The Phoenix Suns advanced to the second round of the NBA Playoffs with a 99-90 win against the Portland Trailblazers. It was a determined, scrambling defensive effort, led by Grant Hill, that limited the Blazers to just 38% shooting from the field. And it is just the kind of defensive effort that Phoenix will need in their matchup with the San Antonio Spurs.
During the D’Antoni era, the Suns were eliminated by the Spurs three times.
- 2005. The Spurs dumped the Suns in five games after running to a 3-0 series lead, and went on beat the Pistons in seven to claim the NBA Championship. This series was Amare Stoudemire’s coming out party, averaging 26 PPG against Tim Duncan. Yet he would miss the 05-06 season after having microfracture knee surgery.
- 2007. The Spurs won a controversial game five with Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw suspended, and then outlasted the Suns in San Antonio to prevail in six games. The Spurs went on to sweep the Cavs in the NBA Finals. To date, the Suns’ best chance at winning the title.
- 2008. Phoenix made a trade for Shaquille O’Neal, largely to toughen up to beat the Spurs. The teams met in the first round and the Spurs had consecutive buzzer-beating 3-pointers from Michael Finley and Tim Duncan to stretch the game to double overtime victory. Phoenix went out in five, and ultimately missed the 2009 playoffs in the aftermath.
Now, the first chapter of the Suns-Spurs rivalry in the new decade will be written. San Antonio is a powerhouse seventh seed and made light work of the Mavericks in six. The Suns don’t have the same mentality as the D’Antoni teams, possessing defensive buy-in, a deep rotation and veteran leadership.
The stage is set, a magnificent second round matchup. Go Suns!
Frye was cold from beyond the arc until the two minute mark, draining a three pointer and giving the Suns their biggest lead of the game. The margin proved decisive and Phoenix closed out the game from the line.
Watching Bynum, one word comes to mind. Patience. The Lakers finished eleventh in the Western Conference in 2004-05 season. Kobe Bryant could only manage All-NBA Third Team and the MVP was one Steve Nash. With the 10th pick in the 2005 draft, the Lakers took Andrew Bynum and he became (at the time) the youngest player to ever play in the NBA. No-one outside of the Lakers’ front office believed in the pick, and certainly not Kobe, who would have loved to turn Bynum into Jason Kidd. But times have changed.
There was however only one talking point from the game. In the first quarter, Lebron James drove to the hoop and had his dunk blocked by Jermaine O’Neal. Dwyane Wade calmly collected the loose ball, pushed up the court and surprised Anderson Varejao at the rim with the dunk of the season. In fact, it was one of the most explosive in-your-face dunks that I have ever seen.
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