Customer Service e-Trib Login East Valley Tribune| Classifieds| Cars| Jobs| Real Estate

Digg| Save| License| Print| E-mail| Decrease text size Reset text size Increase text size

Double-click any word or phrase in the story to search this site.
April 18, 2008 - 3:52PM

Suns will tag-team Spurs' Duncan

Jerry Brown, Tribune

A lot has been made about the Tim Duncan-Shaquille O’Neal matchup in this series but O’Neal won’t guard Duncan much in the first half. Amaré Stoudemire gets the initial assignment and Boris Diaw will take over midway through the first period when O’Neal takes a break and Stoudemire switches.

Suns out to keep their cool vs. Spurs

 Barbosa met young Shaq while growing up in Brazil

It puts Stoudemire in a tough spot early, but the Suns want O’Neal — who will play as much as 35 minutes a game, barring foul trouble — to be fresh with fouls to give when he takes Duncan down the stretch.

“I want to have all my bullets for the end,” O’Neal said.

He also gave Stoudemire some tips on guarding Duncan.

“They try to make Amaré play defense. So I’ll tell Amaré ‘Make Duncan play defense. When I was with the Lakers, he’d just turn around and shoot over our power forward. You have to make the shot tough, but even then he hits those sometimes.”

Reader comments: This site does not necessarily agree with comments posted below. Responsibility lies solely with the comment author.

Please add your comments, but follow these guidelines to keep this a safe, credible place for discussing the news:

  • Stay on topic.
  • No personal attacks, racial slurs or insults; no vulgar, lewd or threatening comments.
  • Report abusive comments.
Already a member? Sign in here
Publish your stuff
Welcome, Please Log In
To login please enter your username and password in the form below and click on the login button.
Remember me
Retrieve Password
Resend Email
Enter the username and email address for your account to resend you your confirmation email: