Suns out of the Playoffs. D'Antoni out next?

Led by Tony Parker and Tim Duncan the Spurs once again eliminated the Suns from the playoffs. For the third time in the last four years, the Suns' great expectations were shattered by the Spurs.

The season's over for the Suns and plenty of questions will fill the offseason, including the biggets of them all: Should Phoenix rebuild now or give it one more try to Nash and Co. ?

“It seems like every time we get to the playoffs we play the Spurs, and they beat us every time. They’re well-coached…they’ve got solid players…they understand what it takes to win. They were the better team." Stoudemire stated after the game 5 loss.

In case you didn't notice it sounds a lot like STAT's goodbye to Coach D'Antoni (AP Photo/Eric Gay).

The Suns were clearly out coached and out played in the series. The Shaq move, made to beat the Spurs (don't forget that), didn't work. I am not sure whether it was D'Antoni or Kerr who made that deal, but I feel it's time for a change.

Coach D'Antoni will be fired also according to both ESPN and SI.com who recently rumored about insanable differences between D'Antoni and the front office. I think the Owner and the GM Steve Kerr believe the Suns are not going to win with that coaching staff.

We'll have plenty of time to write, discuss and analyse everything from poor drafting to the Shaq trade or the non-use of bench players.

Fire Mike D'Antoni is probably the easy (and partial) answer to a more complicated question about the Suns ability to win an NBA Championship. But we all know easy answers is what an Owner tends to look for.

It's more or less 185 till Opening Day...

Go 2008/09 Suns!

Do you still believe?

Three reason why I still believe Suns (Barry Gossage/NBAE Photos) will come back and win the series

1. Shaq, after game 3: "I think if we can win just one game we can take it from there and see what happens. It's never been done before but will probably be done one day."

2. San Antonio can't play so well, make every clutch shot, execute perfectly on every play

3. Suns had been able to build big leads in game 1 and 2, menaing they can actually outscore the Spurs.

Of course, there's one (huge) reason why I don't believe the Suns will come back

1. Spurs are a better basketball team.


Whatever Go Suns !

Spurs-Suns or simply Nash and Ginobili

The first two games of the Spurs series were decided by two players. After watching game 2 I realized it was not about Duncan, Stoudemire, Shaq, foul trouble, zone defense or anything.

It all comes down to Manu Ginobili and Steve Nash (Ronald Martinez/NBAE Photos). Suns can’t limit Manu and can’t play efficient offense without Nash on the court.

1. Suns don’t have an answer for Manu Ginobili.

Ginobili has a plus/minus of + 9 in game 1 and +12 in game 2.
Raja Bell can’t guard him, nor can Grant Hill. Zone defense (2-3) can be used to protect the inside and the big men from getting into foul trouble but it’s very vulnerable to outside shooting, or better, to mid-range shooting.
Parker and Ginobili beat the first line of perimeter defense, easily, and can score without actually having to deal with Shaq and STAT coming up the middle. Check the shot charts of Manu and Parker in Game 2 from espn.com

2. Suns offense can’t function without Nash.

It’s not only evident by watching the games, Steve has 13 of a Suns season-low 16 assists (if I remember it right) in game 2. The Spurs defense can send the Suns completely out of rhythm and when Nash is on the bench it gets really ugly.

The Suns could use Barbosa and Diaw as alternative point men. Forget that! as both are having an awful series (-18 for both in +/- in game 2).

By the way, did you notice that in the high-equilibrium Western Conference each series is now 2-0?

Go Suns!

"New" Suns lost game one in the "old" Suns way

The Suns lost game one of the Western Conference first round series against the Spurs in dramatic fashion.

Michael Finley 3-pointer to tie it (Barbosa on him? Why not Grant Hill, the Suns best defender?)

Tim Duncan first triple of the year (rotation?), Manu Ginobili amazing shot (help up the middle?) whatever...

Phoenix played poor defense in the second half, mostly because of the big men's foul trouble.
With Shaq, STAT (Jeramie McPeek/NBAE/Getty) and Diaw in foul trouble the Spurs "underlined" all the Suns defensive limitations on the perimeter. Ginobili and Parker often beat the first line of outside defense driving to the rim.

The Suns played well for the most part, on the road despite the fact that their initial game plan (protect the paint, attack TD, keep Manu and Parker out of the area) was denied almost immediately by foul trouble.

Suns and Spurs have now played each other in the Playoffs four of the last five season. Phoenix has actually been eliminated by the Spurs on every such occasion.

In 2004-05 (Spurs 4, Suns 1 in the Conference Finals) San Antonio won game 1 (121-114), in 2006-07 (Spurs+Stern 4, Suns 2 in the second round) SA won game 1 (111-106) and of course in 2007-08 Suns lost game 1 (117-115 in 2OT). On each of those three games Tim Duncan led the Spurs to victory.

During the D'Antoni era the Suns have played the Spurs three times in four years and in each of those occasions San Antonio took game one of the series. By the way, the Spurs eventually took the series in '05 and '07.

While all of our worst fears materialized on Saturday night's game 1 loss there's plenty of reason to believe this is going to be a tough and long series.

Go Suns !

Suns vs Spurs: Focus, Paint, Refs and "our" Frenchman

The great statistical analysis at 82games.com will confirm tha the Suns are the better team on offense: shooting .552 to .504 and passing the ball as 65 percent of the Suns baskets are assisted to the Spurs 58%.
Steve Kerr has identified his won five keys to beating the Spurs on Suns.com.

Scout Inc. broke down the series on ESPN.com as the Suns won the Season series 3-1 for the first time in five years.

Even on their side of the story on MySA.com, The Spurs are worried by Shaq.

Everyone agrees this will be an intense series with lots of close game. There will be blood indeed.

With the Playoffs beginning on Saturday in Texas I believe the Suns-Spurs Series will come down to four key factors

1. Stay focused.

Never lose sight of the situation. Never try to win the game with one single player. Never give up on defense. Never stop running. Never. It's got to be 100 percent every second of every game.

2. Control the Paint.

Suns need to have control of the painted area and the boards. It means no second chances for the Spurs and trying to keep Ginobili and Parker from driving to the hoop. It all starts from their initiatives. That was reason no.1 why Shaq came to the Suns.

3. Have decent officiating.

Refs need to prevent the Spurs from making this series Royal Rumble II. It's the playoffs and everything, but it's still basketball. The last time I checked the game had not yet made special rules for the occasions. San Antonio loves fighting even more than playing basketball. The Suns are the best basketball team. Let's just hope that game will be played.

4. Boris Diaw needs to step up.

Our Frenchman can change the series. He's a great defender and an unstoppable combination of passing, shooting, inside and ouside game, but he needs to put energy and will on the court. Leave everything you have on that court, Boris!

Spurs have eliminated the Suns three of the last four Playoffs but this time will be different. I think the Suns can beat the Spurs this time. 4-2 Suns in the series.

GO SUNS !