The Post Up: Here Come The Spurs

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• InsideOut Posted: Dec.5 at 9:07 am
  Saddens me to see the Suns and Mavs fall so far.

• Ryne Nelson Posted: Dec.5 at 9:17 am
  Huh? Mavs have won eight of their last nine.

• Ryne Nelson Posted: Dec.5 at 9:18 am
  I expected good games last night. The Suns had a full roster and they’ve turned it on at points. The Nuggets were hot as anyone and the Spurs are the Spurs. Either way, I guess the best teams came out on top.

• Ryne Nelson Posted: Dec.5 at 9:19 am
  Oh, and I had to throw-in the Kenny/T.O. halftime screen grabs (AYO!!) although Holly didn’t mention them.

• Ken Posted: Dec.5 at 9:20 am
  If the playoffs started today, the Suns would be fishing. Amazing.

• Justin Walsh Posted: Dec.5 at 9:23 am
  dirk for 39? kind of reminds me when they were worth talking about

• namik Posted: Dec.5 at 9:25 am
  DIRK!!!!

• Justin Walsh Posted: Dec.5 at 9:28 am
  by the way, it is disgusting how TO looks like a greek god.

• Bryan Posted: Dec.5 at 9:30 am
  Dirk for MIP haha. But seriously I don’t this incarnation of the suns at all. Shaq is like the only person benefitting. It makes zero sense to have all these athletes and play a halfcourt slow game.

• Nguni Posted: Dec.5 at 9:43 am
  spurs still contenders, or they not pretenders?

• Michael Posted: Dec.5 at 9:44 am
  duncan is the perpetual motion machine of the NBA.

• Nguni Posted: Dec.5 at 9:45 am
  now*

• LexaB Posted: Dec.5 at 9:47 am
  As always, everybode burried the Spurs down in the first weeks of the season, and as always… everyone will be afraid to play them come postseason!!!! You can hate them all you want, that other Big Three can also win one more ring !!

• LexaB Posted: Dec.5 at 9:51 am
  Timmy amazes me every season. You think he’s finally too old but the robot still manages to keep his routine going on and going on. As long as the Spurs will have TD, you can’t throw them out of the championship picture. The game, the experience… the man has it all !!!

• vtrobot Posted: Dec.5 at 9:51 am
  Suns won’t make the playoffs. Dallas and Spurs will be very interesting first round matchups for other teams if those two finish 7th or 8th. I would love to see the Mavs do to the Lakers what the Warriors did to them a couple years ago. The couple times I’ve watched Tony this year, he’s looked really good. Can’t wait for C’s/Blazers tonight.

• Bryan Posted: Dec.5 at 9:54 am
  Tim Duncan’s game has always been based on fundamentals and post moves and strength. His game is gonna continue to flourish as long as his stamina allows him to play 35 mpg.

• Justin Walsh Posted: Dec.5 at 9:55 am
  Bryan, couldn’t have put it better.spot on.

• Guillaume Posted: Dec.5 at 10:02 am
  had you all forgotten Timmy, the best player of the last 10 years? (yes he is)

• LexaB Posted: Dec.5 at 10:14 am
  Cosign Bryan and Justin. If TD was playing in Europe, where the fundamentals are b-ball, he would be some KB24-or-LBJ23-kind-of-superstar around there !!

• NACHOveli Posted: Dec.5 at 10:19 am
  Im not pointing any fingers but the main culprit in this greek tragety that is my phoenix suns is placed squarely on owner robert sarver. He didnt get along with bryan colangelo and forced his hand to look else where, and his cheap pocketbook that traded away the luol deng pick in 04′, didnt sign joe johnson for half of the contract he got the next year, trading draft picks for cap space that ended up being nate robinson, rajon rando and now rudy fernandez. im still a fan and will always be, but we cant have owners who dont know squat about hoop ruin a potential dynasty in the desert. now I have a squad that looks like it might struggle to make the playoffs instead of being a contender. welcome to planet orange….

