Kleeman's Last Word

SPURS VS. SUNS … THE PHYSICALITY OF THE TRUTH

Spurs Dirty? Naw.

Amare Stoudemire really thought he was sending the San Antonio Spurs a new one when he deemed them a “dirty” team after his club’s 20-point margin of victory.
Yes, indeed, that’s a superstar complaining about the officiating and the opponent after a 20-point win. Most people would just shut up and take the blowout win, right?
Not Amare, who took it upon himself to single out Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili as the culprits behind San Antonio’s supposed crooked style of play.
And when Robert Horry hip-checked Steve Nash and sent him flying into the scorer’s table at the end of a game 4 slug festival, the flagrant two foul by the 15-year-veteran seemed to confirm Stoudemire’s suspicions. And now some Spurs fans have told reporters they are convinced the Phoenix organization is right on the money in handing their team a nasty label. So much so that they even said they would root for the Suns in game 5.
There’s a reason why this basketball aficionado is yawning at Stoudemire’s comments and why he’s steamed at how this series is playing out.

You see, somebody is always complaining about the San Antonio Spurs and if there’s nothing obvious to scathe about, they’ll find something. Whether it’s Tim Duncan “whining” to the officials, Bruce Bowen’s “dirty” defensive play, the team’s combined old age or their “slow-poke” half court defense style, this ball club has taken more cheap shots than Kenny in a South Park episode. Or Naomi Campbell’s maid, take your pick. I’ve seen pictures of Tim Duncan with the word “crybaby” scrawled across his face, photo shopped images of the star power forward with a pacifier in his mouth and T-shirts that read “if you play any slower, turtles will be offended.” Are these chronic complainers any better than the team or player(s) they’re chastising?
If you whine constantly about how you think Tim Duncan is a whiner, are you really above that which you complain about? No, so shut up and read on

What we have here in Stoudemire is an athlete who can’t see the forest in the trees. To take the cliché a bit farther, he can’t even see the leaves turning brown.
I have consistently harped on those who have called Phoenix a great defensive team because for most of the season their defense has been outscoring opponents. I believe the two should always be mutually exclusive and if one leads to the other, it should be defense leading to offense, not the other way around. The Spurs agree with my philosophy because that’s their style.
They’ve played half court basketball nearly as long as I’ve been alive and they did it proud in 2005 when these same two teams met in the Western Conference Finals. There are legitimate arguments that these teams are deeper and have more scoring weapons and defenders, but at the very core, they still play the same two polar opposite styles of basketball.
Stoudemire’s had plenty of chances to get to know the physical grit this Spurs team possesses over the years, so now is no excuse to cry foul. It only proves he is not the brightest of basketball minds, nor is he the cleanest.

The Suns do like defense, so long as it doesn’t interfere with their ability to turn the game into a track meet and run up the score. Run and gun type games are all about fluidity of play and keeping a repetitive rhythm. Fouling, low-post physicality and methodical man-to-man defense are three tactics that upset a team’s ability to run such an offense. That’s why the Suns are so offended, even after they’ve had three years to become acquainted with this disciplined, complete Spurs team.
What Stoudemire won’t say publicly, either because he doesn’t know it or because he doesn’t want to admit it, is that the Spurs are majorly interrupting the style his team so adores and that when Gregg Popovich says defense wins championships, he’s right. That’s the real reason for the “dirty” label, even if no one has the testicles to say it.

This high-scoring Phoenix team deserves much credit for playing some inspired defense of late, the best of which led to the game two blowout. But getting Tim Duncan to miss a few shots and Tony Parker to jack up a few jumshots instead of driving the lane doesn’t change the way Steve Nash and company want to play. They know losing this series to the three-time champion Spurs will cause many teams to question whether running and gunning is really the way to go. They know the winner of this series will dictate the tempo most teams play at next year. All of this because analysts including Bill Walton have said “this series will most assuredly produce this year’s NBA champion.” Utah and any of the four Eastern Conference teams left standing are no pushovers, but it’s a smart assessment.

Steve Nash is entering his mid-30s and the Phoenix front office knows the window for the point guard to lead the desert city to a world title is closing rapidly. As rapidly as he throws those ridiculously wonderful passes to teammates or circus lay-ups right in the net. The Spurs aren’t “dirty” because they’re any more physical or brute than any other team; they receive this unwanted label because they represent that which league officials believe hampers TV ratings—defense, getting the job done and limiting the other team’s superstar(s) from scoring highlight reel points.

Asked if he thought this semifinal series was physical, Duncan replied, “did you watch the last series?”

So, did you?
Those of you terribly naïve Spurs fans, who are ready to shut your door of support after the Horry foul, obviously didn’t watch Duncan get ABUSED in the Denver series. Cheap shot after cheap shot, Duncan struggled to get foul calls in two of the series’ games. Phoenix players have initiated similar but less brutal contact in this best-of-7 series against Duncan.

