San Antonio's star power
By Steve Kerr
Saturday, May 19, 2007 3:43 am EDT
Courtesy Yahoo Sports
When we look at NBA history, a common theme among NBA champions is the presence of star tandems. Cousy and Russell. Magic and Kareem. Bird and McHale. Jordan and Pippen.
The idea is that if you can put two superstars together, you've got a chance to win it all, at least in theory. When the San Antonio Spurs won their first NBA title, most of the credit -- rightfully so -- went to a pair of Hall of Fame big men, David Robinson and Tim Duncan. But since Robinson's retirement in 2003, it has been a different, very unlikely tandem that has made the Spurs the most consistent team in the NBA: Duncan and ... Bruce Bowen?
Yes, I know it doesn't have much of a ring to it (so to speak), and the names don't exactly conjure up images of West and Chamberlain. But watching San Antonio beat the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 on Friday to win the series, it was clear that Duncan and Bowen have become the most important tandem in the NBA.
I know Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are great players and are the keys to the team's success, but Duncan and Bowen define the Spurs. They're incredible defensive players -- one inside and one outside -- and their relentlessness on every possession gives opponents fits trying to score the ball.
Ultimately, the combination of Bowen's perimeter defense and Duncan's rim protection is the reason San Antonio is who it is. No matter the opponent, all Gregg Popovich has to do is put Bowen on the best perimeter player and Duncan on the best inside man, and the Spurs have an advantage.
Dirk, Carmelo, Cassell, Nash -- Bowen will take them all. Duncan will cover Shaq, Stoudemire, Garnett, etc. Bowen will harass, bother, intimidate and chop away at his opponent for every second he's on the floor, never once taking a rest. And on the rare occasion that he gets beaten to the hole, Duncan is there waiting to help.
San Antonio's defense on Steve Nash in this series was a clinic. Bowen picked him up past half court, worked him side to side, stayed with him everywhere and had help coming from Duncan constantly. The other Spurs stayed at home on three-point shooters, so in many ways the game evolved into Nash and Amare Stoudemire against Bowen and Duncan.
Nash didn't get his customary three or four layups per game because of Duncan's positioning and long arms. And with Bowen harassing him, Nash hardly had any room for perimeter shots. As for Stoudemire, he scored well, but he had to work for his points. And most importantly, no one else had any room.
San Antonio basically said, "We're relying on Bowen and Duncan. Let's see if you can beat us." And the Suns couldn't. They were close, and if the Game 5 suspensions didn't occur, they might have pulled it off. But ultimately, they couldn't play the way they're used to playing, which is to run and make threes.
Even though Phoenix scored 100 or more points in five of the series' six games, it didn't do it the way it normally does. After averaging 10 made three-pointers per game in the regular season, Phoenix made a total of 37 in this series. Normally when a team takes away the Suns' shooting, there's no one to contain Nash on the inside, but Bowen bothered him from end line to end line, wearing him down just to the point where, even though Nash was great, he wasn't spectacular.
There's been a lot of talk this week about how boring the Spurs are, and how fans across the country don't really want to see them advance in the playoffs. Perhaps that's because their style isn't the most entertaining, or because they don't have any major personalities on the team. Or maybe it's because they're being led by the tandem of Duncan and Bowen. There have been plenty of championship teammates who brought more flash and glamour than those two. But there may never have been a pair who could defend like the Spurs' duo. And that's why San Antonio is moving on.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Very True (Steve Kerr is The Man)
Good Thoughts by an Ex-Sun
Coolest guy (Paul Shirley) ever... compares rooting for the Spurs to rooting for cancer... wow. Had a popular Suns blog than moved to ESPN and was a little bit popular. This is what he recently said about the Spurs.
"I can't imagine how anyone could root for the Spurs. It would be like cheering for cancer. Of course, they're really effective (unfortunately, so is cancer), but I don't know if a roster of such easily disliked basketball players has ever been assembled.Tim Duncan might be one of the greatest players of all time, but the constant bug-eyed complaints and the mumps-cheeks make him borderline unwatchable. Manu Ginobili was one of my favorites when he played in Italy. Here, he seems determined to bring a soccer-style sissification of basketball-along with a strong belief in the power of the bald spot-to our shores. Tony Parker looks like Gargamel. And everybody knows that Gargamel is evil"
Are you kidding me, this guy is totally ridiculous... I mean, I know that some, maybe most, people are against the Spurs this year particularly because of the controversial series with the Suns, but this guys take it to the next level. According to "The Fanhouse," "[We're] going to assume that Shirley is joking when he says rooting for the Spurs is like cheering for cancer, because he's a pretty funny guy, and the statement in and of itself doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless you treat it as a joke. It's also important to remember that Shirley used to play for the Suns, so it's not like he's just a casual observer." WHAT A TOOL.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Suns Get SPURNED in Game 1
Although the Phoenix Suns were able to score over 100 points in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals against the San Antonio Spurs they fell short of holding onto home court advantage and lost Sunday afternoon. This seems to go against conventional wisdom because the Spurs have only won two of their last eleven when they have allowed their opponents to score at least 100. Suns coach Mike D'antoni said that if his Suns could score at least 100 they'd "be in pretty good shape," but not in this case.
Although most of the referee's calls went in the Spurs favor, I have to admit some of them were questionable, I have never seen a NBA coach complain so ridiculously than D'antoni. Its actually very entertaining and funny at times, mostly because I think he looks strikingly similar to those Canadians that are on Comedy Central's South Park. When he complains it almost as if his face detaches at the mouth with his whole head flapping up and down. See....
See what I mean... Hilarious.
Anyways, we will see what happens in Game two on Tuesday evening to see if the Spurs can keep up the pressure. All we know is that this series is going to be a battle between the two best teams in the NBA and some pretty good basketball is going to be played. Its apparent this is going to be a fight by the way Steve Nash looked towards the end of the game, which by the way was worse than either Oscar De La Hoya or Maywether looked at the end of their fight on Saturday night.
Yeah... suck it up big boy.
