5.19 Spurs win classic - Big Three put end to rugged, eventful series with Suns

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Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) win classic - Big Three put end to rugged, eventful series with Suns

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA051907.01C.BKNspurs.suns.gamer6.3e0891a.html

Web Posted: 05/19/2007 01:10 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News

Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) general manager R.C. Buford didn't envision this. Not when he plucked a skinny teenager out of Argentina eight years ago. Nor, two years later, when he gambled a first-round pick on an 18-year-old point guard from France, of all places.

But on Friday night there they stood, Manu Ginobili (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/manu_ginobili) on one side, Tony Parker (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/tony_parker) on the other, each flanking Tim Duncan (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/tim_duncan), together pushing the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) past the Phoenix Suns and into the Western Conference finals.

Ginobili, having regained his closer's edge, scored 33 points and took a playoff personal-best 11 rebounds. Parker added 30 points, 21 coming in the first half as he steadied his teammates.

With Duncan just missing a triple-double with 24 points, 13 rebounds and a franchise-playoff record nine blocks, the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) had too much for the Suns, ending the teams' second-round series in six games with a 114-106 victory at the AT&T Center.

"Those guys," Brent Barry (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/brent_barry) said, "were absolutely unbelievable."

As a result, the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) will open the conference finals against the Utah Jazz at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the AT&T Center.

The Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) have only a day to prepare for the Jazz, but, for now, they're simply happy to be rid of the Suns.

After a rugged, physical series that had split open Steve Nash's nose, discolored Ginobili's left eye and left three players suspended, the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) closed out Phoenix in the most traditional of methods: by leaning on their stars.

"The Big Three," Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said, "hit every important shot."

The Suns, meanwhile, are left to wonder what if. What if Nash had been able to get back on the floor at the end of Game 1? What if Amare Stoudemire hadn't run into foul trouble in Game 3?

What if Robert Horry (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/robert_horry) hadn't body-checked Nash into the scorer's table, earning him a two-game suspension and sidelining Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for Wednesday's critical Game 5 loss in Phoenix?

"I want to give them a lot of credit," Nash said, "but at the same time we didn't get any favors."

Nash and Stoudemire, who had 38 points and 12 rebounds in his return, still almost led Phoenix to a rousing comeback, trimming a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter to as few as five.

"They just ran out of time," Duncan said. "... I can understand why people would want to see it go one more game, but you also have to understand why we didn't want it to."

Bruce Bowen (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/bruce_bowen) had something to do with that. He checked Nash for much of the game, limiting him to just four shots and three points in the first three quarters.

"Bruce had the toughest job on the team," Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) coach Gregg Popovich said. "I don't know how he does it. He doesn't seem to get tired.

"I thought he did a very good job on a great player, and that's all I can ask from him."

Popovich also couldn't have asked for much more from his stars.

The Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) began to take control after Duncan sent Kurt Thomas (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/kurt_thomas) to the bench midway through the third quarter with his fourth foul. Rather than risk having Stoudemire also get in foul trouble, the Suns began double-teaming Duncan, which quickly opened up shots for his teammates.

Bowen and Ginobili made consecutive 3-pointers out of a timeout and Ginobili added another less than two minutes later.

Bowen drilled his second 3-pointer and Jacque Vaughn (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/jacque_vaughn) made a couple of jump shots to send the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) into the final quarter with a 14-point advantage.

"More than anything, it was the trust we had in each other," said Duncan, who set the defensive tone with five blocks in the first quarter. "We hit the open guys. We made the right plays."

After totaling just 14 points in the series' first two games, Ginobili produced one of his best playoff performances. He buried his fourth 3-pointer as Raja Bell fouled him in front of the Suns' bench early in the fourth quarter.

When Ginobili snared an offensive rebound over the head of Nash and sprung back up to float in another shot, the Spurs' lead had grown to 20.

"You've seen Manu before," Popovich said. "It's what he does. He just plays."