• Justin Walsh Posted: Dec.5 at 10:20 am
  actually LexaB, i believe he would never play in europe, FIBA refs are his kryptonite. A major reason he wont play in the olympics again is his distaste for FIBA refs. If not for them, yes he could.

• Michael Posted: Dec.5 at 10:46 am
  @NACH, Bill Simmons did a pretty interesting column about six months ago on basically what you described, its worth hunting for if u havent read it yet, sad what has happened to the suns and sarver is definitely the biggest reason, but so is colangelo. You also forgot to mention trading away kurt thomas for cash (?) and the horrible marcus banks contract (which might have been colangelo’s fault)

• LexaB Posted: Dec.5 at 10:50 am
  Down with ya on that one Justin… I just forgot how TD disliked all those FIBA refs !!!! But if he was born and raised in Europe under FIBA rules, he would have been a real killer around there!!

• BETCATS Posted: Dec.5 at 11:08 am
  I hate ESPN

• BETCATS Posted: Dec.5 at 11:15 am
  Fire drill. Peace

• Allenp Posted: Dec.5 at 11:17 am
  Does anybody else find it troubling that the Suns have already decided to quit on Terry Porter? And I mean all of the Suns. They have all decided to ignore Porter and just do dumb stuff.
  It’s not that hard to play with Shaq. Magic did it with Kareem. You run on misses and steals and when you don’t have a fast break, you set up the half court.
  The Suns team is similiar to that old Lakers team in personnel, now they need to play smart and stop whining like children. The Suns players are convinced that they only failed to make the Finals because of a couple of bad bounces, when they actually lost because they couldn’t play defense or rebound.

• Myles Brown Posted: Dec.5 at 11:19 am
  Because it couldn’t be both.

• Allenp Posted: Dec.5 at 11:20 am
  Good point.
  The suspensions and the Joe Johnson injury were bad bounces. But, they lost to San Antonio because the Spurs controlled the pace the entire series, not just because they were shorthanded.

• Myles Brown Posted: Dec.5 at 11:21 am
  I concur.

• Russ Bengtson Posted: Dec.5 at 11:31 am
  Those games were awful.

• Russ Bengtson Posted: Dec.5 at 11:31 am
  Although it’s fun to watch Dirk when he gets on a roll.

• Khalid Salaam Posted: Dec.5 at 11:33 am
  allenp is on point today.

• ciolkstar Posted: Dec.5 at 11:52 am
  I went to the UT/UCLA game last night so I missed all of Mavs/Suns and almost all the Spurs/Nugs 1st half. I’m amazed that Dallas had won 8-9. Barea played well last night, but I love Carlisle F*king with the Mavs heads, changing the starting SG every other game…
  The Spurs will finish better than 7th seed. I’m predicting 5th (or maybe 4th if the Jazz/Hornets don’t get it together soon)

• TADOne Posted: Dec.5 at 11:58 am
  Recessions suck. Ok, continue with basketball talk…..

• Keith Posted: Dec.5 at 12:05 pm
  The ‘08-’09 Suns make my heart sad.

• Allenp Posted: Dec.5 at 12:17 pm
  If the Suns play smart, they can make the Finals.
  If they keep doing dumb stuff, they lose in the first round and we have massive firings in the front office, or lots of trades.
  I like the Suns talent right now more than I have ever liked it.

• Bryan Posted: Dec.5 at 12:20 pm
  Allenp is right. I’ve been saying it for weeks. There is no reason why Shaq and Amare shouldn’t be able to rebound and ignite fast breaks and if the transition game breaks down they can just pull it back out and reset the halfcourt. Maybe Marion wasn’t the problem in the valley of the Sun after all. It seems someone on the roster always has something to b*tch about. I don’t like Terry Porter, I didn’t like it from the get go so I do have a problem there , but they still shoudnt be poutng and playing this bad its ridiculous.

