The Shaq experiment failed last season for the Phoenix Suns as the team missed the postseason despite finishing with a 46-36 record.

After trading Shaquille O’Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers, signing Channing Frye and giving contract extensions to Steve Nash and Grant Hill, Phoenix is back to its “7 Seconds or Less” offensive philosophy and is back in the NBA playoffs.

In the First Round, the Suns beat the Trail Blazers 4-2 to set up a Semifinal Round matchup with the team that eliminated them the last time they made the playoffs in 2008, the San Antonio Spurs.

After coming off their worst regular season in the Tim Duncan era, the seventh-seeded Spurs pulled-off an upset against the #2 seed Dallas Mavericks winning the series 4 games to 2. San Antonio is only the fifth #7 seed to win a first-round series, and the first since the opening round became a best-of-7 in 2003. It hadn’t been done since New York beat Miami in 1998.

NOTES:

1. The Suns entered the 2010 NBA Playoffs as the #3 seed in the Western Conference while the Spurs is #7.

2. In the regular season, the Suns won twice out of the three games they met.

3. The Suns is led by the tandem of Steve Nash (16.5 ppg, 11 apg, 93.8 ft%) and Amare Stoudemire (23.1 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 1 bpg).

4. The Spurs is led by its trio of Tim Duncan (17.9 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 3.2 apg), Tony Parker (16 ppg, 5.7 apg) and Manu Ginobili (16.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 4.9 apg).

SCHEDULE: Suns win series 4-0

Game 1 May 3 10:30 pm                   US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona     TNT
Game 2 May 5 9:00 pm                     US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona     TBA
Game 3 May 7 9:30 pm                     AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas     ESPN
Game 4 May 9 8:00 pm                     AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas     TBA
Game 5 TBA TBA             *               US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona     TBA
Game 6 TBA TBA             *               AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas     TBA
Game 7 TBA TBA             *               US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona     TBA

NOTE: * denotes games to be played if necessary

RECAP:

I will post recaps after every game.

Game 1

Suns point guard Steve Nash had 33 points (17 in the first quarter) and 10 assists to finally give the Suns a Game 1 win over the Spurs, 111-102. Amare Stoudemire added 23 points and 13 rebounds.

Prior to this game, the Spurs  had won three straight Game 1s against the Suns, two of them in Phoenix. Both of those times, in 2005 and 2007, the Spurs went on to win the NBA title.

The Spurs Big Three of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili scored 20, 26 and 27 respectively.

Game 2

Wearing jerseys with “Los Suns” imprinted on them to honor its Latino community on Cinco de Mayo and to protest Arizona’s new anti-immigration law, the Phoenix Suns took a 2-0 lead winning 110-102.

Amare Stoudemire lead his team with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Channing Frye made 5 of 6 attempts beyond the 3-point line.

Tim Duncan had 29 points and 10 rebounds and Richard Jefferson added 18 points and 10 boards for the San Antonio Spurs.

Game 3

The Suns is now one win away from ending years of playoff misery against the Spurs, taking a 3-0 lead with a 110-96 victory.

Backup point guard Goran Dragic was the difference-maker as he scored 23 of his 26 points in the 4th quarter making all of his four 3-point attempts.

Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 27 points while Tim Duncan had 15 points and 13 rebounds.

No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.

Game 4

The Suns have finally passed the Spurs’ test as they sweep their season series with San Antonio with a score of 107-101.

Working with only one eye after a Duncan elbow struck it in the 3rd quarter, Steve Nash lead the Suns charge in the 4th quarter with Amare Stoudemire to outscore the Spurs 35-30.

Nash finished with 20 points and 9 assists while Amare had 29 points.

Tony Parker scored 22 points to lead the Spurs, who were swept out of the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

The Suns will face the Lakers who won their own series with the Jazz in the Western Conference Finals round.

Please read my related posts:

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Tags: 2010 NBA playoffs, phoenix suns, san antonio spurs