The Internets are alive: Suns at Spurs, Game 5



Scanning the blogs and beats following the Spurs' 97-92 series clinching win over the Suns in Game 5 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals ...
Scott Bordow, East Valley Tribune: "Remember this day: April 29, 2008. Years from now, when we look back on this era of fast breaks, 3-pointers and playoff heartbreak, we'll recall it as the day the Suns died. The day Mike D'Antoni coached his final game. The day the Suns quit being championship contenders."
Mike Finger, SA Express-News: "... this wasn’t the first time the Spurs have ended the Suns’ season. It’s now happened four times in six years, and the reasons have been the same every time. The Spurs have won because Tony Parker is fast, and because Manu Ginobili is a magician,CTR360 Elite FG, and because Tim Duncan is the greatest power forward in the history of the NBA. The Spurs have won because Nash can’t carry a team on his will alone, and because Stoudemire either can’t stay on the floor or can’t keep his focus,CTR360 Maestri II Elite, and because Boris Diaw isn’t the Swiss Army knife Wonderboy commentators so often make him out to be ("He can do everything! Including passing the ball directly to the Spurs' bench on the most important possession of the season!")."
Black Jesus Disciples: "All this rumbling about Coach D being without a job is at least for tonight, nonsense. Tonight's game was lost on the court, not the sidelines. When your starting center can't make a free throw or even a layup to save his life and your two-time MVP point guard isn't able to throw the ball in the ocean or keep it in his hands, it has nothing to do with the coach. This one is not on Coach D. It's on Steve Nash and Shaquille O'Neal."
Bright Side Of The Sun: "Maybe it's because I've become a little detached from things thanks to all the distractions going on in my personal life right now, but I also think maybe it goes deeper than that. Even when the Suns were sitting pretty at the top of the Western Conference earlier in the season, they always seemed like a team whose time had already passed. Maybe we didn't want to admit it. Maybe we didn't want to say it out loud. But the window on the Suns as currently constructed slammed shut the moment Robert Horry checked Steve Nash into the scorers table a year ago and Amare and Boris leapt off the bench. Something died inside this team that day. Call it "hope", maybe. Whatever the case, the Suns haven't been the same since."
Buck Harvey, SA Express-News: "Shaquille O'Neal walked down the court with some grace. No more words, no more bravado. He reached out with his fist, and there was Tim Duncan with his, and their fists tapped. Then O’Neal walked away, having not only lost a game but also a personal battle with the other great big man of this era. Now Duncan, after a series that was far tighter than the 5-game length suggests, is in position to become the greatest."
Jerry Brown and Bordow, East Valley Tribune: "Nash committed three turnovers in the final two minutes ... The uncharacteristic finish ended an uncharacteristic game for Nash,TotalT 90 Laser III HG, who made just 4 of 16 shots and had more turnovers (five) than assists (three). "I know I made a couple of key turnovers that cost us," Nash said. Suns coach Mike D’Antoni believes Nash was thrown off when Phoenix ran its offense through forward Boris Diaw to take advantage of the mismatch he had in the low post."
Mike Monroe, SA Express-News: "By advancing to the second round of the playoffs with their Game 5 victory at the AT&T Center over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, the Spurs also advanced one of the NBA’s most amazing individual feats: Robert Horry’s streak of 17 seasons without failing to advance past the first round. ... Horry’s four games played against Phoenix give him 233 for his career, four short of Abdul-Jabbar. "It's the first time I was ever kind of selfish," Horry said. "I said this year, 'I've just got to get to the second round so I have a chance to catch Kareem.' I may be able to say I'm No. 1 in something."
SA Express-News: "Aware Game 1 of a possible Western Conference semifinals series against the New Orleans Hornets would begin on Saturday if the Spurs closed out the Suns in Game 5, the Spurs encountered difficulties trying to book hotel rooms for a relatively large traveling party. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, one of the biggest events of the year in the Big Easy, runs through the weekend. A few hours before tipoff of Game 5, no rooms had been booked."



Related: The Internets are alive, 2008 NBA Playoffs