whatever reason. If he can give us 10 quality minutes, not kill us on defense and maybe hit a bomb or two, that'll be big. Plus, I'm salivating at the idea of Manu as our backup point and Barry at the two guard so Vaughn doesn't have to play. I'm not sure Pop is ballsy enough or un-stubborn enough to do this, but I hope and pray he'll figure it out. The JV sucks against good quick point guards and Stevie is definitely varsity quality.

Plainview will have to have a good series against these guys but I'm not worried about him at all this time of year. The midrange shot of his has never looked better and he's been a cold hearted son of a bitch in Phoenix as much as any other road playoff city. The only question in my mind is whether the zebras will give him the calls when he drives inside. They certainly didn't last time in Phoenix. Either way he'll figure it out, he always does.

Finally, the single biggest reason I'm optimistic:

No Robert Horry.

There is a God, and He is good.

P.S. Did you see what happened on our bench after Oberto got hit in the face tonight and fell down like a sack of potatoes?

Nothing. Not a damn thing.

If only stupid-ass Amare could've done that we would've beaten their asses without some bullshit ESPN manufactured idiotic controversy that had everything to do with Stern and the Suns and nothing to do with us.

P.P.S. I suppose I should mention that tomorrow at 12:47 p.m., Pacific time I'm scheduled to appear on The Steve Mason Show on ESPN radio in L.A. They wanted to talk to Matthew at PtR, but he was busy so now they're going to talk to me. I've never done anything like this before but the engineer said I should prepare ahead of time by anticipating what the questions will be and thinking of some clever jokes.

Hasn't the way Pop's coached the whole year been one long clever joke? Guess we'll find out.

We Were Wrong

Just to prove how wild the West has been this year, with one game left in the regular season, the Spurs could finish as high as second and as low as sixth. My concern is that they'll finish third, which isn't good news. More on that in a second.

Two weeks ago I asked our readers, "Who will the Spurs play in the first round of the playoffs?"

As of today, 71 readers voted:

• 17 picked Golden State, and they've been eliminated.
  
• 19 picked Dallas and 22 picked Denver, but the Spurs can't finish first and its not likely they'll finish second, so won't face either of those teams.

In other words, a whopping 85% of our readers were wrong, including myself. (I was hoping against all hope that we would draw the Warriors.)

Whatever happens tonight and tomorrow, let's all hope that the Spurs don't face the Suns in the first round. Why? The Suns beat the Spurs three times during the regular season and swept them at home. And the Suns with Shaquille O'Neal match up better against the Spurs than they did with Shawn Marion.

If the Lakers hold on to beat the Kings tonight, as they most likely will, there are 18 possible outcomes for the Spurs. If the Spurs beat the Jazz tomorrow, there is a 67% chance they will face the Suns in the first round and a 33% chance they will face the Rockets. No matter what, they will have the homecourt advantage.

If the Spurs lose to the Jazz tomorrow, things get ugly. There is a 33% chance they'll face the Rockets with homecourt, but a 67% chance they'll face either the Jazz or the Suns without homecourt.

Spurs Dynasty Fantasy League Finals

I'd like to personally thank the 18 managers who participated in the 2007-2008 Spurs Dynasty Fantasy Leagues on Yahoo! Sports and congratulate our finalists:

San Antonio Spurs Dynasty (ID# 4323)

Final:
  (1) Terremoto Williams vs (3) Chile Verde

3rd Place Game:
  (4) Kilgore Rockets vs (2) Chicago_dx

San Antonio Spurs Dynasty II (ID# 108780)

Final:
  (4) Boston Celtix vs (2) DeadMoney

3rd Place Game:
  (1) Belarus Zubrs vs (3) Guacamole

Interestingly enough, only two Spurs are on any of these eight rosters: Kurt Thomas for Chicago_dx and Tim Duncan for DeadMoney.

We'll be hosting at least two leagues next year. If you're interested, drop me a line at dingo at spursdynasty dot com.

It's April, Fool!

Consider this:

• The New Orleans Hornets are in first place in the West, tied with the Spurs.
  
• The Spurs have the longest active winning streak in the league at 7 games. This comes after starting off the month of March with a 5-5 record.
  
• The Dallas Mavericks are occupying the 7th seed in the West, but are only a game ahead of the 9th seed Nuggets. Smart money says the Mavericks won't make the playoffs.
  
• Over the last four games, the Michael Finley of 2008 is looking a lot like the Finley of 2003, averaging 19.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

Did someone say April Fool's?

Seriously, March was Mad, but April promises to be even crazier. Just 2.5 games separate the top six teams in the West. In other words, with just eight games left in the Spurs' regular season, saying that every game counts is an understatement.

Thanks to a friend in the organization, we have some exclusive footage of the Spurs working on a new play that involves recently resigned Brent Barry. Could this clip, which features Tim, Manu, Bruce and Brent, be a sign of a prosperous April for the Spurs?