Posts tagged ‘Amare’

Let me be the first to say, nice try Phoenix.  You really did put in quite the effort.  Trading a young superstar, acquiring an aging big man.  All with the hopes of finally finishing off that arch-nemesis team from San Antonio.  The thugs that knocked you out last year.  The son-of-a-guns that seemed to have foiled you nearly every step of the way since Steve Nash became a Hall of Famer.

Well, if you’re the Suns, at least you can take solace in these few truths. 

1. You still have two more years of Shaq’s 20 million dollar contract left!
2. You did win one game, and did it really impressively.
3. You came close in Game 5.

To put some perspective on this series, the Spurs have now beat the Suns in four of the last six playoffs.  The Suns, throughout the drought, haven’t changed much.  Steve Nash still captains the ship, Mike D’Antoni runs the the team from the bench (though, according to Yahoo! Sports Johnny Ludden, maybe not for much longer).

The personnel may have changed (the Joe Johnsons, the Jim Jacksons, the Leandro Barbosas, the Grant Hills, the Boris Diaws), but honestly, it doesn’t matter much.  There are a few fundamental flaws in this team that simply aren’t changed by bringing in Shaq, or having Steve Kerr come in and run the team. 

They just don’t play defense from the perimeter (everyone not named Raja is basically a human turnstyle), or from inside (while its nice, theoretically to have Shaq and Amare down there, neither is that great of a defender at this point in their careers, and both are too often in foul trouble).  Further, they are always making stupid mistakes.  Boris Diaw backing Ginobili down, throws the ball to the second row.  Raja Bell makes a bad pass to Steve Nash on the inbounds, he can’t control it, they lose possession.  Mental mistakes seem to have always plagued this club, the image of Steve Nash looking wide-eyed at an official for a call at the end of any game sticks in my head as the logo for this team.

As for the Spurs, Tim Duncan, business as usual, and Tony Parker, despite that missed FT down the stretch, was the man.  Hate to say it, but he was amazing this series.  Over 29 points per game, TP did his thing.  Manu clearly needs the rest until whenever the NOH series starts.  Ginobili has been clearly limited, hitting the low last night with only 8 points in just over 27 minutes of action.  He doesn’t look to have the same explosiveness throughout the whole game.  A spurt here, a drive there, but not a sustained, Manu Ginobili-esque effort.  He should be fine.

 As for now, all you can say is good riddance to the Suns.  They did try their damnedest to beat the Spurs, even mortgaging their future and changing the makeup of their team.  Too bad, I guess.  Some things just are better left alone.  Or, left out.