1st Quarter
Amare picks up his first foul early…If he wants to tie up this series., he’ll have to stay out of foul trouble.
So far it looks like the Suns bigs are having their way. 9-2 with just under 9 mins. to go.
This is starting similar to the way game 1 started.
Parker has knifed through the Suns defense for two consecutive layups. If Parker and Ginobili’s penetration can’t be stopped…the Suns probably don’t have much of a chance.
Can Amare Stoudamire miss. 12 points so far.
26-12. Time to take a time-out Pop.
Never leave a jumpshooter open…never leave a jumpshooter open. I repeat it because obviously Finley is having a hard time figuring this one out.
Looks like small ball is working, but the Spurs are still down by 9 35-26 at the end of the first.
2nd Quarter
THREE! by Manu…and the slam. Luckily he came to play. 5 pt. game
Nash, Shaq and Amare back in and the lead swells back to 10.
Brent Barry is the first Spur aside from the big three to get on the board.
Parker is looking unstoppable. He is taking it straight to the paint.
The Suns lead is down to 6.
For as much as people call Parker soft…he’s had a knee to the head and a full speed collision with Shaq, yet he still attacks the paint. Nothing soft about that.
Spurs go into halftime down 61-54.
Halftime
Keys for the Second half :
Gotta get some of the other players started, especially Finley.
Better defense on Amare Stoudamire and Shaq. Easier said than done. Shaq can’t get so deep in the paint. If he does, he’ll score easily, regardless of who is defending him.
Closeout on perimeter defenders.
3rd Quarter
Just what the dr. ordered. Two consecutive buckets by Finley. 3 pt. game.
Just like that it’s a tie game.
Spurs have got to take advantage of opportunities. They should be up by 10.
Timeout by D’Antoni. Spurs up by 2 on eight straight points by Finley.
Spurs stifling D continues to bother Suns.
Now Ime’s getting into the game. Spurs up by their biggest lead of 8 pts.
Shaq and Barbosa with the takedown of Shaq, Too bad this isn’t MMA.
Uggh…I despise the Hack-A-Shaq. Let your defense play it out. As good as this defense has played, I’d rather let them try to get a stop.
Spurs up by nine 81-72 at the end of the 3rd.
4th Quarter
Expect Nash, Amare and Shaq to be in when the 4th starts. They’ll try to make a run to close the gap. I’m exppecting another down to the wire nail-biter.
Manu with the 3 puts the Spurs up by 11.
The Suns have not been able to stop the penetration.
17 pt. lead, but can the Spurs sustain?
Tony Parker has got to stop forcing it when they stop his penetration. He forced a jumper up that had no shot of making it. He should’ve brought the ball back out.
Hope Manu isn’t out too long. He sits and the Suns have now narrowed it to 13 pts. and they’re plenty capable of scoring a lot of points in a short amount of time.
I don’t understand why the Spurs are rushing the offense so much. They are playing into the Suns hands. They’ve got to try and eat some clock.
Have the Spurs heard of COMPOSURE.
Tim Duncan has got to knock these free throws done and the Spurs defense has to make a stop.
Travel by Diaw. If the Spurs can score here, I think they might be able to fend off the Suns.
This game is over. Tony Parker hit the one jumper that counted when the Spurs needed it most.
The Suns will probably foul right away. All the Spurs need to do is hit free throws the rest of the way.
Bell always tries to get away with a little extra.
Spurs go up 2-0 heading to Phoenix. I wonder what Shaq is going to complain about after this one.
Hopefully I’ll be back liveblogging for game three in Phoenix on Friday night.
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