The Suns tied their Western Conference Semifinal series at 1-1 last night with a 101-81 drubbing of the San Antonio Spurs at US Airways Center.
PHX was led by a strong defensive performance by Kurt Thomas, who was inserted in the starting lineup by Mike D'Antoni. Thomas did an excellent job guarding Tim Duncan. Duncan did score 29 points in the Spurs loss, however Thomas was able to guard the Spurs All-Star one on one, and allow the other Suns to stick with their assignments. Kurt's presence in the paint also allowed Amare Stoudemire to stay out of the foul trouble that saddled him in game one. Amare responded big, with 27 points, including a 15 point third quarter. Shawn Marion also had a big defensive game. After giving up over 30 points to Tony Parker in game one, The Matrix bounced back - holding the French point guard to just 13 points on 5-14 shooting while only notching three assists. Marion also forced Parker into four turnovers and blocked three shots.
The Suns tried to establish the tempo early, jumping out to a 7-1 lead in the opening minutes of the game. After a Spurs timeout, the men in black bounced back and took a 25-19 lead going into the second quarter.
The Suns took control in the second, outscoring the Spurs 30-17 while getting the fast breaks that the Suns are used to.
The third quarter was a draw, but the Suns really put their foot down in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Spurs 30-17 over the final 12 minutes. The Suns were able to establish their tempo by forcing the Spurs into bad shots (other than Duncan) - The Spurs shot just 42% on the night. Free throw shooting also hurt the Spurs. They shot just 9-16 from the stripe.
The real story though was the Suns defense. After getting outrebounded by a large margin in game one, the Suns cut the bigger Spurs advantage on the boards to just one. The Suns also forced San Antonio into 18 turnovers and were able to take advantage with the fast breaks that weren't available in game one.
After the game, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said "I thought we were supposed to be the defensive team"
The series heads to San Antonio and resumes on Saturday. The Suns need to keep the defensive intensity that they displayed last night and hopefully get at least one win in San Antonio. It's a tough place to win (especially for the Suns) but a 20 point victory will do wonders for their confidence.
This series is shaping up to be as good as advertised.
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