May 31, 2005

PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUNS AND SPURS

       But what a difference it is.  Only when the Suns were faced with elimination, and an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Spurs did Phoenix not allow their first appearance in the Conference Finals to unsettle them.  The first three games were excerpts from the video—Why experience is necessary in the playoffs.  The Spurs made the right decisions at the most crucial times, didn’t allow expected moments of failure to quell their confidence and their desire for victory, and remained calm even during the times when a certain amount of nervousness and tightness would be expected.  The Suns, on the other hand, felt the pressure and it showed in their game, and before they realized that they had not played their style of basketball for more than a few minutes at time they were down 3-0 in the series.

       The victory in game four was proof that the Suns could compete on the elevated stage of NBA playoff basketball.  Their previous series against Memphis and Dallas did little to prepare them for the battle the Spurs would give them.  The Grizzlies didn’t have the depth or the talent to challenge them, and the running Mavs were simply Phoenix’ poor cousins.  The Spurs play a different type of basketball—they play with smooth confidence, work the inside-outside game to perfection, and can throw a bunch of bigs out on the floor to control the boards at any juncture of the game.  Coming into the series the Suns wanted to turn the games into quick, run and gun offensive shows figuring that the Spurs would want a slower, more methodical and certainly a more half-court approach to the game.  The Suns were half-right.  The Spurs had little difficulty getting out and running on offense, but wanted to curtail the Suns fast-break game and make Phoenix beat them in the half-court.   The Suns had trouble adjusting and though they had spurts of success it was game four before they finally got a handle on the Spurs game plan. 

      Of course getting out to slow starts in each of the first three games didn’t help the Suns.  They then had to expend a tremendous amount of energy just to get back into each game and had very little left at the end.  Each of the first three games followed the same formula—the Spurs would jump out on top in the first quarter, the Suns would fight back over the middle two before the Spurs would close them out in the fourth.  Not having Joe Johnson was huge for a Phoenix team that relied on a small rotation of seven players most of the year, and forced match-ups that favoured the Spurs.  But the main difference between the two teams in the first three games was experience. 

       When Phoenix made their runs the Spurs would call a time-out, get back to the basics of their strong defense, and start running their offense from the post out to the perimeter.  The Suns, on the other hand, had lengthy periods of inactivity and couldn’t puncture the Spurs defense.  They would stand around and wait for Steve Nash to create.  This strategy worked for periods against the perimeter poor defense applied by Dallas, but against a quicker Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili any lanes to the basket were quickly closed and forced the league MVP to overhandle the ball.  Turnovers and bad shots were the result.    

      Nash needs movement by his teammates to best utilize his playmaking skills, but when his mates started standing around and watching he was left to try and penetrate an almost impenetrable defense.  If Nash somehow managed to elude his quick pursuers he would find himself confronted in the paint by the giant presences of Tim Duncan, Nazr Mohammed or Robert Horry.  Nash would then put up difficult rainbow shots to try to exceed the long reaches of the Spurs defenders.  Difficult shots usually end up being rebounded by the defensive club, and since the Suns had the deer in the headlights look they were slow to respond and the Spurs scored a ton of fast break points.  The Suns were being beaten at their own game.

       Their home court, and their exuberant fans, had found ways to extricate the Suns from these moribund moments in the first two games, but they happened too often, and for stretches of time that were far too long.  The Suns lost those games on their home court because they couldn’t consistently play their game.  Their success had been built, throughout the season and the playoffs, on their ability to force the action.  To make their opponents play their style—to dictate the flow of the game.  Against the Spurs they allowed their more experienced foes to dictate the flow of the game.  The Suns completely fell apart in the third game in San Antonio.  Without their home crowd to infuse them with energy the Suns lost confidence and lost their rhythm.  They looked tired, confused and slow.  They forgot about movement on offense, forgot to move the ball, forgot to get back on defense, and forgot to rebound then ball.  For the first time during the entire playoffs the Suns looked like a second-rate squad and the Spurs looked like world-beaters.

       Then something happened.  During a horrible second quarter in which the Suns admittedly lost their confidence and as Nash said “we hung our heads” Phoenix bottomed out.  Entering the fourth quarter of what began as a must-win contest the Suns found themselves down by 17 points.  For the first time all game the Suns put forth a determined effort and started to gain back their composure.  It had taken 11 quarters for the Suns to realize that just because this is the Conference Finals there is no need to be nervous and get away from the points of the game that got them this far.  The Suns began to take it to the Spurs.  It was too late, and they were too far behind, to make a difference that night, but that confidence carried over to the fourth game and they finally put forth a complete Phoenix Suns type of ball game. 

      Now, it is unlikely that the Spurs will fall into a New York Yankee trap and allow the Suns to be this year’s Boston Red Sox and win four straight after losing the first three.  The Spurs are too strong a team—they are a tightly knit unit with few flaws-- but the Suns, if they continue to play with the same confidence and energy that they showed in game four, can lengthen the series.  And for all the fans, across North America, who enjoy quality basketball played at a high level, and a high pace, that is good news.