San Antonio vs. Phoenix Final Score: Spurs light up Suns in second half, 112-95

The good guys make it two in a row with a dominating 3rd quarter.

The Spurs defense struggled early as the Phoenix Suns tried to push the pace. Fortunately for the Silver and Black, the visitors play some of the worst defense in the league right now. Despite leading for a majority of the half, the Spurs could not buy a bucket at the end of the second quarter and the Suns hit some timely threes, taking a 4 point lead into halftime. Big time props to Coach Jay Triano’s team as they continued to fight for majority of the game, despite being double digit underdogs.

The third quarter saw the good guys pull away as the one-two punch of Mills and Aldridge overwhelmed the Suns. The third quarter surge provided the Spurs a huge cushion that allowed them to play loose for the rest of the game.

Observations:

  • It was nice to see Patty Mills start to get in on the fun a little bit. The Aussie connected on a few jumpers early and had his second game of looking like himself after struggling early this season. The spacing he provides is crucial to the offense, and it also provides Aldridge more room to operate. Also, can someone tell me what the endpoint of his hairstyle is? Does he like the length now, or is he going to go full Jae Crowder?
  • LaMarcus Aldridge was way too much for the Suns on the block. #12 had it all working for him Sunday as he continued his dominant start to the young season. 21 and 9 in a 30 minute stint. I must say that I like post-contract-extension LaMarcus.
  • That off the dribble jumper of Danny Green‘s looks like it’s here to stay. It’s crazy seeing the swingman put in another productive night offensively even when his deep ball isn’t connecting. This may not be a huge deal at the moment, but once this team gets healthy and finds a rhythm, we could see Green swing the outcome of a few games — and not just with his defense.
  • Pop toyed with some new lineups tonight. One in particular saw a backcourt of Bryn Forbes and Patty Mills on the floor together. I doubt we see that duo very often, but I think it’s worth noting that Forbes looked very comfortable filling a Gary Neal type role off the bench.
  • The offense relied quite a bit on the high-low set tonight. It’ll be interesting to see whether we’ll start to see the motion sets run more regularly when Leonard and Parker return.
  • Brandon Paul had another solid outing tonight, as he filled in for the resting Manu Ginobili. The summer addition did a great job playing within the offense and had a terrific game disrupting the Suns offense. One of the things I’ve grown to love about his game is his defensive awareness. He may not be the best on-ball defender, but he has been tremendous helping from the weak side defense.
  • We got our first look at #24, Darrun Hilliard tonight. It was a small sample size, but the newcomer has plenty of room to improve.

Source: Pounding The Rock

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