As much as I love this blog, you probably shouldn’t just make up stats. Gives the Suns fans more ammo to be raging idiots, and violates the first modicum of respectable and legitimate journalism. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/amare_stoudemire/career_stats.html Amare’s career stats obviously show he’s “eclipsed more than 10 rebounds playing for Phoenix”. He’s a mental midget, a defensive liability, and a thug with his entire family currently in prison, but he’s averaged 10.7 and 12.1 rebounds twice in the playoffs and had 17 rebounds against New Orleans in February of this year, his career high

de·fense
resistance against attack; protection

or in the sports world…

a. the practice or art of defending oneself or one’s goal against attack, as in fencing, boxing, soccer, football or BASKETBALL (phoenix!)
b. the team attempting to thwart the attack of the team having the ball or puck.

ok, i know i am a smart ass for posting the exact definitions but someone needs to print this in 300 size font and post it on every wall of mike d’antoni’s office… or, use to be office? i agree all the way to the spurs bank – why the hell do these people insist on playing a halfway game? steve kerr and everyone else in the league (its crazy how many offspring of the spurs are major pies in other organizations) know who we are and how we get there. someone should have taken notes back in ‘99 and every year since. grab your golf clubs mike and company. now they all know and we exploited that in this series. there is absolutely no excuse from today forward. hell yes, we rule. again.

moognish

I’ll post tomorrow about game 5 and preview the upcoming series with the Nooch, and I will sleep on the whole “3 best players” thing. But for now, I can’t say I’m inclined to agree.

I agree whole heartedly, when compared to the Sons, we do have the 3 best on the floor, defense IS half the game, no matter how good the O looks. Their complete lack of D, in the end, makes them average and gets them bounced in 5 (could have been 4 if not for our Spurs lack of a KILLER- want to embarass your ass- instinct). Next up, the young and talented Hornets. They will see too, a different team than the one they split with in the regular season. Playoff mode is in effect

I don’t agree with that Stoudamire is a thug comment. Dude might be a horrible defensive player, but he went through hell growing up. You imagine having your a majority of your immediate family in prison and let me know how that would have worked out for you.

im not 100% sure that i will go along with our guys being the three best in the league, maybe i will. just have to think on it.

however, its plainly obvious about the poor defenive abilities of the suns and nash/amare in particular. agreed on that for sure. the suns might be able to beat a lot of team in the NBA with thier crap style of play, but by now you’d think it would be even obvious to them that it wont work against san antonio.

add error-prone and siezing up in the clutch to the list of the suns maladies. put it together and realize that our spurs might match up better against phoenix than anybody in the play-offs.

I agree with bones in saying that we may not have the 3 best players (talentwise) on a team in the whole NBA. However, I do agree with Matthew in that we DID have the 3 best in this series. Regardless, talent helps but doesn’t win championships. Team ball, good D, execution, and smart play does. And the Spurs have that in Spades

Let’s all just agree that the SPURS have the three best playoff players of any team in the league. There’s not any other 3 that I would take over ours, and I think in that, the assessment is right on.

Talent-wise; Amare/Nash/snaq, KG/gangsta/nancy, Kobe/Odom/Pau, etc. may be arguably more talented, but I’ll take Timmy/the Manu/TP in the playoffs 6 days a week and twice on Sundays.

was just diddling my study time away on the BSotS (i’ve already read every column on PtR and every single comment in the past two weeks) and, while i already know this and have used this in arguments, it’s good to know that other teams fans realize it as well.

“In these past four years, I’ve come to the realization that winning is not dependent on style, but how well you can perfect that style. Last year San Antonio pounded us in the paint with Duncan and Oberto. Make personnel changes and we have a good defense, and reaction paint offense for that. Now go to this year, the Spurs still attack the paint, but now with slashes, quick drives, and an up-tempo with Ginobli and Parker. Look at the numbers for Duncan in this series as compared to last year, not much of an impact now. Those who were meek last year, but made the difference this year were the two mentioned bastards. To me the Spurs are not a slow-paced, defensive team, or a running juggernaut, They’re both. Thats what makes this f**king team so superior. They know how to execute, wether it be grinding a team away or running you off the floor, they know when, where, and how to get it done. This is a team of many weapons and options, and Coach Pop knows how to use them.”

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2008/4/30/470780/uncomfortably-numb

brought a smile to my face

“That’s what makes this team so F*ing superior”. Although I would HATE to be a Sons fan, if I were Phoenix born and raised and brainwashed to be one,I would have to give the silver and black props too. It’s kinda like the Pats, I hate ‘em, but have to admit they had a REALLY good run/team

And I meant to cover this on my long ass Game 1 recap Game 5 recap and other thoughts post that NOBODY read.

I think personally, out of Tim, Manu, Tony, Nash and Amare it’s patently ridiculous to suggest that the Spurs have the best three players because they’re the three best defenders. To me it’s fairly obvious that Tim belongs at the top of the list, and by a wide margin, as he’s one of the top 15-20 players to ever lace ‘em up. Also, I think Tony firmly set at the bottom, #5. He doesn’t get placed higher than Nash because of defense. We’re not playing Robert Horry ball here, regular seasons DO matter, and Nash has proven to be historically a superior player to Tony, both in terms of his individual offense and in setting up teammates.

The debate, to me, is what order you place Amare, Nash and Manu. Really you can make an argument for any of the six permutations and it would probably make sense. And I’m willing to listen.

But here’s the argument I won’t accept: Manu and Tony are superior to Nash and Amare because of defense. Sorry, that doesn’t fly. Offense can, in many cases, be individualistic. Defense in basketball is team oriented. Tony playing Nash one-on-one or Manu playing Amare have no more of a chance of stopping them defensively than you or I do of stopping Bruce Bowen. Manu, while an excellent team defender, is average, maybe a tick above that playing man-on-man d. Tony is a far worse team defender, but decent man-on-man when his heart’s in it (which it mostly not the case in the regular season).

Neither are lock down types like Bowen is, and even Bruce’s defense is HIGHLY overrated because he gets to overplay shooters, knowing he’s got Timmy behind him to save him on the drivers.

Also, I think it’s bullshit to say that for a basketball player offense and defense are 50/50. Team wise, yes. Individually no. It’s more like 75/25. One has to be far more talented to be a good offensive player than a defensive one. Defense mostly takes intelligence, desire, and the ability to move laterally and react quickly. To be a good offensive player though, you have to be able to do like 20, 30 things well, in combination.

In basketball a good offensive player can get any shot he wants against a single defender, regardless of how good that defender is. The offensive guy knows what he’s doing, the defensive guy can only guess and react. This is why good players get doubled and trapped.

Anyway, I don’t think we had the three best players. I think Nash and Amare are pretty damn good in their own right. What we have is the better system that showcases the talents of our three players and minimizes their weaknesses. We have better system role players, who do the little things like set screens, help out on defense, and space the floor so our three guys can look good. And most of all we have the better coach. I shudder to think what would happen if you put Pop at the helm of the Suns and D’Antoni shouting “let’s go guys” to Tim, Manu and Tony.