I'm relishing in the drama of the NBA playoffs. The Suns / Spurs series is providing great entertainment. Both teams have winners of multiple MVP awards and rosters filled with talented players worthy of wearing the championship ring. Last night the Spurs took a 3-2 series lead, but with the return of Amare for game 6, the Suns aren't ready to throw in the towel.
After having what seemed to be control over game 5, the Suns managed to let the Spurs steal the win and the series lead. In the absence of Stoudemire, Shaun Marion stepped up with 24 points and 17 rebounds. It wasn't enough to hold off a late Bruce Bowen three pointer that ultimately clouded the Suns chance at victory and maybe an NBA title.
Last night the Suns had to pretend like it was 2006 (Stoudemire basically missed the entire season) after Amare was out of the line-up for the first time all year (Stoudemire was the only Suns player to appear in all 82). The Robert Horry "body check" of Steve Nash that kept Amare out of game 5 cost the Suns more than it cost the Spurs. The Suns probably should have won the game last night even without Amare, but Stoudemire's impact is much greater on the Suns success than Horry's impact on the Spurs success (San Antonio is 13-1 WITHOUT Horry in the lineup). In game 6 Friday be prepared for the revenge, the unleashing of a powered-up performance by a madman ready to silence the crowd and bring the series back to Phoenix.
The Spurs are sitting pretty after winning game 5. When a series is tied 2-2, the winner of game 5 has gone on to win 83% of the time and on top of that the Suns have never won a series tied at 2-2 in franchise history. Despite all that, the white flag has not been raised. Amare is primed to produce a jaw-dropping, historic performance. His first two games in San Antonio were decent, but not worthy of First Team All-NBA. In a game 3 loss, Amare flirted with foul trouble, only played 20 mins and despite scoring 21 he grabbed just 5 rebounds. In a game 4 win, Amare again had foul trouble, played 31 minutes, but had a solid all around game 26 points and 9 rebounds. Game 6 is going to be an explosion.
In the 2005 playoffs, Stoudemire showed up huge. Using Tim Duncan as his poster boy, Stoudemire showed the entire nation what he was capable of doing. He put together three 40 point playoff games including two against the Spurs and scored at least 30 points in 11 of his 15 post-season games. Stoudemire averaged 37 ppg during the series against Duncan and played his best when the season was on the line. In the do or die game 5, Stoudemire put up a career playoff high 42 points and added 16 rebounds - but the Suns lost and the Spurs advanced.
Even though Amare has had at least 20 points in each playoff game this season, he hasn't seemed focused. He looks like Greg Oden did in the NCAA tournament, playing lackadaisical defense and spending a majority of his time on the bench after picking up silly immature fouls. He hasn't been the 42 point scoring, Duncan posterizing Amare that he was in the '05 playoffs. After sitting out game 5, Amare will use fresh legs to spring over the Spurs defense for monster dunks.
Early in the series Amare's mind might have been taken out it after Bruce Bowen attempted to step on his "Achilles" while going up for a dunk during Game 2. After the game Amare called the Spurs a "dirty team" and heard it from the Spurs crowd in games 3 and 4. Stoudemire clamied that the hostile crowd motivated him, saying "I love it. I hope they keep it up." He can expect to hear an extra motivated crowd Friday when the Spurs try to punch their ticket to a Western Conference Finals match-up against the Utah Jazz.
It will be important for Amare to remain focused from start to finish in game 6 and not let the crowd get to him. If Amare can avoid foul trouble and show the Spurs his strength on offense, SA will have a hard time clinching the series.
This series has been back and forth. San Antonio completely controlled game 4 until the Suns outscored San Antonio 32-18 in the 4th quarter to steal it in the end. Phoenix controlled the first half of game 5, but the Spurs outscored Phoenix by 9 in the 4th to win by 3.
It wouldn't surprise me to see the series return to Phoenix for a deciding game 7 with both teams at full strength. The Spurs will have Robert Horry back from his 2 game suspension and I'm sure the crowd in Phoenix will let him have it. Like I said before and I'll say it again, the winner of this series is the NBA champion. This series is the NBA finals. Hopefully the drama will continue and we'll get to see a game 7.
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