Saturday, May 12, 2007

Duncan Domination


Two words sum up game three of the Suns-Spurs series: Tim Duncan. The Spurs big man proved to be too much for the Suns to handle, scoring 33 points on 9-14 shooting and grabbing 19 boards.
The Suns couldn't stop Duncan from hitting his patented turn around jumper off the glass. Kurt Thomas wasn't as effective as he was in game two, and Amare Stoudemire was saddled with foul trouble for the entire game. Amare scored 21 points on 7-11 shooting, but was only to play 20 minutes after picking up four fouls early in the third quarter. He played just 19 seconds in the fourth before picking up his fifth foul, and didn't return to the game until very late in the contest.
The Suns were able to get out to an early lead - they ended the first quarter up 30-25, despite a poor half from Steve Nash. Nash was scoreless in the first half.
With Nash not shooting the ball, and Amare in foul trouble the Suns looked to the trio of Shawn Marion, Raja Bell, and Boris Diaw to keep them in the game. Bell had 12 first half points and was a perfect 4-4 from three point range. Diaw looked like the Diaw of last year with aggressive moves to the basket. Marion was back to his normal self - scoring on a variety of jumpers and dunks.
In the second half, the Suns defense failed them as did their offense. Diaw and Bell were nowhere to be found. Nash's shooting woes continued. He ended 6-17 from the field.
The Spurs were able to do anything they wanted on offense. Weather it was Duncan scoring in close, or Bruce Bowen - the NBA's dirtiest player - hitting threes in the corner.
The Rat Bastard Ginobili also got into the act. The Suns left him relatively unguarded and he scored 24 points on 8-19 shooting including a number of his patented out of control drives through the lane.
Overall, the Suns shouldn't be too dissapointed. Their two first team All-NBA players - Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire were relatively taken out of the game and they only fell by 7 points. I can't imagine Nash will hae such a bad game - and Amare can't commit stupid fouls like he did tonight.

Game four on Monday is a must win for the Suns - I'm confident that they'll come out with the same fire they did in game two. After all - we just need one win in San Antonio.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Spurs had they're dirty tricks with a kick in Nash's groin by Bowen (should have been a flagrant), and in 2nd quarter Horry tried to sell an obvious 3rd foul on Stoudemire.

Marion nearly poked Ginobili's eye out ;)

It felt like all calls went to the Spurs.