In about as anticlimactic a finish as the NBA playoffs have seen thus far, the San Antonio Spurs finished off the Phoenix Suns, 114-106 in the Western Conference semifinal.
Phoenix once again had the services of its NBA first team forward Amare Stoudemire and reserve Boris Diaw. Even with these players resuming their roles, the Suns weren't able to overcome a combustible atmosphere in the AT&T Center and dropped the series, four games to two, to the Spurs.
Phoenix fans will have their fair amount of beef with the officials, as is the case with just about any losing team in an NBA playoff game these days. Even if one factors in those few non-calls on the Spurs defense and the quick whistles when San Antonio was working its offense, the truth is that Phoenix allowed the Spurs triumvirate to close this series. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili eclipsed 30 points each, and Tim Duncan had his usual impressive but aesthetically unspectacular 24 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 blocks. Duncan's detractors can only point to his 2-of-6 performance from the free throw line.
But Game Six, despite it being the finishing blow, will never be viewed as the pivotal game in this series. That honor is equally distributed to Games Four and Five. For it was in Game Four where Stoudemire and Diaw earned their controversial suspensions, and in Game Five where they served them. Amare lead all scorers with 38 points and pulled down 15 rebounds in Game Six, providing ammunition to the train of thought that says Phoenix would have won the very closely fought game five had he been available.
As is the tendency with sports, controversy here burns white hot briefly and then quickly fades. The grumbles from this series will bounce off the walls in Phoenix for some time though, and there can be no doubt that the series' integrity was compromised by the game five dispute that has been the majority of NBA oriented discussion since the suspension were handed down late Tuesday. Even if San Antonio had won in a decisive Game Seven on Phoenix's court, the naysayers' flames would be somewhat doused by San Antonio winning said Game Seven against a fully active Suns team. As it stands, the decisive game will likely always be viewed as one played without Stoudemire and Diaw, and David Stern's ruling will always overshadow what was two fantastic teams continuing to bring the NBA back to the prominence it has in the past enjoyed.
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Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
The Spurs. The Jazz. Lunesta.
"Name three sedatives."
2 - Later Gator
That series was total bullshit. How are you going to suspend a key player for leaving the bench. This is the playoffs not a regular game.
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
Odd, I didn't see the footnote in the rule that said it only applies to regular season games.
4 - Jared Wright
Technically, the suspensions were absolutely acceptable. But this is why there will never be a rulebook for any sport, organization, or society that is entirely correct or sufficient. The aggressors (San Antonio) benefited from the entire situation, and whatever the letter of the law says, the NBA should have probably tried to wiggle however it could to at least make sure the Spurs players didn't benefit from their teammate acting so out of character. Especially considering the questionmarks around other Spurs players in this series. The NBA had to pick between the letter of the law and common sense. You see the choice David made.
5 - greyling
wow these comments are funny. I am happy the suns lost.
instead of calling him steve nashhe was called 2 time mvp the entire series(so are other players)
Untill you win a champion, or at least get to the finales, you get know respect. And untill then stop talking about who's dirty, welcome to the playoffs as they say. The suns did'nt comp[lain when raja bell grabed kobe by the neck, and threw him down.
Dallas and golden state was the best ever, that deserves major respect. a #8 seed defeating a #1 seed. And it proves that dallas sucks as well as the suns. Beating the lakers, they were in heaven. But San Antonio plays defence with a capital D, Bruce Bowen and the gang, capital D.
Look at barbosa's stats. Steve nash got cocky thinking he was the man. Barkly said once (the 1 time I listen to him) during a laker game, somebody should knock him on his ass. Welcome to the playoffs Tony and Manu got heart over 30 points a piece for both of them. Not to mention they are older. These sports writers are funny, they have no clue, totally dihonest when writing about the game. What games were these poeple watching.
Mavericks
Suns
goin fishin
6 - Jared Wright
Greyling, I'm glad you brought up the Bell/Bryant confrontation. Bell was suspended for...you guessed it...one game for the altercation. The same punishment that was handed down to Amare and Diaw. Now, if you're going to, with a straight face, claim the two infractions were equal, I'm afraid there's nothing left I can tell you. Like I said, the Spurs are a good team. So is Phoenix. If I'm a Suns fan, I'm upset my team got jobbed. If I'm a Spurs fan, I'm somewhat disgruntled that my title run this year will be forever riddled with questionmarks and calls of "tainted!" Neither team nor their fans should be happy with the way things turned out.
7 - RJ
"Tim Duncan had his usual impressive but aesthetically unspectacular 24 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 blocks."
Nine blocks? Nine???
Is that a typo, or did the man really have nine blocked shots in a single game?
If that's a real stat, that has to be close to an NBA playoffs record, right?
8 - RJ
Holy Moses! The man did indeed block nine shot attempts!
I also discovered that the record for most blocked shots in a playoff game is ten, held by both Hakeem Olajuwon and Mark Eaton.
9 - Jared Wright
Yep, it would've been one heckuva triple double.
10 - Later Gator
Bell assaulted another player. Stoudamire did no such thing. He left the bench. The suspension was bullshit. I'm not even a Suns fan and that suspension was bullshit. People pay big money to see big stars play during these championship rounds. To have a star player suspended during a pivotal game is bullshit.
11 - Matthew T. Sussman
The other issue hardly anyone has brought up is the issue of re-seeding after every round. This series would have been a fantastic Western Conference finals, but instead the winner of the (2) Suns and (3) Spurs played either the (5) Jazz or (8) Warriors.
12 - Jared Wright
The only catch with reseeding is that you bank on all the teams involved in these high profile series to always take care of business. Let's say they reseeded, but Golden State beats Phoenix. Then you have people throwing a fit that they didn't get to see the great Suns/Spurs conference final they expected going into the postseason. I see your point though and wouldn't be against it. Just playing devil's advocate. I dunno...I can't imagine the second round would have been that interesting had it been Suns/Warriors and Spurs/Jazz. *shrug*