NBA Playoff Picks – San Antonio Spurs Against Suns
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
by BetUS.com
Everything went right for the Phoenix Suns in Game 1, especially in a first quarter that saw Steve Nash open up can of whoop ass against the very opponents he has never beaten in the playoffs.
Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire and Jason Richardson all had huge games to put the San Antonio Spurs on their heels in their semi-finals series. So why should your NBA playoffs pick in Game 2 side with the Spurs?
When I previewed Game 2 between the Celtics-Cavaliers on Monday night, I said the one thing you can’t overlook is how a veteran team adjusts to a loss.
Look what Boston did to Cleveland that night. Heck, look at what San Antonio Spurs did to Dallas in their second game - after losing by 6-points in Game 1 to the Mavericks, the Spurs bounced back to a 102-88 victory to steal home court advantage.
They’re on the brink of doing the exact same thing to Phoenix Suns. The end score of 111-102 looks like the game was miles apart, but for those that stayed up to watch it, then you know that the Suns were almost lucky to pull away in the dying minutes of the game.
Let’s put it this way – they shot 51.9 percent from the field and 35 percent from range. Even for Phoenix, that’s pretty damn good.
Of course, it helped a ton that Steve Nash opened up this game by dropping 17-points in the first quarter. How’d that happen? George Hill was defending him.
When Tony Parker gets the start, Nash will have a much tougher time rolling off high screens and getting open looks like he did against the younger Hill. Don’t bank on that happening on Gregg Popovich’s watch a second time.
San Antonio Spurs (50-42) vs. Phoenix Suns (54-28)
Wednesday, May 5th --- U.S. Airways Arena --- 10:30pm EST
NBA Betting Line: Phoenix -2.5 (205.5)
Lost in the freight train of Phoenix’s momentum fueled win was a lack of Amar’e Stoudemire. The more I watch him play, the less I’m convinced that he’s able to take over a big game. I mean, if Jason Richardson can blow up for 27-points and 6 rebounds in a runaway game, where the heck is Stoudemire?
Ok fine, he’s putting up big numbers, but they aren’t those spectacular momentum chuggers that you expect out of a physical behemoth like this man. I’m still in “wait and see” mode with him.
Regardless of Amar’e, I loved the way Phoenix Suns played in front of a juiced up crowd on Monday.
Loved every second of it. As a fan, it was fun to watch, and my guy’s in the Locker Room here had already swayed me to take the Suns to cover the 4-points in Game 1. But as I usually do when it comes to basketball playoff picks, I looked for little things.
What I basically saw was Phoenix Suns gaining steam off of every open three, every fast break and taking risky jumpers. One or two of those don’t drop and it’s a completely different ball game. Unfortunately for the Suns, their gameplan is built on making this “big time” shots and keeping the tide in their favor.
What makes this entire series dangerous for them is that when they miss those shots, they know the Spurs can capitalize on it.
The San Antonio Spurs showed that their big three can run with the Suns, which is no easy task when Manu can’t breathe through his broken nose and Tim Duncan seems as old as a tree. And they still combined for 73-points in the first game.
The zig-zag theory has been returning more than 2/3rds of the time and this game falls right in to its crosshairs.
You may love the Suns right now, but your NBA playoffs pick is on the Spurs to win and cover Game 2. I’d like to see Phoenix score those kinds of points when the Spurs take the wind out of their sails.
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