Suns notebook: Reinjured groin could cut Hill's Game 2 time

SAN ANTONIO - Suns forward Grant Hill didn't do much in Game 1 against San Antonio, scoring just five points on 2-of-4 shooting. Now we know why. Hill reinjured his groin while taking a charge from Michael Finley 23 seconds into the game and the injury could limit his effectiveness during the series.

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"It was bothering me yesterday (Saturday)," Hill said. "I felt pretty good to start the game but as we went along, it started to wear on me."

The injury prevented the Suns from sticking Hill on point guard Tony Parker in the fourth quarter, a tactic that was successful in the regular season. He only lasted a few possessions before coach Mike D'Antoni went back to Leandro Barbosa.

"It's one thing to guard a guy sitting in the corner, another to guard him," Hill said. "But I anticipate getting right and guarding him. It just wasn't there yesterday."

D'Antoni said he'll watch Hill more carefully in Game2 for signs that the groin is bothering him.

"Looking back at the tape he was hurting more than I thought," he said. "There were a couple of defensive plays he was really hurting. He showed a lot of courage to be out there but we're going to have to have an understanding that if he's hurt, he's hurt. He's going to have to come and tell me."

NASH FIGHTS THE FLU

Steve Nash caught a nasty case of the flu on Thursday afternoon and was still feeling it Sunday morning. It forced him to cancel workouts with physiotherapist Rick Cellebrini, and limited him to all of eight possessions at Friday's practice.

Still very weak for Game 1, Nash tried to pace himself (five points on 2-for-7 shooting through three quarters) until the Suns needed him. He had 20 points from the fourth quarter on, including a game-tying 3-pointer with 15.7 seconds left in the second overtime.

"I'm getting solids down, but they aren't staying down too long," Nash said. "I struggled for a long part of the game. I didn't know how much I had and I tried to save it until the end. I didn't know the end would end up being two overtimes. Luckily, we don't play until Tuesday, so that should give me enough time to get through it."

TAKE A NUMBER

The percentages say that the winner of Game 1 wins a first-round playoff series 78.5 percent of the time and if that game is at home, the percentage jumps to 86.2 percent. But D'Antoni, who brought the stats up himself, said the numbers mean nothing.

"You've all used that stuff and it's the biggest crock," he said. "Most first-round series are mismatches. (A No.1 seed) against (No. 8), that's almost 99.9 percent. Two against a seven? That's about 90 (percent).

"Now go to the NBA Finals and see what the stats are. That's when you have two evenly matched teams. That's what you have here. So you can take that stat and forget it. They might win, but it won't be because they won the first game."

BONUS SHOTS

D'Antoni said the Spurs were smart to acquire Kurt Thomas from the Sonics before the trade deadline and lauded his intelligence on the court. He was also honest when asked if Thomas - who drew a key charging foul from Amaré Stoudemire to set the stage from Tim Duncan's 3-pointer in the second overtime - was a "flopper."

"Oh, yeah, he's a great big flopper," he said. "Kurt's a flopper. Raja Bell's a flopper, (Manu) Ginobili is probably the king of floppers. There are levels of flopping. The Europeans are great at flopping. ... Vlade Divac might be the father of flopping.

"But that's all gamesmanship. Kurt does a great job and Raja does a great job. You love them when they're with you, and hate them when they're against you." ...

Shaquille O'Neal said he won't change his approach one iota for Game 2 after picking up three first-half fouls in 4:11 of playing time.

"I'll never change, because of inconsistency in the way the game is called," O'Neal said. "I always get in trouble when I worry about how the refs call a game. I got four (championships) doing it my way.

"It's the playoffs, let's play it off. I play like a man all the time, not acting like I just got shot. If they want to flop, I'll give them something to flop about."

Suns vs. Spurs

Saturday: San Antonio 117, Phoenix 115, 2OT San Antonio leads series 1-0

Tuesday: at San Antonio, 6:30 p.m.

Friday: at Phoenix, 7:30 p.m.

April 27: at Phoenix, 12:30 p.m.

April 29: at San Antonio, TBA*

May 1: at Phoenix, TBA*

May 3: at San Antonio, TBA*