Shawn Marion's Suns-high 26 points and game-high four blocks weren't enough as the Spurs took a 2-1 lead in the Conference Semifinals with Saturday's Game 3 win. (Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images)

By Josh Greene, Suns.com
Posted: May 12, 2007

Back in the 2005 Conference Finals, Manu Ginobili proved to be a constant thorn in the Suns’ collective side. On Saturday, that pain re-emerged in Phoenix’s’ 108-101 Game 3 loss.

With 24 points off the bench, the Spurs’ sixth man atoned for his lackluster performances in Games 1 and 2 and helped give San Antonio a 2-1 series lead in the Conference Semis – shiner and all.

An accidental poke to the eye by defender Shawn Marion may have temporarily slowed the Spurs’ guard down, but it was Ginobili who had the Suns seeing stars after scoring 10 straight points in the last two minutes of the third quarter.

Of course, being without the services of Amaré Stoudemire for most of the second half didn’t help matters for Phoenix, either. The Suns’ big man got off to a hot 5-of-7 shooting, 14-point first half before being forced to take a seat due to foul trouble. He finished with 21 points.

“Manu scoring that well definitely gave them a spark,” the Suns’ center said, “and with myself getting into trouble with the fouls, the momentum changed there. We fought our way back into it, but couldn’t quite close it out.”

Marion, who collected a team-high 26 points and game-high four blocks, thought the Suns’ overall foul situation helped take some of the steam out of his team’s up-tempo rhythm.

“It’s frustrating,” the Matrix said. “You want to do more out on the floor but you can’t, because you have to be really smart about your decision-making out there. At the same time, it’s part of the game.”

After building a 10-point lead in the second quarter, the Suns ended the half trailing by two. Three consecutive three-pointers by Brent Barry and Bruce Bowen in the third period ended an early Suns’ 7-0 run.

The Suns knocked the deficit down to six points with just over a minute-and-a-half to go in the game, but would get no closer.

Steve Nash didn’t hit his first field goal until the second half, opting to take advantage of the openings the Spurs were giving his Suns teammates. The playmaker happily played distributor en route to a game-high 11-assist night, to go along with an eventual 16 points.

“Steve’s a guy who will make shots when he has to,” Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan said. “He was about setting up his team in the first half. It was all about him finding shooters. He was finding people wide open and making plays. We forced him to be more of a scorer in the second half, and he got a couple shots up and knocked them out.”

Duncan posted game highs with 33 points and 19 boards in the Spurs’ win.

Boris Diaw, who racked up his second-consecutive quality performance with a 10-point, three-assist and three-rebound night, credited the former league MVP with playing his usual, productive 40-plus minutes on the court.

“Tim’s a tough player to play against,” last year’s Most Improved Player said. “He really is that good. When he got the ball in the post and played one-on-one, he had that little jump hook outside the paint. He was the only player above 50-percent shooting. He’s the player we have to worry about, and he did a great job tonight.”

Once again drawing the starting match-up against Duncan, Kurt Thomas had eight points of his own, but did the bulk of his damage on the glass with a team-best 12 rebounds.

“Kurt is no pushover,” Duncan said. “He’s an excellent defender. I’ve played against for years. I have a lot of respect for him and he defends me very well.”

Thomas wasn’t as agreeable in terms of his assessment of shutting down the Spurs’ All-Star Saturday, who collected his second 33-point showing this series.

“I just need to find a better way to cover Duncan,” the Suns’ forward said. “He’s playing exceptionally well right now. He’s in a nice groove and I just need to get him out of his rhythm.

“As a team, we need to find a way to execute better. The end of the third quarter was where the Spurs really took control. We had our shots in the fourth quarter, but we just need to come out and correct our mistakes, fight and try and get a win in Game 4.”

Raja Bell got off to a quick 12-point start, thanks to a 4-for-4 showing from beyond the arc in the first half. With the Spurs adjusting defensively and taking away Nash’s passing lanes in the second half, the Suns’ shooting guard didn’t get off another shot.

No stranger to playing with intensity, Bell thought the overall physicality of Game 3 belonged to San Antonio.

“Obviously that’s the way they like to play, and obviously we’ll have to find a way to counter that,” he said.

Head Coach Mike D’Antoni also laid down the challenge to his team to step things up below the rim, especially heading into Monday’s pivotal Game 4, down two games to one.

“Now we have to make it our half (of the game),” said the head coach about Phoenix’s need to match the Spurs' physicality. “We just need to take care of business.”