By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net
So these aren’t the Mike D’Antoni, “Seven-Seconds-or-Less” Phoenix Suns.
They don’t play offense as if shot from a cannon anymore. They don’t put up scores that would tilt a pinball machine. Steve Nash, at 37, is still proficient on the pick-and-roll, but no longer an MVP candidate. Amare Stoudemire is in his second season dunking in the Big Apple.
Three weeks into this lockout season, Phoenix — once a running, gunning scoring circus with Nash as ringmaster — ranks as one of the NBA’s most pedestrian offenses.
Given the Spurs’ well-chronicled struggles on defense this season, they’ll still take what happened in a 102-91 victory over the Suns on Sunday at the ATT Center as a definitive sign of progress.
“That’s where we want to go,” point guard Tony Parker said after the Spurs improved to 9-0 at home this season. “I thought overall, we played great defense.”
The Spurs (9-4) limited the Suns to just 41.8-percent shooting, the third straight opponent to ? hit less than 43 percent against them.
It arrived on the heels of a stretch in which three straight opponents shot better than 50 percent against them.
After Milwaukee torched the Spurs at a 51.8-percent clip Tuesday — in a game the Spurs lost 106-103 despite shooting 60 percent themselves — coach Gregg Popovich derided his club as “the worst defensive team we’ve ever had.”
The difference since?
“I think we just pay attention more,” Parker said. “I think everybody is making a conscious effort to play better defense.”
The Spurs’ return to defense was part of a throwback night Sunday that also featured an old-school duel between Nash and Tim Duncan, the Spurs’ 35-year-old power forward and Phoenix’s frequent nemesis.
Reprising their infamous clashes from postseasons past, Duncan threw in a season-high 24 points to go with 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, while Nash had 20 points and 10 assists.
“It was a good back-and-forth,” said Duncan, who passed Gary Payton for 26th on the NBA’s all-time scoring chart.
Playing the role of Stoudemire as Nash’s favorite receiver was Marcin Gortat, who finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds as the Suns (4-8) dropped their fourth in a row. Aside from a stretch early in the third quarter, when the Spurs found little answer for the Nash-to-Gortat pick-and-roll, they were solid defensively.
“Steve’s so tricky, he frustrates everyone no matter what you do,” Popovich said. “You can’t be perfect at it.”
For now, Popovich will accept “competent.”
After the debacle in Milwaukee — “a game we could have won,” Parker said — Popovich sat his team down for a come-to-Jesus film session. The topic, not surprising to anyone who has been around the Spurs’ program for more than 35 seconds, was defense.
Where the Spurs used to rely on “stops on demand,” too often this season Popovich had to resort to begging.
Heading into Sunday, even after back-to-back acceptable games against Houston and Portland, the Spurs ranked 26th in the NBA in field-goal percentage defense (46.1 percent) and 19th in points allowed (95.6).
In a bit of a role-reversal, Phoenix came into the game averaging 94.1 points, a number the Suns in their high-scoring heyday could often approach in the third quarter.
“We know it’s a work in progress,” Duncan said. “We know it’s a long season, and we use the season to get where we want to be, but we know we have to be a lot better defensively.”
After Nash threw in a running 8-footer to cut what had been a 19-point deficit to 94-89 with 4:42 left, Popovich at last got the stops he demanded.
Phoenix managed just one field goal the rest of the game, and the Spurs held on to win the old-fashioned way.
“We had a couple of steals and some good stops at appropriate times,” Popovich said. “But we can certainly get better.”
– photos by Edward A. Ornelas
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Spurs 102, Suns 91 – Jan. 15, 2012
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker drives around Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair looks for room around Phoenix Suns’ Markieff Morris during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tiago Splitter shoots around Phoenix Suns’ Robin Lopez during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair shoots under Phoenix Suns’ Shannon Brown during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Cory Joseph looks for room around Phoenix Suns’ Ronnie Price during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan shoots around Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker shoots around Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan drives around Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair congatulates teammate San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan after he scored against the Phoenix Suns during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair looks for room between Phoenix Suns’ Channing Frye and Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan shoot around Phoenix Suns’ Markieff Morris during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Gary Neal shoots against the Phoenix Suns during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker drives around Phoenix Suns’ Channing Frye as San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair and Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat look on during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Manu Ginobili waves to fans from the bench during first half action against the Phoenix Suns Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat shoots between San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan and San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash walks off the court after the game with the San Antonio Spurs Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan reacts near the end of the game with Phoenix Suns Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – The San Antonio Spurs Coyote performs during the game with the Phoenix Suns Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson talks with teammate San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard during first half action against the Phoenix Suns Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair defends Phoenix Suns’ Hakim Warrick during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan looks for room around Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker passes around Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
