Time To Panic? Suns Take 2-0 Lead

Timmy had another double-double in the loss. He finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds. (AP Photo)

San Antonio did what I said they needed to do, slow down the Suns in the first quarter and not let Steve Nash jump on us early.  That happened, I was proud of that.  It was more of a flip flop performance from game one.  San Antonio ended the first with a 30 to 21 lead.  All was good right?  We started the way we wanted to, we surrounded Nash when he got the ball, things were going well, our defense looked more aggressive and our offense was definately on the right track.

So, with all that was going good to start, what happened?

The next three quarters the Suns decided to play some ball.  Dawning their ‘Los Suns’ jersey in wake of the Immigration Law that was passed in Arizona, Nash and company showed that this could be the year that they knock down their arch nemesis.

Nash and Richardson scored 19 each as Amare Stoudemire finished with 23 and Grant Hill 18.  Though the starters played well for Phoenix it was the play of the bench, especially two guys that made it possible for them to knock off San Antonio to take the 2-0 lead.

Channing Frye and Jared Dudley were those two.  Frye whom has shown in game one that he likes to shoot the long ball did that again without any hesitation.  Frye nailed 5 for 6 from downtown for 15 points.  Dudley brought in 11 and 6 rebounds. 

Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich in his post game press conference stated that Dudley was the key:

“Jared Dudley changed the whole game”.

Spurs were plaqued by foul trouble and it was to two of our big three.  Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.  They both had five fouls and Duncan had to take a seat after picking up his third in a crucial part of the game.  Though he had to take a seat, George Hill picked up the slack hitting two big threes in the corners that gave the Spurs the lead at one point.

He finished with 14 points.

Duncan added 29 and 10.  Ginobili did not have the performance he did in game one.  He was 2 of 8 from the floor with just 11 points.  Tony Parker came off the bench again to hit for 20.

A good sign for San Antonio is that Richard Jefferson bounced back from his poor game one performance scoring 18 in game two. His thoughts on the Suns:

“Whenever you make a mistake, they do a good job of capitalizing on that and that was the story,” Jefferson said. “Any mistake we made; we missed a read or we went over the top of a screen when we should have gone under, they’re knocking them down and you give them all the credit in a situation like that.”

It was too much offensive rebounds (+11 for Phoenix) and more grit that would power the Suns in game two.  With the shooting that San Antonio did in the game (50%) they could not find the strength to pull away when needed.

Tony came off the bench to score 20 points in a loss in Game 2. (AP Photo)

Parker in his post game conference stated that it was a frustrating loss:

“Definitely it’s a little bit frustrating.” “I thought we played pretty well, but when we had that lead we didn’t take advantage. They beat us on the boards; offensive boards really hurt us tonight. It was one of those games where you think that you have it and they just make big shot after big shot in the second half. They shot the ball very well in the second half.”

San Antonio now head home for games three and four and look to even the series and not go down 3-0.  Game three is scheduled for Friday, May 7 at 9:30 PM Eastern Time.

Game Highlights (Courtesty NBA.Com)

Box Score