Paul Jones

Paul Jones is the voice of the Raptors on the FAN 590 and writes regularly for Sportsnet.ca.

Goran Dragic of the Suns goes up for a block attempt on Tony Parker.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

So now that three games are in the books in all series, put your hands up if you thought the Suns would be up 3-0 on the Spurs. If your hand is in the air, I'm saying look behind you as your pants are on fire!

I’ve always thought Phoenix had a chance to win the series in seven games, thanks to home-court advantage. In truth though, I thought the way San Antonio disposed of the Dallas Mavericks, they were finally putting it together and were headed for the conference finals. But you know what, sit down for this next phrase: Phoenix is playing better defence than San Antonio.

Give Alvin Gentry credit as he has put more of a premium on defence than any of his predecessors (read Mike D'Antoni) who ran the same system. Gentry went as far as to sit some guys down when they weren't playing defence after the all-star break and the Suns started to pay attention and finished with the third seed overall. This Phoenix team is getting it done differently than those teams that had near-misses in the past. The offence is a precise as ever and with Steve Nash orchestrating the attack, that's to be expected. But there is grittiness and a willingness to do grunt work and suddenly Phoenix is not afraid to get "grimy" in its pursuit of wins.

Jared Dudley gave the Suns a huge lift in Game 2. And if I told you that LeBron James would score 21 points in a quarter against the Boston Celtics and, on the same night, one of the Suns would outscore him in the fourth quarter for a Phoenix win, could you guess who it might be? Nash, Amare Stoudemire or Jason Richardson? Nope. Goran Dragic, that's right, Goran Dragic with a 23-point fourth stanza on the Spurs. Goran Dragic, really, are you kidding?

Gentry has high expectations and possess a relatively even demeanour on the sidelines. In the "wired or inside trax" segments that the television broadcasts show, Gentry speaks directly to his team to challenge them, coming across as controlled and focused. It's a pretty good example on the sidelines and is right in line with what his leader, Nash, displays on the floor.

And unless the Spurs are able to make NBA history by coming back from the 3-0 deficit, what happens to San Antonio next season? It sure looked like the acquisition of Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess propped open the Spurs’ championship window a bit longer but that comes into question right now. Was Jefferson's past success that dependent on Jason Kidd? Have his skills deteriorated and his ability to fit into the system in the Lone Star State just not emerged this season and might it be better next year?

Lots of questions for the Spurs to contemplate in the off-season and if Phoenix continues to play at this level, the Spurs could start looking for those answers as early as Sunday night.