Thursday, May 03, 2007

Round Two: The Spurs


Last night's game was monumental for a number of reasons. First of all, I took my two month old son to his first basketball game. He got to see a great game played by the Suns and also got to see the Fakers getting knocked out of the playoffs with a 119-110 Suns win in game five. The Suns are now undefeated when he is in the building, so I may need to bring him to all remaining playoff games.
It was great to see the Suns take care of business last night. They were able to keep their composure and show that killer instinct that championship teams are made of.
Just a few hours after his first son was born, Raja Bell came out of the gate and set the tone early - scoring eight points in the opening minutes of the game. Those were all the points he would get but his defense on the Grim Raper proved to be the deciding factor in the game. All night long, Raja harrassed the Grim Raper into taking bad shot after bad shot. The Grim Raper shot 13 for 33 from the field (That's 39.4% for you ASU grads out there) and had six turnovers and just one assist - and a technical foul for crying more than my infant son. Sure he scored 34 points, as most clueless Faker fans will point out, but anyone can score if they don't pass the damn ball.
The only Faker that had a decent game was Lamar Odom - 33 points on 13-21 shooting and 10 rebounds. Luckily for the Suns he was in foul trouble most of the night. Who knows what he could have done if the game was called by actual officials that had a clue.
The officiating was awful for both teams . The Fakers had two players foul out and two more with four fouls - and the Suns had two players with five fouls. It seems that in the NBA the officials want to be as much a part of the game as the players. Either that or they are just so old and slow that they can't keep up and guess on most of the calls.

Anyway, back to the game...
The Suns held off a late Fakers run to pull away at the end. The Fakers got within 3 points when the Grim Raper went on a late run hitting a couple of the bad shots he kept jacking up...but then he kept shooting...and missing...and the Suns pulled away. Amare Stoudemire was a beast - 27 points and 16 rebounds. Matrix was his normal effective self - 26 pts 10 rebounds. Nash didn't have his best game...but the Suns got good performances all around to offset his 7 turnovers.

The next round will be the toughest for the Suns. The Spurs are a team that gives the Suns more trouble than any other team in the NBA. I feel that whoever wins this series will win the NBA title. With Dallas playing like a WNBA team agains the Warriors, they don't have the look of a champion. The Spurs lost their opener but then dominated a hot Denver team.
The two clubs met three times this season...with the Spurs winning the two games at San Antonio by close margins and the Suns dominating in Phoenix.
The Spurs first win came during the Suns awful 1-5 start. Raja Bell missed a free throw that would have won the game for the Suns, and the Spurs took the game in OT.
The next meeting was a typical Suns win at the US Airways Center. The Suns dictated the tempo and ran all over the Spurs.
The final game came in San Antonio. The Suns lost the game due to one bad quarter...it was a slow, close game, and the Suns were down by just four with two minutes to go...but made a couple of bad plays and ended up losing by eight. That game, in my mind, proved that if the Suns execute, they can beat the Spurs in a slower tempo game.

This will be a great series...the Spurs have a couple of guys that are almost as hated by Suns fans as The Grim Raper - Robert Horry and Rat Bastard Ginobili.
I can't wait until Sunday!
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
More Wins

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well played series. I actually will be a mature person and say you guys are the better team. I am dissapointed in the Lakers effort. No one showed up besides Kobe and Lamar. The officiating was terrible. Your Suns were flopping everywhere and you cannot deny it. The reason why Kobe was shooting so much was because no one was scoring. He passed the ball numerous times but the damn bum Kwame sucks(i hope we trade him). Good Luck next round. P.S: you cant say he quit this time!

Josh said...

Fakers fans crack me up. They criticize the Suns for "flopping" but they worshiped Vlade Divac - one of the godfathers of the flop (along with Danny Ainge)
Face it...the way the NBA officials call the game, flopping is as an effective defensive tactic as there is. If the league didn't call so many damn offensive fouls the players wouldn't flop as much. You can't blame the players for taking advantage of the rules. And memo to you: The Fakers flop just as much as anyone else. Look at how many garbage offensive fouls were called against Amare in this series.

And about your other point - The Grim Raper made his bed...now he has to lie in it. He wanted the championship team broken up so he could be the "go to" guy...so Jerry Buss and his puppet Kupchek decided to let him get his wish. Now he's whining that his teammates aren't any good. This piece of human waste cries more than my two month old son. I'm so glad this classless franchise is out of the playoffs so we don't have to hear their crap anymore.

Anonymous said...

Well, Steve Trash was flopping everywhere to. I dont understand why officials call a charge when a 275 pound guy tries to post up a 20 pound punk named Steve Trash, and they call a charge just because Steve Trash cant bench the bar. It ridiculous. Well, Kobe has to get help, if not, i will agree to you and say the lakers dynasty has folded. And to your point, Kobe didnt want his own team, he wanted Shaq out because their relationship wasnt there. Shaq is a bitch and old. How do you know that Kobe wanted his own team? Do you know Shaq or Kupcake? No, but hey, Lakers 13+ Rings> The Phoenix Nuns or the most classless and most arrogant franchise. Saying Kobe is arrogant, he has shitt to back it up. Dont give me he rode Shaqs back. Shaq wouldnt of won those rings if say Raja Tinkerbell was running the SG position. Who averaged 25+ and 6 dimes a game during the run?

Blaylock said...

I am not looking forward to playing these whiners.

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