San Antonio Spurs

[ju-Luis]

---

awwww.. lubong napud nang suns.. wa nana silay klaro... daog nata daan.. ang score ky 203-89.. hahaha

[tackielarla]

[MalditohoN]

goodbye to the suns, their playoff run this year, i think its OVER.... they can't even defeat the mavs and the jazz how could they defeat the spurs? the spurs are even short handed... o'neal your old, its time for you to retire and give lopez and amare their playing time, its their time now not yours...

[tackielarla]

[tackielarla]

Parker smokes Suns again
Jeff McDonald

Physically, Mike D’Antoni was nowhere near the AT&T Center on Sunday afternoon. He was 1,800 miles in New Jersey, preparing his New York Knicks team for a game against the Nets that would have no bearing on the Western Conference playoff race.

D’Antoni’s presence, however, was certainly felt in the building the Spurs call home, much to the chagrin of the team he used to coach.

It was felt with every mid-range jumper Tony Parker tossed in down the stretch to rebuff a Phoenix comeback and carry the Spurs to a 103-98 victory. It was felt again in Parker’s final statistical line, which looked about like most any other he’s laid on the Suns over the years: 30 points, nine assists, 13 of 22 from the field.

“It started with Mike D’Antoni, with his philosophy to go under the pick and rolls every time,” Parker said, explaining his perennial mastery of the Suns. “(Spurs coaches) always told me against Phoenix, make sure you get 15 or 20 shots, because otherwise we’re too flat and nothing’s happening.”

If Gregg Popovich can claim credit for making Shaquille O’Neal into a foul shooter, via liberal use of Hack-a-Shaq in last year’s playoffs, Parker is free to credit D’Antoni with creating the monster he has become.

“He made me work harder on my game,” Parker said.

The fruits of that labor were once again on display Sunday afternoon. After picking his spots throughout the first half, Parker exploded for 22 points in the second, producing his fourth 30-point game since Manu Ginobili hit the injured list.

Roger Mason Jr. added 18 points and Tim Duncan enjoyed a 17-point, 15-rebound day as the Spurs (42-20) beat the Suns for the third time in four meetings.

Steve Nash scored 23 points with 11 assists, while Leandro Barbosa had 20 points for the Suns, who after an 0-4 road trip has fallen four games behind Dallas for the West’s final playoff seed.

“We’re in a desperate situation,” Nash said.

As he has so many times before, Parker piled on Phoenix’s desperation.

It says something about Parker’s traditional tormenting of the Suns that Sunday’s game barely cracks his list of great games against them. In the playoffs last year, Parker averaged 29.6 points, including games of 41, 32 and 31.

The Suns can at least take heart in this: When it comes to an inability to slow Parker, they have company. He is averaging 26.5 points since the All-Star game.

“He’s been carrying us for a while now,” Popovich said.

Before the game, Suns interim coach Alvin Gentry was asked how he might hope to handle Parker. Gentry, a former D’Antoni assistant, gave the same answer his ex boss might have.

“You have to do everything you can to keep him out of the paint,” Gentry said. “It’s kind of like LeBron (James) or one of those guys. If they’re making jump shots, you have to live with that.”

Instead, the Suns died that way.

The Spurs took a 58-45 lead into half, outscoring the Suns 13-0 over the final 5:20 of the second quarter. Parker, however, knew better than to relax.

“Against Phoenix, it’s never over,” Parker said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”

It wasn’t a surprise, then, that the Suns rallied to tie the game early in the fourth. It also wasn’t a surprise what happened next.

Over the next 3:48, Parker went into super stud mode. He threw in three jumpers, drove for a layup, drove and kicked to Michael Finley for a pull-up basket, and swiped two steals – one of which led to a Finley 3-pointer.

By the time Parker took a breath, the Spurs were ahead 92-82 with 4:20 left. When the Suns closed again in the final half-minute, Parker threw in a runner to put the Spurs ahead by seven.

With his fourth-quarter flurry, Parker put the Suns away.

“Tony has worked on his game,” Mason said. “Watching him his first years in the league, he wasn’t a jump shooter. Now, that’s like his bread and butter.”

For that, Parker has D’Antoni to thank. And the Suns have D’Antoni to blame.

[chaowix]

goo spurs!!! go go go! stay healthy intawn ky kusog au ang Lakers

[ManWhore]

Spurs ra japun ang lisod nga kontra sa Lakers in West. Samotan nga naa si Gooden.

[tackielarla]

Hill vs. Nash in crunch time becomes a Spurs' success
Mike Monroe

George Hill played 42 seconds of the first three quarters of the Spurs' 103-98 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday at the AT&T Center.

As the Spurs were about to take the floor for the final period, a 13-point lead having been whittled to four, coach Gregg Popovich told Hill he was going back in the game, with a key assignment: control Steve Nash, the Suns' point guard who is a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player.

The rookie combo guard, his role as Tony Parker's primary backup having reverted recently to Roger Mason Jr., recalled Popovich's instructions.

“He said, ‘George get in. You've got Nash,'” Hill said.

“I said, ‘OK,' and he said, ‘I mean you've really got Nash, so pick him up full-court and work him.'”

Drafted out of IUPUI, an NCAA mid-major school in Indianapolis, primarily for his defensive abilities, Hill was on the floor for all of the final 12 minutes of the close game. He accomplished his mission, as Nash was unable to snatch victory from the Spurs' grasp.

“I thought he did a good job on Steve, which is saying a lot,” Popovich said. “He handled himself well, didn't foul him, made it tough for him to get shots. That really helped us out, because you know Steve is going to be able to try and score in those situations.”

