"We'll take care of them pretty quick."
"Kurt Thomas is starting game two."
"The Spurs are a dirty team."
The coaches wince, the team collectively cringes. Amare has become the postseason mouthpiece for the Suns. The outspoken, thought checking, cliche spewing youth minister of paint ball speaks his mind again, and people lose their nuts.
The Suns took care of the Lakers pretty quick, as expected by everyone not named Greg Anthony. People forgot about the comment.
Kurt Thomas started game two, and Amare's excitement was validated as the Suns not only won convincingly, but put a world class beat down on the Spurs. Didn't Amare tip them off?
Twice now, Amare Stoudemire has given the opposition fuel to pump out more wins against the Suns. Third time's the charm? Doubtful. Despite any hope that may be generated by this amusing spin from My SA.
So first Amare gave the Lakers motivation to make a long series. Then he gave the Spurs time to prepare for Kurt Thomas. And now he's told the world that the Spurs are indeed within the confines of the Suns orange and purple cranium.A huge part of [Bowen's] game is making an opponent uncomfortable, and Stoudemire all but confirmed Bowen is doing his job against the Suns.
-Mike Finger, San Antonio Express-News
Pardon me, but I'd like to take this opportunity to call bullshit.
For starters, there is a lot more context to the story than has been revealed over the last day or so. Amare didn't just come out and say that the Spurs were a dirty team. He was asked about a play in the second half of game two, when he went up weakly on a wide open dunk, then came down awkwardly. And this was two days after the game. If the Spurs were in the Suns' heads, particularly Stoudemire's, doesn't it stand to reason that the first thing Amare would have thought after that play was that Bowen cheap shotted him? Would it not have surfaced on its own much sooner?
Who knows. I sure don't, but I still believe that if the Spurs were truly in Stoudemire's head, he would have said something much sooner. This is the same Amare who, when asked if he had a series prediction, said "no." Or maybe he was just saving the good stuff for just such an occasion. But that suggests a certain amount of premeditation. Like he wanted to say something. Like he wanted to go on the attack.
That's a confident beast, the one who takes initiative against a three time champion. And a smart one, it seems. He did clarify during the same interview that he was talking specifically about Bowen and Manu Ginobili.
After taking in all the information one person can consume on one trivial subject, I'm left with one question.Tim [is] a class act. He’s not a dirty player at all. I just think Bruce and Manu Ginobili are guys that are dirty.
Who's in whose head?
Amare obviously respects Tim Duncan and the other Spurs because he went out of his way to double out two players. And none of the other Suns players or coaches have chimed in on Amare's statements. So this must be between Bowen, Ginobili, and Stoudemire.
Considering that Amare Stoudemire is averaging 23.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 2.5 blocks through two games against San Antonio, I find it difficult to envision how any Spurs player can be in Amare's head.
Bowen and Ginobili? Hardly effective through two games.
Through two games, the Suns have ripped the heart out of the Spurs. The Spurs top perimeter defender and offensive spark plug are not a part of this series as it stands. The Suns can stop Tony Parker and they can make Duncan earn his points. Yet this reporter from San Antonio believes that all the above is negated by Amare's comments?
That's odd. It seems to me that Amare is working his way into their heads even more. Look at the state of affairs in the NBA. The referees are under a microscope, and the Spurs have been given relatively favorable treatment since the Joey Crawford incident. (Manu man-loving Amare's leg isn't a foul?)
The Spurs have been getting breaks. They barely won the first game, then got blown out in the second game. How will they fare when the league suddenly starts watching for these "dirty plays"? How are Ginobili and Bowen, who are already not having good series by anyone's standards, going to get themselves in the game when the refs are looking for that little extra "inadvertent" contact?
This could be the best move the Suns could have pulled. The team made San Antonio look ordinary in the second half. The Spurs did not look like a championship team in that game, admit it. The Suns had to find something extra to bring into game three.
Phoenix blew out San Antonio, so the Suns had no major adjustments to make that Popovich is, more than likely, already preparing for. Steve Nash said that he was pleased with Tuesday night's energy, but that they would have to bring even more to San Antonio if they want to win. What better way to get into the Spurs heads and derail their plans than to point the eye of the league directly to the point on which Gregg Popovich and his staff are currently focused?
Careful with those "defensive adjustments," Coach. The league will be watching.
Now the Suns have to back up their starting center. No way can they leave him hangin' in the middle of the biggest playoff series in Suns history. They have to bring it. Amare called out the Spurs most controversial players because he believes he can. If he believes that he can, then his team will.
This could still very well be a six game series. The Suns know that they can beat the Spurs. The team proved it in convincing fashion this week. They should now believe that they will never lose to the Spurs again. The Suns can now climb that mountain and plant the big purple flag with the Phoenix rising from the flames on the peak of Mount Whine-more.
*Edit: 1-22-2009: Yeah...it backfired BIG time, didn't it? I can be such a homer sometimes.*
2 comments:
thanks for the whole story jey! funny how alot of the story got left out and how it's being turned against STAT. i say that even though his teammates haven't 'voiced' their support for STAT, they will just show up and blow up the spurs on saturday.
Anna
It's funny, but directly after game 1, I started to think it was over for us. We played hard and lost a close game, as they say, "by a nose". That was my mistake.
After watching how we methodically dismantled the "league's best defense" in game 2, my feeling reversed and now I think it is the Spurs who are outside looking in.
Much of the stuff that Amare said, was of course, dismissed by anyone on the Spurs. These plays that they have used against us since before the '05 WCF are now going to be under the microscope. I fully believe we will see a different Spurs team tomorrow, and not a team the Spurs themselves want to see. We are now in their heads. We slow down to their pace and play an uncharacteristic un-Suns-like defensive half-court game, and we blow them out.
Let's hail D'Antoni for finally figuring out the Spurs, and let's all be thankful for "the mouth that roared".
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