Bordow: Diaw finally plays up to his talent

Long after he had received a standing ovation, been interviewed by ESPN and received high-fives from appreciative fans and praise from coach Mike D’Antoni, Boris Diaw appeared in the interview room at US Airways Center.

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It wasn’t his usual milieu.

Diaw more often than not slips out of the Suns locker room unnoticed while the media crowds around Amaré Stoudemire, Steve Nash and Shaquille O’Neal.

But not Sunday.

The Suns received a stay of execution with their 105-86 Game 4 victory over San Antonio, and it was Diaw who granted it.

He scored 20 points on 10-of-19 shooting. He had 10 rebounds and eight assists. He punished the Spurs on the offensive end and, in his new assignment as Phoenix’s defensive stopper, limited Tony Parker to 18 points.

It was arguably Diaw’s best game as a Sun, and his timing couldn’t have been better.

“I thought that Boris obviously dominated the game on both ends of the floor,” D’Antoni said. “He was phenomenal.”

Other adjectives have been used to describe Diaw in his three seasons with the Suns.

Soft.

Passive.

Not worth the $45 million the Suns are paying him.

(OK, so that last one wasn’t an adjective. Sue me.)

The criticism hasn’t been without merit. Too often, Diaw has been an uninterested observer. He had 50 games this season with five rebounds or less and 51 games in which he scored in single digits.

But Diaw was a different player Sunday. When he got the ball in the low post against smaller defenders Manu Ginobili and Michael Finley, he looked to score rather than throw the ball back out to the 3-point line.

His 19 field-goal attempts were his most all season.

“Offensively he was fantastic,” Raja Bell said. “He made the most of almost every opportunity he had. And when he didn’t, he set the table for other guys. When he’s doing that, we’re a much better team.”

Diaw might have had a triple-double if the Suns hadn’t stopped making shots in the fourth quarter. As it was, he received a rare standing ovation when he fouled out with 1:36 left.

“Boris was amazing,” Nash said.

As good as Diaw was offensively, he made his biggest impact on the defensive end of the floor. Out of desperation, D’Antoni stuck him on Parker, and two days after abusing the Suns for 41 points, the Spurs’ point guard made just 7 of his 17 shots.

“It was the battle of the French and I guess tonight, Boris won,” Grant Hill said.

It’d be silly to suggest the Suns finally have discovered the antidote for Parker’s forays into the lane. Parker dismissed the tactic — “They always think it’s going to bother me, but I just missed my shots” — and Suns assistant Alvin Gentry admitted that there are times during a game when no defender can stop the Spurs guard.

But Diaw has two advantages Nash doesn’t:

At 6-foot-8, he has the length to alter Parker’s shots.

“Mostly it’s on pick-and-rolls where they have hurt us, so I tried not to give him separation because that’s when he becomes dangerous,” Diaw said. “I try to stay close to him all the time. Once I’m close to him, I try to use my length to bother him on his shot.”

Diaw also knows Parker’s game intimately. They’ve been friends since childhood, and they were teammates on the French national team and for the French Athletic Academy.

“I think it does help a little bit because I’ve seen him play a lot,” Diaw said. “I kind of know sometimes when he wants to go to his floater, when he tries to go for his jump shot or when he is looking for the pass.”

D’Antoni thought about using Diaw on Parker earlier in the series, but he wanted to give Hill an opportunity.

Now, with Hill sidelined and Nash unable to keep Parker in front of him, it’s Diaw’s job.

“Boris is a phenomenal athlete,” D’Antoni said. “People don’t see that.”

They don’t see it often enough, that’s for sure.

Does Diaw’s performance change the course of the series?

Of course not. The Spurs likely will end the Suns’ season in Game 5.

But in 45 minutes Sunday, Diaw gave us a glimpse of what he can be.

And why D’Antoni has so much faith in him.

“I trust him,” D’Antoni said. “I always have.”