Tonight's main attraction was San Antonio's win in their first-round series with the Phoenix Suns, a series some idiot straw men are already calling the greatest first-round series in NBA history.
Saturday's game was fantastic. Tonight's didn't really live up. The Suns jumped out to a sizeable early lead, but the Spurs hung in, chipped away at it, then produced a dominant third quarter to win.
Of the players: Shaquille O'Neal started out very well, playing with a bounce in his step that made him look like a much younger man. He kept going right back at Tim Duncan after baskets, which was fun to watch. He also hit five-of-six free throws when the Spurs were intentionally fouling him in the third. Shaq says he always hits them when it counts, which isn't true, but wouldn't even be true for Michael. (I recently called Duncan the best player since Jordan, but perhaps I should have said O'Neal. Your thoughts?)
Phoenix's backcourt, from Steve Nash to Raja Bell to Leandro "Captain" Barbosa to G. Gordon Giricek, is still incredibly annoying. Nash in particular flopped on several occasions, but to be fair, the refs seemed to favor San Antonio. (Yes, the refs appeared to favor the defending champions at home; not sure what Nash was expecting.)
Tim Duncan played well, with 18 points and 17 rebounds, but my favorite play from him was a length-of-the-court pass to Brent Barry for a lay-up.
Manu Ginobili, fresh of his Sixth Man Award win, was also terrific, going for 29 points. Ginobili winning the award is silly; he's fourth on the team in minutes and third in minutes per game. Under the current rules, he's a candidate, and I have no doubt he deserves to win under those rules, but I think they're stupid. (Then again, so is an award for the best backup.) At one point the announcers kept talking about how Ginobili has accepted his role coming off the bench without complaint. Um, the dude doesn't start, but he plays a ton of minutes, gets to freelance on offense, finishes every close game and often has the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Why wouldn't he accept that role? He's got the best job of any one-time All-Star veteran in the league, right?
And finally, Tony Parker. I've realized the last two games that I have not fully appreciated Parker, probably because I got so sick of hearing about his girlfriend/wife over the years. But he's one of the toughest point guards in the league, at least mentally—he's faced the league's best guards in the postseason (Nash, Jason Kidd), and typically gets the better of them. He executes under pressure and always knows when to use his quickness to catch opponents off balance, but he's not afraid to take a big shot in the halfcourt offense, either. I'd much rather have him on my team in a big game than Nash. But I guess that's kind of a dumb/obvious thing to say about the defending Finals MVP.
Comments
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2008/04/playoffs-news-manu-parker-takes-spurs-2.html
Both Shaq and Timmy would be excellent candidates as best player since Jordan. They both have 4 championships, and I would argue that their teams probably wouldn't have won any of the championships they did without them. If the Spurs win one again this year, then I would say you have to give the edge to Timmy.
I agree with you on Parker too. He really seems to play at another level in the playoffs. He seems pretty average during the regular season, but in the post season it's like all of a sudden nobady can stop him from penetrating. Anyway, great observation on Parker.
Sorry this is off the topic, but George Karl just said on his weekly show that Nene should be able to play tonight. That should help us out with Gasol, hopefully.
I liked the comparison of Shaq and Duncan during the game that listed all the MVP awards they'd won. The two are pretty even right now. I guess I don't give Shaq enough credit because he's huge and is a poor foul shooter, so it's like he's just coasted on his gifts, but the man has gotten it done time and time again, so I may need to reassess.
Nash's D is a joke, just like his winning MVP. I noticed last night that while Parker and Ginobili aren't known as defenders, and of course they have Bruce Bowen to take the tough assignments (just like Nash has Raja Bell), they're active and challenge shots, and definitely have their moments on both ends of the floor.
As for the Duncan v. Shaq question, I give a slight edge to Duncan, who has accomplished as much as Shaq in less time. Plus, Duncan in my mind is the more complete player.
Steve Nash is a complete chump, so I will take Tony Parker and his overexposed wife any day.
I guess now we will get to see if Nene can make a difference against the Lakers . . .
You make a good point about Duncan, who has a chance to surpass O'Neal with a few more good years. As much as I love Duncan, I don't know if he'd ever get voted MVP again, though I could see a Finals MVP in there.
I agree that a Finals MVP is still very attainable for him, including this year if he is called on to shut down KG.
Second, over the last four years he's averaged 19.4 points per regular season game, and I think voters look for more scoring than that. (Nash and Jason Kidd have been very viable candidates lately, but they've at least racked up tons of assists.)
Also, at his age (he'll be 32 tomorrow) people are starting to see him as yesterday's news.
None of this changes my feelings that he's still the best player in the league and a deserving MVP candidate.