The Hated San Antonio Spurs

On Monday night I went to the first game of the playoff series between the San Antonio Spurs and the Suns. The Spurs are the seventh seed in the Western Division, but they beat the second seeded Dallas Mavericks to advance to the second round of the playoffs. The Suns are the third seed. The Spurs have been injury-riddled all season and are finally healthy.

The Spurs are the Suns' playoff nemesis. They have beaten the Suns the last four times the two teams played in the playoffs! Every year something crazy happens. One year Tim Duncan made a 3-point shot at the buzzer to win a game (his only 3-point shot the entire season). Another year Amare Stoudemire was suspended for a game because he stepped onto the court from the bench during a fracas and Steve Nash was cut with less than a minute to go in a game and the trainers could not stop the bleeding to get him back into the game. Another year Joe Johnson was injured and out for the season when he was undercut and landed on his face.

The US Airways Arena was electric on Monday night! The Suns started the game on a tear and Steve Nash may have had one of the greatest playoff game quarters ever. He scored 17 points on 7 for 10 shooting and had 4 assists and no turnovers in the first quarter. The Suns led by 10 at halftime and increased the lead to 14 in the third quarter. Twice San Antonio rallied from 14 back, with a 12-0 run in the third quarter and a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter that cut Phoenix's lead to 94-93 with 4:26 to go in the game. Oftentimes against San Antonio the Suns could not stop Duncan, Ginobili and Parker down the stretch and lost the close playoff games. This time, San Antonio could not make its shots and Jason Richardson made a big 3-point shot, Grant Hill made a jump shot and the Suns made all of their free throws down the stretch to win 111-102. Although the Suns controlled the game, you can never breath easy playing the Spurs because they never give up, they are well-coached and they have some great clutch players.