Home court advantage. After NBA 2005 West Conference Game 3
Spurs beat Suns with 102-92 at their home court, leading 3-0 now with one win away from final.
Home court advantage is not a mystery. Think of this way, you do all the mocks at home and then go for the final exams. How would you do there comparing to the jobs you did at home? What if the test is at somebody else home? Got the idea? The crowds are friendly, the rims are familiar and the referees look even nicer. That is where the confidence comes from. There are exceptional players among the others, like Reggie and Mike, called superstars.
Let's put it this way, in present, Spurs is flawless to Suns. They dominated both ends at the floor. They can shoot a bunch of threes, post you up or beat you in the line. That sounds like the number one seed in NBA 2005 is a fraud? Well, the did the best in the regular season, however, they didn't find their own weakness and correct it in time. Otherwise, postseason would have been determined at the end of the regular.
It reminded me the scene in 1996-1997, back to the time Utah Jazz rivaled against Chicago Bulls. Karl Malone was the MVP of the season. However, in the finals , it was Michael Jordan dominated the whole series. It's an impressive moment when Jordan fouled in line, the audience in Chicago stadium yelled "MVP, MVP, MVP". Same theme happened in San Antonio SBC Center when Spurs superstar Tim Duncan was fouled in line. The result? Tim contributed 33 points, 15 rebounds including a perfect 15-15 in line. Hmm, better not to annoy a former MVP if you want to steal a game.
Back to the game, Suns did almost everything right about it. Joe Johnson's back to line. Nash had more resting time and Amare just put another big game on board. What's wrong about it? Everyone said defense wins the Champ. Now Spurs proved it one more time. The biggest difference was at the second quarter, when Spurs outran Suns by 18-10. Man, if you told me Suns only scored ten points in the quarter, I would say you're insane. The thing is Spurs cut down Steve Nash by putting Parker on his back. And also their big guys tried to bother him every chance they had by chasing him outside the perimeter. Steve was blinded in transition defense. Suns was famous in transition game the whole season. Steve Nash will find those athletic Suns open and Bam! slam dunk. Now everytime whenever Spurs gave the ball, they looked for Steve Nash. They know he's the engine of Suns and by stopping him, there's no more running game. Spurs' defense is not Jason Terry (sorry no offense:), they are much more experienced players. Try to help out Steve Nash. Set up a couple of swingmen covering him up when inbounding. Suns are not familiar with that, in a word, they count mostly on Steve Nash alone. But they need to change, only when Steve Nash can run his game, Suns has a tiny chance.
Amare is unbelievable, he's almost like a right-handed David Robinson except the ability to pass. Yes, it's his biggest weakness. I am not sure if D'Antoni told him not to pass, but even if he did, Amare did a terrible job. He cannot help his teammates with a ball in hand. On the other hand, look at Timmy. He's well conscious of his teammates and always look for a better chance to pass. I know it's Amare's third year. If he played in college, he wound be a junior. But if he wants to beat Tim's Spurs, he has to learn how to pass and help his teammates. Unfortunately, I couldn't see it right now.
Overall, Spurs did a great job teaching Suns. Phoenix Suns have learned their flaws and tried to improved their game. Don't loss your faith and try to do your best. That's all I look forward to Suns and may the force be with you.
Home court advantage is not a mystery. Think of this way, you do all the mocks at home and then go for the final exams. How would you do there comparing to the jobs you did at home? What if the test is at somebody else home? Got the idea? The crowds are friendly, the rims are familiar and the referees look even nicer. That is where the confidence comes from. There are exceptional players among the others, like Reggie and Mike, called superstars.
Let's put it this way, in present, Spurs is flawless to Suns. They dominated both ends at the floor. They can shoot a bunch of threes, post you up or beat you in the line. That sounds like the number one seed in NBA 2005 is a fraud? Well, the did the best in the regular season, however, they didn't find their own weakness and correct it in time. Otherwise, postseason would have been determined at the end of the regular.
It reminded me the scene in 1996-1997, back to the time Utah Jazz rivaled against Chicago Bulls. Karl Malone was the MVP of the season. However, in the finals , it was Michael Jordan dominated the whole series. It's an impressive moment when Jordan fouled in line, the audience in Chicago stadium yelled "MVP, MVP, MVP". Same theme happened in San Antonio SBC Center when Spurs superstar Tim Duncan was fouled in line. The result? Tim contributed 33 points, 15 rebounds including a perfect 15-15 in line. Hmm, better not to annoy a former MVP if you want to steal a game.
Back to the game, Suns did almost everything right about it. Joe Johnson's back to line. Nash had more resting time and Amare just put another big game on board. What's wrong about it? Everyone said defense wins the Champ. Now Spurs proved it one more time. The biggest difference was at the second quarter, when Spurs outran Suns by 18-10. Man, if you told me Suns only scored ten points in the quarter, I would say you're insane. The thing is Spurs cut down Steve Nash by putting Parker on his back. And also their big guys tried to bother him every chance they had by chasing him outside the perimeter. Steve was blinded in transition defense. Suns was famous in transition game the whole season. Steve Nash will find those athletic Suns open and Bam! slam dunk. Now everytime whenever Spurs gave the ball, they looked for Steve Nash. They know he's the engine of Suns and by stopping him, there's no more running game. Spurs' defense is not Jason Terry (sorry no offense:), they are much more experienced players. Try to help out Steve Nash. Set up a couple of swingmen covering him up when inbounding. Suns are not familiar with that, in a word, they count mostly on Steve Nash alone. But they need to change, only when Steve Nash can run his game, Suns has a tiny chance.
Amare is unbelievable, he's almost like a right-handed David Robinson except the ability to pass. Yes, it's his biggest weakness. I am not sure if D'Antoni told him not to pass, but even if he did, Amare did a terrible job. He cannot help his teammates with a ball in hand. On the other hand, look at Timmy. He's well conscious of his teammates and always look for a better chance to pass. I know it's Amare's third year. If he played in college, he wound be a junior. But if he wants to beat Tim's Spurs, he has to learn how to pass and help his teammates. Unfortunately, I couldn't see it right now.
Overall, Spurs did a great job teaching Suns. Phoenix Suns have learned their flaws and tried to improved their game. Don't loss your faith and try to do your best. That's all I look forward to Suns and may the force be with you.
posted by TY at
2:07 PM