• what Posted: Dec.5 at 12:23 pm
  You can’t win titles when your two best players are horrible at defense. I straight up fell asleep during that Suns Mavs game yesterday.

• Ryne Nelson Posted: Dec.5 at 12:24 pm
  Terry Porter has no idea what to do with this team. He and Steve Kerr need to go, and soon.

• Ryne Nelson Posted: Dec.5 at 12:25 pm
  @What: Yesterday was a prime night to check the college game. What sort of team keeps Nash laying on the sidelines for that long?

• RV Posted: Dec.5 at 12:30 pm
  anyone know if the gabe muoneke incident video is out on the net?

• TADOne Posted: Dec.5 at 12:33 pm
  Ryne: So you want to fire ANOTHER NBA coach?!

• ciolkstar Posted: Dec.5 at 12:36 pm
  Terry Porter is in way over his head, coming in after a guy like D’ Antoni, who gave the Suns an identity and empowered them with a system that let them showcase thier talents. Their defense isnt appreciably better and they’re struggling on offense bigtime. Steve Kerr was right when he said he’d look like a genius or an idiot…and right now its definitey leaning towards idiot.

• NBK Posted: Dec.5 at 12:38 pm
  @Ryne & Tad- I live in phoenix and i can tell you nobody here likes terry porter, everyone thinks he is basically coaching with his head up his a$$. He does not let anyone get a rythm keeps nash out at the worst times- up ten against nets then the run started and nash did not come back in till it was tied….he does not play robin lopez he insists on keeping diaw in even though he gets absolutely destroyed down low. Everyone here wants him fired and everyone is getting sick of the suns.

• Cub Buenning Posted: Dec.5 at 12:43 pm
  ALERT!!! RYNE just made a statement regarding how the college game might be worthy of attention!!!! Who is next!?!?!? Someone in the SLAMdome check to see if our esteemed online editor has a Deron throwback Illini jersey on……

• Cub Buenning Posted: Dec.5 at 12:47 pm
  Midway through the second half, my wife and I were peeking in at the boat race at the Pepsi Center, when she asked where Pop’s pony-tail was.
  The giddy-up does look a bit incomplete without one.

• Kid Presto Posted: Dec.5 at 12:55 pm
  I have to admit that I thought Darren Collison was overrated. I still do but last night he balled his ass off. Thoughts, Cub?

• Bryan Posted: Dec.5 at 1:02 pm
  I would tad.

• TADOne Posted: Dec.5 at 1:04 pm
  Wasn’t everyone saying the Suns were done last year after acquiring Shaq? So what exactly were the expectations with Porter?

• NBK Posted: Dec.5 at 1:11 pm
  The expectations with porter was that he would improve the defense and he would find a way to implimant shaq without hurting nash and amare. So far porter has made the defense no better then it was before, has made nash virtually ineffective, amare is not where he should be, and shaq has a good game once a week. Porter should be shipped out of here

• Allenp Posted: Dec.5 at 1:12 pm
  I thought the Suns were supposed to cut Nash’s minutes? Isn’t that the goal so he’ll be fresh for the playoffs.
  Terry Porter is getting scapegoated. And y’all know I usually take the side of players, but all of the Suns need to look in the mirror. They all need to play better defense, they all need to rebound and they all need to stop TALKING. Damn.

• Kid Presto Posted: Dec.5 at 1:14 pm
  New coaches always bring new expectations but I agree with TAD. Did they believe that Porter was going to be a better coach than Mike? c’mon now.

• Allenp Posted: Dec.5 at 1:14 pm
  True, it’s the coaches job to motivate players and put them in the right position, but I feel like cats quit on Porter before he even started.
  They are all pining for Mike D.

