Category: San Antonio Spurs Blog

The AP reports:

Steve Nash scored 20 points and played with a right eye that was swollen shut as Phoenix swept San Antonio from the Western Conference semifinals with a 107-101 win Sunday night. Amare Stoudemire led the way with 29 points to help the Suns get past the Spurs in the playoffs for the first time in five tries.

“That was ugly,” Suns forward Channing Frye said walking off the court.

Kind of like Nash’s black-and-blue, stitched-up eye.

But it didn’t bother Nash, who scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to help smother a rally by the Spurs. Nash was accidentally struck by one of Tim Duncan’s elbows in the third quarter and briefly went to the locker room. He came back with an ice pack on his eye when he finally returned to the court…

Tony Parker scored 22 points to lead the Spurs, who were swept out of the playoffs for the first time since 2001. George Hill had 17 points, and was fouled while hitting a 3-pointer with 26.5 seconds left that gave the Spurs a flicker of hope.

InsideHoops.com notes:

The Suns got a huge boost from Jared Dudley, who came off the bench to shoot 6-of-7, including 3-of-3 three-pointers, for 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals in 31 minutes.

Grant Hill was a role player, putting up just four points and few measurable stats in 35 minutes.

Leandro Barbosa shot just 2-for-10, for seven points.

Goran Dragic received just 11 minutes, scoring six on six shots, with three assists.

For the Spurs, Manu Ginobili had a great game aside from miserable shooting, hitting just 2-of-11 shots (but with 10-of-12 free throws) for 15 points, six  rebounds, nine assists and five steals.

Tony Parker scored 22, but needed 19 shots to do it.

Tim Duncan had 17 points (on 14 shots), eight rebounds, two steals and three blocks.

Live fan discussion of the game took place in this forum topic.

The AP reports:

Phoenix is one win away from ending years of playoff misery against San Antonio, taking a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals with a 110-96 victory Friday night, putting the Spurs in a historically irreparable hole…

[Suns backup point guard Goran Dragic] scored 23 of his 26 points in a brilliant fourth quarter, rendering Steve Nash unneeded until the final 3 minutes. Amare Stoudemire? He never even took off his warmups in the fourth quarter.

Dragic hit nine of 11 shots in the fourth, including all four 3-point attempts…

Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 27 points while welcoming Tony Parker back to the starting lineup, but it was a move that didn’t work out as the Spurs planned…

Parker averaged 23 as a reserve in Games 1 and 2 but didn’t provide the same jolt while reclaiming his starting job. He scored 10 points on 5-of-17 shooting…

Jason Richardson had 21 points and Hill added 18 for the Suns.

The AP reports:

Amare Stoudemire had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Channing Frye made 5 of 6 3-pointers, and Phoenix, wearing its orange “Los Suns” jerseys in part to protest Arizona’s new anti-immigration law, pulled away for a 110-102 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.

Steve Nash and Jason Richardson scored 19 points apiece and Grant Hill added 18 in a grind-it-out game played at the Spurs’ pace until the Suns started hitting 3-pointers. After starting 1 of 7 from long range, Phoenix made eight of its next 12.

Tim Duncan had 29 points and 10 rebounds and Richard Jefferson rebounded from a poor Game 1 with 18 points and 10 boards for San Antonio. Tony Parker added 20 points for the Spurs…

Manu Ginobili, guarded mainly by Hill, was 2 of 8 from the field, including just 1 of 2 in the second half, but had 11 assists for San Antonio. Hill also made two big shots down the stretch…

The Spurs outshot Phoenix 51 percent to 42 percent but the Suns outrebounded taller San Antonio 49-37, 18-7 on the offensive boards. Stoudemire made just 5 of 16 shots but was 11 of 13 at the free throw line. The Suns outscored the Spurs by 14 at the line, going 29 of 37 to San Antonio’s 15 of 22.

The AP reports:

After resting his strained right hip for three days, Steve Nash had 33 points and 10 assists, and the Phoenix Suns broke their Game 1 curse against the San Antonio Spurs with a 111-102 victory on Monday night in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Any doubt that Nash would be slowed by the injury ended in the early minutes of the game, when he made his five shots, including an array of twisting, swiveling drives to the hoop. He had 17 points by the end of the first quarter…

Jason Richardson scored 27 and Amare Stoudemire had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Suns.

Manu Ginobili, tape across his broken nose, scored 27, Tony Parker 26 and Duncan 20 for the Spurs, who had won three straight Game 1s against the Suns, two of them in Phoenix. Both of those times, in 2005 and 2007, the Spurs went on to win the NBA title…

Twice San Antonio rallied from 14 back, with a 12-0 run in the third quarter and a mighty 13-0 outburst that sliced Phoenix’s lead to 94-93 on Ginobili’s 7-foot runner with 4:26 to go in the game.

These Suns had whatever it took to withstand the charge.

InsideHoops.com notes:

Phoenix shot 51.9%, San Antonio 45.8%. And while Phoenix only hit 7-of-20 three-pointers, San Antonio connected on a miserable 4-of-19 (21.1%). Free throws were close. Rebounding and assists were fairly close.

For Phoenix, Nash had 33 points and 10 assists (six turnovers). Richardson had 27 points and six rebounds, with no assists. Stoudemire had 23 points, 13 rebounds and no assists. No one else stepped up offensively, but the collective effort was enough.

For San Antonio, Ginobili had 27 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Tony Parker (still coming off the bench) scored 26 but with just three assists and no steals. Tim Duncan scored 20 (on 15 shots) with 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. George Hill shot just 2-of-9 and only dished one assist as the starting point guard.