Spurs seek change luck vs. Suns

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Phoenix beat San Antonio three out of four times this season thanks to Stephon Marbury.

In the four games, Marbury averaged 32.5 points, nine assists and five rebounds -- all above his season marks -- while mostly being defended by Tony Parker, the Spurs' 20-year-old point guard.

The eighth-seeded Suns hope for the same success in their playoff series against the top-seeded Spurs. Game 1 is Saturday afternoon.

"He's just relentless on getting to the basket," Phoenix guard Penny Hardaway said of Marbury. "When you have someone like that that can draw all the attention, all we have to do is knock down those wide-open shots that we get, and that makes it tougher for them to guard him."

Parker, in his second NBA season, knows the pressure will be on him to stop the bigger and stronger Marbury.

"Obviously I have to play better defense," Parker said. "You can slow him down but you can't stop him."

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said everyone must play better defense, especially against Marbury, Shawn Marion and Joe Johnson.

"They have very, very good and accurate pass-catch-shoot players," Popovich said. "When they have those guys on the court, we have to find them and guard them, and we haven't done a good job of that."

Even though they had problems with Phoenix this season, Marbury doesn't expect the Spurs to change their plan.

"They were the best team in the NBA, so we have to make the adjustments to them," he said. "I think they're pretty much worried about doing what they normally do."

That means getting the ball to Tim Duncan, who also put up big numbers in the four Suns-Spurs contests despite steady double-teaming: 30-plus points three times, along with an average 14.5 rebounds and seven assists.

"He has a lot of low-post moves, he has a lot of ways to score," said Phoenix rookie Amare Stoudemire, who will share the assignment of defending the 7-foot Duncan.

San Antonio's other scoring options include Parker (15.5 ppg), Stephen Jackson (11.8 ppg) and Malik Rose (10.4 ppg).

Duncan credited the Suns with playing good defense against the Spurs despite their smaller size in the frontcourt.

"They do a good job playing in between the passing lanes," he said. "They're usually a fronting team ... but whatever they come with, we'll be prepared."

The 6-foot-10 Stoudemire, a strong candidate for NBA Rookie of the Year, also figures to attract plenty of attention from defenders.

"They're going to come with double and triple-teams, I bet," said Stoudemire, who averaged 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds. "But I've been working at passing out of double-teams, being a creator out there."

San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili says the Spurs will succeed if they do the little things well -- get some defensive stops, make free throws and cut down on turnovers.

"If you make too many mistakes, you go back home," Ginobili said. "And if there's something now we don't want, it's vacation."

 

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