The day is finally here. After both the Spurs and the Suns closed out their series on Wednesday, they had to wait 4 days before they played again. Luckily, there were enough other playoff games going on - and a Dallas turd of a series - that allowed for most of the "experts" to lay off the Suns/Spurs series for awhile. Now the spotlight is here again and it's time to show the world what the Suns can do.
We all know what the Spurs are. A slow, methodical, boring team that usually gets things done. They're getting old but they are also getting smarter. They know when to complain and how to complain. Tim Duncan obviously knows how to complain. He does it on every foul call against him and most calls against his teammates so he's perfected the talent. It should be a good series of complaining with Tim Duncan doing his classic "what-the" face - scrunching it up into a little ball, tilting his head and whining to the ref like someone just took his favorite toy - and Amare Stoudemire doing his "I didn't take anything" post - holding his hands out, walking toward the ref and then abruptly turning the other way, acting like he can't understand why anyone would want to call a foul on him.
In fact, I'm going to call that the matchup of today's game. Whoever can do the most complaining to the refs without getting a technical will help their team win the game. Unfortunately, Tim Duncan has immensely more experience in this so Amare is going to have to bring his A game.
I honestly think the Spurs are a bit complacent after winning the last regular season competition between the two teams. They think they have Steve Nash figured out. Unfortunately for them, Steve Nash can't be figured out. The Lakers also thought they had Steve Nash figured out when they slowed him down in Game 3 of the previous series. What happened the next game? Oh, he only went off for 23 assists!
The Suns are going to be at home, the crowd is going to be crazy and I think the Suns will be playing at top capacity. If they can just get to running a bit, they should be able to blow this Spurs team out of the building. The key to doing that is playing good defense, keeping Tim Duncan out of the lane and making him shoot those short jumpers. And then even more important is getting those rebounds!! If Amare can box Duncan out and let someone else get the rebound, the Suns should get this game. If Amare tries for the rebounds and doesn't find Tim Duncan to box out? Well, it's going to be a little scary.
Pounding the Rock has some words about the Suns/Spurs matchup today. I don't agree with a lot of what is said - mainly that the Suns don't work hard on defense. But hey, that's just a biased opinion from a Spurs fan. Look how much Matthew wrote! He's obviously scared about getting blown out and just can't stop writing. Kind of like the guy who gets nervous at a pick-up game of basketball and just starts talking because he either keeps talking or realizes what he's up against and wets his pants. This is just Matthew's way of keeping the bad thoughts from coming out.
My bold prediction? Suns in 6 (Matthew picked Spurs in 6)
What are your thoughts on this game?