Bench keys Suns’ win over Spurs
Phoenix 110, San Antonio 102
When starters Amare Stoudemire (23 points), Jason Richardson (19), Steve Nash (19) and Grant Hill (18) combine for 79 points, it may seem odd to give props to the Suns bench, but without Channing Frye’s 15 points (5-of-6 from 3PT) and Jared Dudley’s all-around game, Phoenix would have been in trouble.
Tim Duncan posted 29-10 for the Spurs, but was having a tough time matching up with the Suns on the defensive end. (By the way, Andrew Bogut got screwed out of 2nd Team All-Defensive honors. I realize that Duncan plays a lot of center, but he’s listed as a forward. Anderson Varejao made the 2nd Team at forward. Are they really serious that Varejao had a better defensive year than Bogut, who had the second most combined blocks, steals and charges in the league? They should have listed Duncan as a forward and given Varejao’s spot to Bogut.) Duncan was forced to guard Frye out on the perimeter, so at one point he switched over to Hill for a couple of possessions and Hill just dribbled into his range and knocked down a pair of key jumpers.
With this win in Game 2, the Suns own all the momentum in the series. Their mission now is to win one game in San Antonio, while the Spurs desperately need to win both Game 3 and Game 4 if they hope to come back and win this series.
It’s funny — for years, I’d always root for the Suns in their playoff matchups with the Spurs, but now I find myself rooting for San Antonio. Maybe they’re a bit of an underdog, or maybe they’re the team that could seriously challenge the Lakers in the Conference Finals. Or maybe it’s a combination of the two.
Anyway, they’re in big trouble, so there’s a great chance we’re going to see a Lakers/Suns matchup in the next round.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Posted in: Fantasy Basketball, NBA
Tags: 2010 NBA Playoffs, NBA All-Defensive Team, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Steve Nash, Suns Spurs, Tim Duncan
Hey man,
Remember that Simmons’ column deals with fans at a Laker game, not
Laker fans in general, which is what your post suggests. And that’s
unfair.
And really, come on John, his take on the three types of Laker fans is
tripe. Only three types? What about the fan that’s rooted for them
since Nick Van Exel was the toast of the town, yet this fan doesn’t
own a Kobe jersey or need to put a flag on his car. Also, fans in
Boston don’t wear Garnett jerseys or put team logos on their cars?
Only in LA do fans buy tacky junk for their team?
It happens to so many sports nuts that move here, or move to a
surrounding area. You already have the preconceived notion of what
Hollywood is, so why so dumbfounded by who supports the sports teams?
The city is historic, memorialized in some of the best literature
(Raymond Chandler), the film and television work of David Lynch, and
even satirized seamlessly by Larry David. But yet, everyone is
surprised when the same type of people who comprise Hollywood attend a
Laker game. Why is that?
As smart as Simmons is, I’m disappointed by his usually keen eye only
finding three types of fans at a playoff game. It just comes off as, I
don’t know, under-researched, lazy and bellicose. Funny that he ends
up enjoying himself at the end of his column.
Three types of Laker fans? Look, remove the first five rows at Staples
Center (the rows that Simmons seems somehow surprised to see), and
what you’re left with is the same makeup of a fan base for every
sports franchise across the country: businessmen who are fans,
businessmen who aren’t fans and are out with clients, the die-hards
with money, the die-hards without money, the knowledgeable fans
without money who don’t cover their cars in team crap, the
knowledgeable fans with money who don’t cover their cars in team crap,
hot chicks out on dates that don’t know about basketball but consider
themselves fans because they live in the area, hot chicks out on dates
that do know about the team, the middle class dad out with his son,
the upper class dad out with his son, drunks who don’t know crap,
drunks who know an unhealthy amount, etc. I’ve seen all these fan
types at Laker games…and at other stadiums and arenas all across the
country. Beyond those first few rows at the Staples Center, the fans
are no different than anywhere else. And if you remove those first few
rows maybe Simmons wouldn’t have a column anymore, but without those
first few rows it wouldn’t be Los Angeles. And if you’re surprised by
what makes up Los Angeles, then you’re probably an alien. Not an
illegal alien, but the kind that looks like Rajon Rondo.