Now, Im not going to throw away the Suns' fabulous win over the Spurs, but at the same time let's be real here. A single game during a tough streak of games hardly will make or break their season. Let's look at where things still stand before getting too excited.
First off the Suns are still in 6th place in the Western Conference, so the win neither moved them up or down the standings. Secondly it was a home game, and thirdly the Spurs were playing very lackluster, which surprised the heck out of me.
Yes, the Suns played probably one of their best overall games on offense and defense but they need to be able to string these kinds of games together. It starts one quarter at a time, then one half, then full games, then multiple games. Each step means more effort, more focus, and more concentration. The Suns have to demonstrate their willingness to make these commitments before anyone can say the game with the Spurs was anything other than a concentrated effort by a team desperately determined to keep from sinking further in the playoff standings.
One other thing to keep in mind regarding the Suns' recent record - the pre-all star break Suns played probably the softest schedule in the league except for perhaps maybe the Celtics, who also had a lot of games against the weaker echelon of teams in both conferences. Now they have the heart of their schedule along with a huge trade and retooling job to do, and to me it's those two factors that contribute more to their recent record than anything else.
All that said, it was a highly entertaining game, well played and executed on both sides of the ball by the Suns, and D'Antoni coached a FANTASTIC game! When Greg Popovitch compliments your coaching in his post game comments you know you did pretty damn good with your in game adjustments.
Just don't make it out to be more than it really was, one game, and they got another one coming right up. So too do the Spurs. In the end, that's all it means, one win, one loss, play the next team.
Just one game earlier they led the Jazz by 9 starting the 4th and lost by 8, a 17 point turnaround at home.
D'Antoni keeps on playing seven guys major minutes and a token 8th. Giricek played 5 scoreless minutes in the win and 11 in the loss scoring 3 points on 25% shooting.
Where are Skinner, Strawberry, and Alando Tucker????
It is not really surprising that the Spurs were a little lackluster, seeing as how this was their 6th game in 8 days, including 2 back to backs, with 3 of the games on the road.
Mar 1 @Bucks W 96-94
Mar 2 @Nets W 93-83 Game
Mar 4 Nets W 81-70 Game
Mar 6 Pacers W 108-97 Game
Mar 7 @Nuggets L 96-109
Mar 9 @Suns L 87-94
the tight rotation that D'Antoni uses has never been of all that big a concern to me. Every coach has their little eccentricities and D'antoni's big one has always been for his players to earn every single minute they spend on the floor. If he doesn't believe you will produce what he expects of you, you sit on the bench until you prove otherwise. I can live with that. It's not perfect but I respect his view that minutes are precious and should not be wasted on players who will not produce on a regular basis.
If his bench wants those minutes so badly they need to prove it in practice and when they do get in the game, then they will see more minutes as D'Antoni's confidence in them increases.
I totally agree with you Spurcse, their lackluster effort is understandable given their recent schedule.
One other thing I've always said about the Spurs, when it comes to late season team and standings management NO ONE is even in Popovitch's league. He can give the standard rhetoric about every game is important, but look at his tendencies as a coach:
* Every year the Spurs play solid until the all star break then they usually have at LEAST the top 3 or better record in the NBA for the 2nd half of the season.
* Every year the Spurs during this stretch will lose some surprising games (like to Phoenix last night), but if you notice they only lose those games that will not affect their overall playoff positioning, while at the same time giving a potential playoff opponent false hope if they have to face them.
* During these "gimme" games (as I call them) Popovitch gets to scout first hand the full strengths and weaknesses of said opponent, and gives him first hand data with which to prepare in the playoffs. Since no one plays BAD and wins, this strategy gives his team the chance to see the other team firing on all cylinders, and then they know what to prepare for in a series.
And all this without jeapordizing their playoff positioning. This is why Pops is the best 2nd half coach the league's ever seen. Even Sloan is not as good as Pop is.
Hey, Im no Spurs fan but I do try to call it fairly!
I'm surprised you think it's reasonable for the newest "run and gun offensive guru" to combine that strategy with a short rotation. When you are fastest, you need enough depth so it doesn't hurt you at the end of games. If he had played 9 or 10 deep in the past 2 years they would have won a chip, IMO...
Well, that was always the problem with the past gurus of run n gun styles, they played so deep into their benches that the players without the skills would get in there and blow the lead or give the momentum to the opposition. Run and Gun styles require a total commitment to team play and no quarter given on offense, which is why Run n Gun is so hard to be successful with long term, not enough players can do it.
D'Antoni plays a run n gun unlike the others because of a commitment to a rotation that demands production at all times, if you fail to produce, you drop out, produce you're in. Its why the Suns' version of this style has been the most successful of those tried lately.
It's not perfect but I understand the point of D'Antoni's strategy.
When the West is down to the final ten games or so, it's going to be bat shiat crazy and I'll love every second. Sports writers will be telling us who's in or out long in advance and be wrong.
Last edited by slshusker on March 10th at 7:25 PM.
So you are Sun's fan, you should be, they have one of the best point guards in the nba, but, why so many nba teams? don't be a laker fan if you hate kobe, personally, he might not be the best person in the nba, but he is the best player in the nba, (sorry lebron fans) you have to give props to a guy who works harder than any other player and takes his game seriously, the suns game against the spurs was a good one, the suns are going to turn it around, they don't have a choice, "diesel" always have proved people and the experts wrong, but does he have some gas in the tank? for the fast break style suns, I really hated the suns when they eliminated the lakers last year, I used to call the "the raisenetes", but hey "sour grapes" we are going far this year, you just watch, we are going to pull away with another run, we will be seeded number 1 or 2 and keep watching.
I am a big basketball fan, tho I admit I prefer the NBA to college, mainly because the NCAA has even more stupid rules than the NBA does. I enjoy other sports as well, tho I do admit I prefer the playoffs than the regular season for most sports other than the NBA.
My favorite teams in the NBA ?
1. Phoenix Suns
2. Dallas Mavericks
3. Chicago Bulls
4. Indiana Pacers
5. Los Angeles Lakers (Tho I can't STAND Kobe)
