As you are all aware, our beloved Phoenix Suns will be facing the evil San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the 2010 NBA Playoffs. This is not the first time we have seen the Spurs on the playoff stage, as we all know the Spurs have sent us home fishing FOUR times since 2003 (2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008). The Suns certainly have their hands full if we look at it from a historical perspective. It is, however, going to take more than history for these Spurs to beat us. These are the reasons why the Suns will triumph.1. We owned them during the regular season. Sure, we didn't sweep them, but the two games we won we were in control most of the game and won by double digits. In the one game we dropped to them this season, we only lost by three after a missed JRich dunk in the final minute.
2. This is a completely different Suns team than those that have lost to the Spurs. Only three players remain on the Suns from the 2007 team that was hip-checked out of the series: Steve Nash, Amar'e Stoudemire, and Leandro Barbosa. We all know Nash and Stoudemire play very well against the Spurs and that Shawn Marion always choked. (To give you an example, in 2005, Marion averaged 19.4 points in the regular season. During the series with the Spurs? Only 7.8!) This Suns team features a hungry Grant Hill (who was on the 2008 team but did not contribute because of injuries) and an extremely confident Jason Richardson. He was an absolute nightmare for Portland in first round! Although Richardson's playoff experience is limited, he was on the 2007 8 seed Warriors that ousted the number 1 Mavericks. His playoff numbers in both 2007 and 2010 are better than his regular season numbers for each respective season. In other words, it looks like he is not a "Shawn Marion".
3. Robin Lopez is scheduled to return. While it has been determined that he will sit out at least game one, Robin should be back at some point of this series! I don't mean to bag on Jarron Collins, he is doing his best, but he is no Robin Lopez. I am looking forward to have Lopez back and I feel that a rusty Lopez is still better than Collins (again, I am not taking away from Collins, I do not feel he hurts our team, he does what he is supposed to do, he just doesn't help much either).
4. We have a real bench. In the D'Antoni days, the Suns bench ran seven deep. Eight deep tops. These days, it is ten deep with Dragic, Barbosa, Dudley, Amundson and Frye coming off the bench. This bench brings the defensive tenacity the Suns have always needed and is also known to build leads at times. In the past, the Suns would fall apart when Nash was off the floor but that is no longer the case. We finally have a dependable backup in Goran that allows us to not depend on Nash for everything. In my opinion, this was the biggest hole in teams past.
5. We have home court advantage. This may be an obvious one. We may not be the most raucous crowd in the National Basketball Association (I spelled it out this time so as not to be confused with Nathan Boyd Anderson) but we tend to win at home. This is just one more edge that we have.
6. The Suns play awesome as underdogs. Even though the Suns have home court advantage, they are underdogs to the 7 seed Spurs. I am totally fine with that. I actually wouldn't have it any other way. The Suns have been written off this entire season starting last Summer. Few people predicted them higher than a number 8 seed and many experts felt that the Suns wouldn't even make the playoffs. They did more than just make the playoffs and performed well enough to secure a number 3 seed in the wild western conference that featured EIGHT (yes you read correctly EIGHT (8)) teams with 50 or more wins. Now, even after owning, nay, pwning the Blazers in three of their four victories in the first round, eight out of ten experts on ESPN say the the Spurs are going to win. The Suns can't wait to once again prove these experts wrong.
7. Charles Barkley isn't talking crap about us this season! In fact, he is on the Suns bandwagon and going with his heart and picking the Suns!
While this Spurs team does still have Duncan, Ginobli and Parker, I feel that we finally have a complete team that can defeat our dreaded foes.
What'd I miss?
Dude Matt, I LOVED the article... I think you pretty much got it all covered. I agree with all of your reasons 100%!! I think the biggest factor is that we really are a different team than in the past, and our bench is killer.
ReplyDeleteThe only other reason why the Suns will beat the Spurs that I could come up with is that I really think that our team wants it more than then the Spurs do. Duncan's old... and he's been to the finals plenty a times. Our starters (especially Nash & Stoudemire) have a lot of Playoff experience but are still craving the gold. I think Grant Hill will kick it up some more too since he's never even been this far in the playoffs. And I think the rest of our bench is dying to play their hearts out and keep us alive.
Oh and I totally think that Sir Charles' support is going to help us through too. Elisabeth and I were at James and Erin's last Saturday and we watched Barkley talking up the suns after the Cavs/Celtics game... it was awesome... and hilarious.
BRAVOO MATTY BOY BRAVOOO
ReplyDeleteBater I and were just saying after the last game that we need Matt to write an article about why we are going to beat the Spurs so we're not so nervous...so this is perfect..BRAVOOO
That entry was where amazing happened. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteAll I listened to today was the sports radio, so here is a quick synopsis of some of the things they were saying. I figured those who don't have access to AZ radio would like it.
They all thought J-Rich was a HUGE difference maker. Matt mentioned it as well and it seems to be a big factor. Popavich's plan is to let Amare do all he wants and limit everyone else. If he tries that this time, he needs to control J-Rich. The problem is the most likely defender is Richard Jefferson, who is not a superb defender. So J-Rich has a chance to play huge and if he does, we won't give a rats butt, we will win.
Another one the radio guys talked about was the old McDyess guarding Amare. He didn't do much on Dirk and won't do much on Amare.
The bigest factor though, according to 620 KTAR is Alvin. They say he doesn't get flustered like D'Antoni. He has developed the bench. And he will probably make better adjustments during the course of the series.
So thats the cliff notes version of what the valley radio guys are saying. They have even replaced the name "Planet Purple" with Planet Payback." haha Let's hope they are right!