• nick Posted: Dec.5 at 2:06 pm
  The suns are like hippies in the 80’s…they grew up on good-times care-free high-flying fun, then woke up one day and realized they were 30+, had herpes, and lived in a world of reaganomics and rocky IV instead of reggae and jam rock.

• Russ Bengtson Posted: Dec.5 at 2:16 pm
  I’m not a big fan of Terry Porter, but what’s he supposed to be doing differently? Steve Kerr assembled a bizarre Frankenstein’s monster of a team that is almost guaranteed to have issues, and just tossed him the keys. (Yeah, mixed metaphors.) Blame the architect. And Shaq.

• Nbk Posted: Dec.5 at 2:42 pm
  Granted kerr did put together a frankenstein team but porter was not brought in to make the suns worse and he has period. Whether or not the players are buying inks his job. He’s the coach it’s his job to get his players to buy into his system, he is just not a good coach same thing happened in Milwaukee

• Ryne Nelson Posted: Dec.5 at 3:02 pm
  There’s no blame on Shaq. Terry Porter is slowing down the Suns’ offense to the point that a college rec league could keep up with them.

• BETCATS Posted: Dec.5 at 4:06 pm
  Being 11 and 9 does not deserve to get you fired. The Suns just need to get used to the way that Porter coaches and they will be fine. The first 25 games of the season mean nothing about how the rest of the year is gonna turn out. I remember Sam Vincent getting me excited, at one point the Bobcats were 4th in the East under him. We finished the year 10th. Under Porter, BETstradamus sees the suns winning 45-50 games and getting 6-8th seed in the playoffs.

• Allenp Posted: Dec.5 at 4:06 pm
  Nick
  That hippies in the 80s analogy was nice. You should have thrown in random heroin addictions though.

• nick Posted: Dec.5 at 4:43 pm
  AllenP: True. I also missed an obvious Mike D’Antoni/Timothy Leary comparison. You live and learn.

• BETCATS Posted: Dec.5 at 5:00 pm
  but it does prove Steve Kerr is a somewhat retarded somewhat Einstein like GM. Pre-Shaq the big complaint about the Suns: ‘They need defense! They will never win a ring without a dominate Center that can defend!’ After the Shaq trade: ‘I miss the run and gun days! Long live Q-Rich and the Pringles D’Antoni!’

• NBK Posted: Dec.5 at 5:05 pm
  I still think Kerr was right adding Shaquille O’Neal, but if you are running an offense where he gets the ball 8 out of every 10 possessions and your most recent mvp winner and future mvp winner only get the ball in position to create 2 out of 10 times then there is something wrong with the offense the coach is running. Maybe Bet is right and they will figure it out and it is too soon, but from the offense that i have seen and the strategy the suns have used (not counting their chemistry if they had any) they are still running bad plays and bad sets. Meaning Terry Porter is not making the offense suit his players but trying to make his players conform to his offense.

• Darksaber Posted: Dec.5 at 10:49 pm
  For all the Dirk haters on slamonline: eat that, suckas! 5th best scorer in the Nba, scored 39 against, hmm let me think, Barnes, Bell, Diaw & Stoudemire (sounds like a funky lawfirm) mostly with jumpers and his herky-jerky low post, fadeaways. Dallas is looking stronger now than in November, and that’s all that counts, getting better as the season progresses. Add Barea as a fantastic (so far) backup PG and JET scoring at will lately, and one could be tempted to forget they still haven’t played much with the non saluter, Josh. Go Di.., umm Mavs.

• Darksaber Posted: Dec.5 at 11:02 pm
  and is it just me, or is Amare looking frustrated already?

• whooo! Posted: Dec.6 at 3:07 am
  for as much as amare says he wants to be the man, he fails to realize that he can have an impact more ways than just scoring. it amazes me that he STILL doesn’t get it. if he could work half as hard as dwight howard on defense, he’d be a force, but he’s so terrible and refuses to put in the time to improve. he simply won’t get to the kg/duncan level with his complete lack of development on defense after all these years.