When teams like the Spurs enforce a physical game, little is made of the almost-punches they get in return. So everybody that’s ready to put the Phoenix Suns in the same pristine company of Jesus Christ, doesn’t want to admit the Suns are proving up to the challenge in this battle of physical wills. Because that means when Nash tosses Bowen to the floor or Leandro Barbosa nearly gives Tony Parker a reason for reconstructive face surgery (both happened in game 4), they know they can’t legitimately attack the Spurs. And not being able to curse or complain about the Spurs is really painful, isn’t it?

Quit complaining, Stoudemire, D’Antoni, Everybody Else
Does it rub anyone else the wrong way that the only time Phoenix has aired major gripes in this series is after they WIN? Last time I checked, when you tally a victory, you celebrate the accomplishment instead of defaming the integrity of your opponent. That is truly “dirty.”
Horry is a seasoned champion and his flagrant foul on Nash was a bonehead play. Nash knew when he drove the sideline that a hard foul was coming, but Horry also knew he was initiating fierce contact right next to the scorer’s table. Add in some well-timed acting from Nash and Horry earned himself a well-deserved two-game suspension. Officials suspended “Big Shot Bob” a second game for elbowing Raja Bell during the altercation.
There’s no defense for such a classy veteran making such a rookie mistake. Nash did exactly what any intelligent leader should do in a hard foul situation; he used the scorer’s table to make it look as belligerent and gruesome as he possibly could. He obviously wasn’t any worse for the ware, as he got up cleanly after some skilled acting when he was hip-checked. Had the “Horry” foul happened at center court, his name would not be attached to the incident, no one would be up in arms and Stoudemire and Boris Diaw would likely have sat their derrières on the bench instead of running in the direction of the mini-brawl. Baron Davis or Jason Terry foul, anyone?
I understand that rules are rules, but I would much rather have Stoudemire and Diaw play tonight. They didn’t escalate the situation and were merely airing a natural reaction to the possible peril of one of their teammates. The league got this one wrong, but it’s high time for Suns fans to realize that the ruling came from Stu Jackson’s office, not Popovich or any other Spur.
Keep in mind Suns fans, the Spurs’ coach pleaded with officials to let Nash play in the final minute of game 1 even though a written rule forbids players who are bleeding profusely from being on the court.
There’s also a rule, like it or not, that forbids players from leaving the bench area during a situation that is defined an altercation. The Horry-Nash scuffle was an altercation, the incident involving Duncan was not.
Not letting either power forward play tonight works against the Spurs in every way imaginable. Remember Jason Terry last season? So, Stoudemire and Diaw return with a new sense of urgency and fire and torch the Spurs with a combined 60 points in game 6 and the Suns threaten a blowout. How does that help the Spurs, again?
What I’ve seen so far says Stoudemire doesn’t need any more excuses to get riled up.

And if any fans should complain to the league office about an unfair handshake, it’s Spurs, not Suns fans. Foul shot disparities have not decided games (they never should). In the Spurs’ two victories, they were the “more aggressive (better)” team. The Suns admitted that much.
The Spurs did all that was necessary to blow an 11-point lead in a crucial game 4. In the most defining quarter of the series, they shot a dismal 28 percent from the field, made only five baskets, committed six turnovers and allowed the league’s best offense to hammer in 32 points to even things up at two a piece. The Suns deserve all the credit for taking full advantage of this embarrassing meltdown and for their decisive win in game two.

How are league officials clipping the Suns’ chances of winning the second round, when let’s be honest, they’ve been (not-so) secretly rooting for Phoenix all year. David Stern did everything but put on a Nash jersey this season. The commissioner clearly thinks high-octane offense will dramatically increase NBA Finals viewer ship and has taken every opportunity to bask in how great the Suns are.

Never mind that they don’t have a championship or that they ended up only winning ONE more game than they did in 2005 or that Dallas was almost as good of a running team but didn’t get half the credit this bunch does.

Maybe it’s the prominence of a wonderfully talented white guy or the overall marketability of what the Suns do, but there’s no way in hell bias in national coverage is non-existent. Even when Dallas had a better record and was playing more complete basketball, or when the Spurs weren’t playing that much worse than they did in 2005, announcers and league officials alike were happy to hum the Phoenix song.
Everything possible has been done to make this year look like it should belong to the Suns. Stern would like you to consider it a travesty if Phoenix doesn’t win this series. God forbid the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs should meet up again in the Finals and actually play on both ends of the floor. But emphasizing defense, instead of high-scoring, is a no-no, according to Mr. Stern. He’d rather you watch the Golden State Warriors turn a sacred sport into a fucking marathon at the Olympics. There’s a place for Kobe Bryant and a place for Carl Lewis. They don’t belong in the same sport, at least not in every single possession.
That’s what the majority of the NBA will become if the Suns are crowned champions in June. And don’t think the Spurs don’t know it all too well.
That’s why this series has become such a heated, physical battle. It’s why “dirty” suddenly has assumed its own awkwardly righteous groove in the playoff conversation.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 9:45 PM