Swamigp’s Weblog

Tony Parker scored a career high 41 points, as the Spurs gained a huge lead early and never looked back in a 115-99 win. San Antonio led the whole way, picking apart the Suns defense. Parker played the pick-and-roll with whichever big man was in the game to perfection, continually draining mid range shots to help the Spurs take the beyond commanding lead, 3-0, in the series. Parker was 17-26 from the floor, and as well as his point production, he dished out 12 assists. The biggest difference in the game was who guarded Tony Parker and who guarded Suns guard Steve Nash. Bruce Bowen, a two time defensive player of the year, clamped down on Nash from the inset, while Parker was not guarded by the superior defender in Raja Bell. Instead Nash got the assignment, and was manhandled by Parker’s quickness. Suns coach Mike D’Antoni, although his team was down 61-47 at half, and Parker was schooling Nash, elected to not make the switch. It was still Bell’s job to stick on the shooting guards, whether it be Michael Finley, Bowen or Manu Ginobili, instead of taking on the Spurs catalyst in Parker. This lack of subsitiution on defense on the part of the Suns had the biggest impact in the game.

When Parker didn’t shoot, he passed it off to the open player, in many cases it was Tim Duncan and Ginobili, who scored 23 and 20 points, respectively. Parker manned the Spurs to an ealry 14 point lead after one quarter. He scored or assisted on 16 of the Spurs first 18 points, running San Anotio’s offense at will, running the Suns out of their own building.

After the 14 point, 33-19 lead after one period for the Spurs, the Suns could only get it to as close as eight in the second period. Phoenix had no rhythm whatsoever, and didn’t play with an ounce of chemistry throughout the game, therefore playing without the ability to catch up to the Spurs. They couldn’t get the deficit below 13 points in the second half, as the big three for the Spurs, Parker, Duncan and Ginobili continued to score at will in the second half, forcing Phoenix to have to make history with 4 straight wins, or be sent home.

Amare Stoudemire had another great game for Phoenix, scoring 28 points on 13-23 shooting while grabbing 11 rebounds. Shaquille O’Neal added 20 points and Leandro Barbosa chipped in 19. The biggest surprise of the game was the absence of Steve Nash. Nash scored only 7 points, making just 3 of 8 attempts from the field.