No Time To Rest

The Spurs play host to the Suns tonight, in a battle between two teams that have already clinched the Western Conference playoffs.  Still, there is much to play for.  San Antonio comes in 1 game back of the leading New Orleans Hornets; the Suns sit in 6th with only 2.5 games separating them and Chris Paul. 

 Last time the two teams met, a month ago, the Spurs fell 94-87 in Phoenix.   Though, the game was much closer than it appeared, as free throws and garbage baskets put the final touches on a 7 point loss.  The result of some poor luck (Kurt Thomas not hitting wide open jumpshots, Tim Duncan missing layups–6-19 FG–) and some poor calls (come on, we all know that Duncan got clobbered and Shaq and Amare curiously didn’t get a foul call whistled on them as soon as they each got 5), the Spurs couldn’t quite close the deal.  Add all of that to how awfully the Spurs shot in that game.  They never were able to get going against a Suns team that allows over 100 points per on over 45% shooting.  For the game, the Spurs shot under 40%.  The game, even statisitcally, wasn’t pretty.

The solution, far as I see it, is fairly simple:  Get Kurt Thomas involved.  Having both Amare and Shaq allows the Suns to put bigs on and around Duncan at all times.  That being said, neither of the Suns big guys are comfortably defensively on the perimeter, where Kurt Thomas has made a living knocking down jumpers off pick-and-rolls for over the last decade.  It isn’t an accident that his best game (11 points and 7 boards in 29 minutes) came against Phoenix.  Amare likely will be on Timmy, and Shaq will not (and more importantly, cannot) pop out to contest a 15-20 footer from Kurt Thomas.

Elsewhere, the formula seems to be the same.  Allow Parker and Ginobili to dictate the pace offensively, run things through Duncan, and try not to get caught up in scoring in the 100s.  Sounds pretty easy, no?

 Playoff Picture

Games Left: 3H, 2A.  Road Games back-t0-back against LAL and Sac.

Truth is, after this game, the Spurs still aren’t out of the woods.  A tough date in L.A. with Kobe awaits, as does a rendezvous with Utah to finish off the season.  The most important thing for the Spurs–don’t take the garbage games (Seattle and Sacramento) too lightly.  Losses to those teams could wind up meaning the difference between having home court advantage or not.

What to Watch For

80+? The Spurs haven’t scored in the 80s in two games, one of which was an embarrassing 64 point effort (tied for the lowest in franchise history) against Utah.  If they want to win tonight, I’d imagine they’d have to do better than that.

More Manu  After a blistering February, Manu Ginobili has considerably cooled over the last month plus.  March saw him score 19 ppg, while the first 3 games of April have seen the average dip to just over 11.  Maybe it’s been fatigue, maybe just shots aren’t falling.  Whatever the case, this team needs him to get going if they’re going to win later on. 

Barry Time?  When will we see Brent Barry out of street clothes and in a Spurs uniform?  If the Spurs really want to get away with cheating, they’re going to have to actually play the player they reacquired.  My suspicion is that his calf injury is more serious than they’re letting on.  He does need some run though.  Unlike Robert Horry, some people can’t just be dusted off for the playoffs.