Nash, however, didn't go easy. He scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, drawing Phoenix within six on a 3-pointer with 46.9 seconds left.

But with Duncan having previously just thrown in a tough jump hook, Parker stepping into an 18-footer and Ginobili coolly making his free throws, the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) secured the victory.

"You're looking at the best player to play in the last 10 years," D'Antoni said of Nash. "He can't be Superman every night."

Not on a night when all three of the Spurs' stars were aligned.

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Spurs-Suns notebook: Van Gundy: Suspensions unwarranted

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA051907.06C.BKNspurs.notebook.3e08980.html

Web Posted: 05/19/2007 01:37 AM CDT
Mike Monroe
Express-News

Jeff Van Gundy, fired Saturday as coach of the Rockets despite a 52-win season, was at the AT&T Center for Friday's Game 6 of the Spurs-Suns series, providing analysis for ESPN and some historical perspective on the suspensions that followed Game 4.

Van Gundy was coach of the Knicks when the Heat came back from a 3-1 deficit to win an Eastern Conference semifinal after four Knicks were suspended for leaving the bench during an altercation in Game 5. Among those suspended was All-Star center Patrick Ewing.

The mini-melee that erupted after Robert Horry (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/robert_horry)'s flagrant foul on Steve Nash in Game 4, said Van Gundy, seemed relatively mild.

"Personally, I didn't think Horry's foul was bad," Van Gundy said. "I thought it was a flagrant foul. I've seen worse in these playoffs. I didn't think of it as excessively hard. I thought we had some harder fouls in our Utah series, to be honest.

"What I have a problem with are up-in-the-air (fouls) and blows to the head. Those, to me, are dangerous. They are suspension-worthy."

Neither Amare Stoudemire nor Boris Diaw merited suspension for leaving the vicinity of the Suns' bench, in Van Gundy's view. He said three of his Knicks — Allan Houston, Larry Johnson and John Starks — clearly deserved their suspensions in 1997, but Ewing did not.

"To me, you can learn from previous experiences," Van Gundy said. "What you try to do in anything is learn and make everything better. I thought Stoudemire and Diaw did a good job of initially starting but then getting themselves under control quickly and retreated."

Upon further review: The rule mandating suspension for players judged to have left the bench area during altercations in games is certain to be reviewed this summer, according to Suns chairman Jerry Colangelo.

"I know the competition rules committee will be talking about the rule just because it's current," said Colangelo, one of the NBA's most influential executives for more than 25 years. "When you have an incident like this, that's what takes place."

The rule, Colangelo said, needs to remain. It is the punishment that needs to be revisited.

"If the rule is to stay as it is — and it probably will have to, because there has to be a black-and-white kind of a thing, or else it's just subjective judgment — then I think what you have to look at is just the penalties," Colangelo said. "There has to be flexibility built into the penalties based on circumstance."

Bowen relieved: With the possible exception of Horry, no Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) player was more relieved about not having to go back to Phoenix than Bowen.

"All my travel plans this summer will take me around Phoenix — that's how relieved I am," said Bowen, who received a harsh reception from Suns fans in Game 5 after Stoudemire accused him of being a "dirty player."

Stoudemire made the charge after he accused Bowen of kicking him from behind during a dunk attempt in the Suns' 101-81 victory in Game 2.

Bowen said he wanted to shake hands with Stoudemire after Game 6 but didn't get the chance.

"Amare took off after the game," Bowen said. "I got to shake Steve's hand and there is mutual respect there."

Spurs-Jazz tickets: Tickets for the first two games of the Western Conference finals will go on sale at noon today.

Tickets can be purchased only online (spurs.com or ticketmaster.com) or by phone at (210) 225-8326.

Fans are allowed to purchase up to four tickets per game.

Duncan's block party: Tim Duncan (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/tim_duncan)'s five blocks in the first quarter matched the Spurs' playoff record set by David Robinson.

Robinson had five blocks in the third quarter of the opening game of the Spurs' first-round series against Golden State on April 25, 1991.