Suns Robert Sarver Calls Out Spurs In Preseason Win
Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver calls out the San Antonio Spurs during Thursday’s win
It may have been the preseason, but Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver took the game more seriously than that. During a fourth quarter timeout, Sarver took to the live microphone to talk to the crowd, where he then indirectly took the San Antonio Spurs to the woodshed.
"“This isn’t the game you paid your hard-earned money for. Send us your ticket with a return envelope and the Phoenix Suns will send you all a gift.”"
Sarver was referring to the fact that the Spurs didn’t have Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard or Tiago Splitter. Leonard and Splitter were hurt, while Pop, Duncan and Ginobili simply didn’t travel with the team.
One can look at the situation two different ways. First, it’s a preseason game and just like the NFL, the star players don’t often play big minutes. Second, it’s the coaches prerogative to play whomever he wishes to play. I think the sticking point was the fact that the players didn’t even travel. It definitely felt more like a sign of disrespect to the spirit of competition and the NBA as a whole.
This is nothing new for the Spurs, as Popovich has sat his stars during the regular season — during a nationally televised game, no less — so we shouldn’t be too surprised. Still, as a fan (especially a Spurs fan), I’d be awfully unhappy that I spent my money to watch Tony Parker and the second-string go through the motions.
As far as the game was concerned, it’s what you’d expect out of a healthy team against backups. The Suns blew out the Spurs 121-90 in a game that was only close in the first half. Goran Dragic scored 20 with six assists and three steals, Eric Bledsoe had 16 with six assists, two steals and two blocks, Markieff Morris had 17 with seven rebounds and a steal and Isaiah Thomas scored 15 with four rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block.
When I asked coach Jeff Hornacek how he felt about the Spurs not traveling their team and whether it’s a missed opportunity to gauge his team or a good chance to gain some confidence, he told me this:
"“In this league, we can only control ourselves. It doesn’t matter who’s out there. They allowed us to go small, to try out some other things.”"
Hornacek took it in stride, which definitely fits his calm, laid-back demeanor — but he did make a good point. Even though he has to take this game result with a grain of salt, he was able to tinker with some lineups, including the first time we’ve seen Dragic, Bledsoe and Thomas out there at the same time.
Considering the trio of point guards combined for 51 points, 17 assists and six steals (while shooting 21-for-32), I’d say the experiment worked awfully well.
Of course, the trio played together at the end of the half against a depleted team, so again — we shouldn’t get too overly excited just yet. Bledsoe was happy about playing with the others and talked about how the ball moved a lot better:
“(It turned out) just as we expected. We were small but everybody got in to rebound and forced the tempo. We were definitely having fun out there. Everybody was sharing the ball and did a great job.”
The Suns are going to get a second crack at the Spurs sooner rather than later, as they play the defending champions in Game 2 of the regular season at US Airways Center on October 31, 2014.