In one key stretch midway though the fourth period, Nash committed two turnovers and missed a shot Hill contested to the point that a make would have been miraculous.

The Spurs stretched a five-point lead to 10 in 1:39 by taking advantage of Nash's miscues.

Tony Parker got credit for the steal on Nash's first turnover. But it was Hill's defense that forced the Suns' point guard to try to make the awkward, wraparound bounce pass to Shaquille O'Neal that Parker picked off.

Kurt Thomas got the steal on a second Nash turnover when Hill forced another ill-advised pass by the NBA's No. 3 assist man.

Hill's theory of defending the two-time NBA MVP: Be solid.

“Steve Nash is a great player, one of those players I watched in the NBA before I got here,” Hill said. “I just tried to give him his respect and defend as best I could.”

Before Hill defended Nash in the fourth quarter, defensive stopper Bruce Bowen took his usual turns against the Suns' star during stretches of the first three periods.

“If you've ever seen any of our series against the Suns,” Bowen said, “it's only logical to expect that I'm going to get an opportunity to do that.”

Having Hill available to hound Nash, baseline to baseline, freed Bowen to defend other Suns during crunch time.

“George did a good job,” Bowen said. “By us picking him up full-court, that took a little steam out of him. By late in the game, he was making some uncharacteristic turnovers.”

Hill attempted only one shot in the game, but it was a big one. With 1:25 left, and the Spurs nursing a three-point lead, he took a slick pass from Mason on a baseline cut and scored a layup.

[tackielarla]

Opposite, and yet aligned with Popovich
Buck Harvey

Alvin Gentry should have been Gregg Popovich on Sunday afternoon. Gentry should have called time, and he should have screamed.

Gentry had a right.

He instead coached as the perfect fit for the imperfect team. He got what he could out of a flawed roster, and he smiled as he worked the refs, and he once again absorbed toxins from a snake-bit franchise.

Popovich, had he traded places, would have done well to do the same.

Twenty years ago, neither could have imagined this future. Then, they arrived in San Antonio as twins. They were unknown, young, broke and feeling lucky to follow Larry Brown on a great adventure.

Gentry's car had 83,000 miles on it then, and he didn't plan to add many more in San Antonio. He figured two years with the Spurs would look good on his résumé; that would help him land a college job.

So he rented a condo, talking the landlord into taking one month's rent with the promise to pay the second as soon as he got his first paycheck from the Spurs. “That's the way we all were then,” Gentry said.

Popovich was as unsure about the future. Most remember him as special, even then, with a rare mix of intelligence, charm and craziness. But no one knew. In those early days, on the team charter, Popovich would get so pepped up, he would do pushups on the floor.

Gentry was far more relaxed, and this would be his damning profile when he broke through and became the head coach of the Heat, Pistons and Clippers. They say he was too nice and that he wanted to be liked, and players didn't respond.

These are the generalities applied to those who lose games. Popovich has the opposite image now, but how different would his life have been with the Clippers?

He instead coaches his kind of guys, his way. Late in the fourth quarter Sunday, with the Suns dangerously close, Popovich yelled first at Tim Duncan, then at Ime Udoka, then at an entire huddle.

The Spurs had reason to yell back. George Hill had played 42 seconds before Popovich sent him into crunch time, and Popovich kept Duncan on the bench late in the game when the Suns went small.

Had the Spurs lost, Popovich would have heard some criticism on message boards. Otherwise, few others would have said much. Four titles provide a cushion.

Gentry has never worked with anything like this. His first head-coaching job was like this one, coming in mid-season after a firing. He's never been his own boss, as Popovich has been, and he's had players not known for always taking orders well.

Popovich should spend a day telling Shaquille O'Neal, for example, how to hedge on a pick-and-roll.

Gentry also works for a franchise steeped in financial missteps. Needing to dump salary before last season, for example, the Suns traded Kurt Thomas to the franchise then in Seattle. To take Thomas' salary, the Sonics asked for and got two first-round draft picks from Phoenix.

Popovich has never faced such personnel hell, and R.C. Buford is a reason. As for the 20-year anniversary: Buford also arrived with Popovich and Gentry.

Because Buford traded for Thomas, Gentry re-lived this Phoenix decision. Thomas battled Shaq as well as Duncan did.

So Gentry had a right to scream, to wonder why bad luck took away Amare Stoudemire, and why bad management took away Thomas. He had a right to scream about the free-throw discrepancy Sunday and to panic as his team heads toward the lottery.

In the past, he would have. He felt pressure in past jobs, and along the way, he sometimes lost his strength, which is his personality.

Now he's past that. He jokes that he has a multi-week contract, and he coaches with a stern sense of calm. He's gotten on Shaq and Steve Nash recently, and observers say he even had a Popovich moment in practice this past weekend.

Gentry does this knowing he doesn't have much of a bench, and his best days might be like Sunday. Then, the Suns did well to hang around.

For all of Popovich's reputation for defense: Nash circled with less than a minute left and found no Spurs within yards of him. His open 3-pointer would have pulled the Suns within two. Had he not missed.

Gentry signaled to Popovich as he walked off, and he spoke evenly afterward. He acted like a coach who has lost jobs before and knows life goes on. And if what he's doing now isn't good enough for Suns management, then his return to San Antonio on Sunday should mean something.

Twenty years later, Gentry was still a lot like Popovich.

[Archer sensAtion]

.


congrats daan ninyo... kamo na mka angkon sa 2nd place... wa nay ayo Nuggets!


.